Nina and Me

Review by: Paul Towers, 09 February 2018

Nina – by Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE

Unity Theatre production starring Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE

Curve Studio 9/10 February 2018

“an awesome voice”

Last year I went to London’s West End to see Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, a magnificent show that featured the songs of Billy Holliday interwoven with her tragic life story; two hours of informative entertainment.

Nina Simone was of a similar generation and also struggled with the inherent racism that blighted 20^th century America so I was hoping that Nina would similarly be a catalogue of Ms Simone’s numbers interspersed with biographical background. With a show that was scheduled to run for 1hr 20mins there was scope for a whole slew of her songs.

Unfortunately it was an hour into the evening before we got any semblance of  her back catalogue and then only a 30 minute ‘concert’ making very good use of the onstage 3 piece band. The first hour was taken up with a prolonged rant about racism, then and now, and the author’s identification with Nina’s racial struggles.

There is no doubt that Josette Bushell-Mingo has an awesome voice, and there is no doubt that the evils of racism need to be addressed. Maybe I am at fault for not reading the promotional literature more carefully but I felt short changed by only getting 11 songs and what came across as an evangelical lecture on racism.

Nina is on at Curve again tomorrow, Saturday 10 February. Although it is sold out the box office may get some returns.
First published on Western Gazette