Blues Beginnings

Music is at the heart and soul of ‘Polk County.’

By: Jillian Kalonick

TIMEOFF PHOTOS/MARK CZAJKOWSKI

"Blues comes out of the suffering of a people," says music director Chic Street Man. "I liken it to a tooth being pulled." Above, Clinton Derricks-Carroll (right) and Mr. Street Man in ‘Polk County’ at McCarter Theatre.

   For years, Clinton Derricks- Carroll collected guitars —
they were hanging on the wall, but he never knew how to play. He first began performing
in earnest when he was asked to participate in a reading of Polk County, a blues-driven
play by Zora Neale Hurston and Dorothy Waring.
   "Three months before we did the reading I picked up a guitar
and took lessons," he says. "I asked (director Kyle Donnelly), ‘Could I bring
my guitar in?’ because she chose me for the part as My Honey for the reading."
   Ms. Hurston describes My Honey as "having no other love but
his ‘box’ (guitar)." "He comes from a home that his mom died young and his dad
was basically a womanizer, so he’s afraid of relationships… so he builds a relationship
with his guitar," says Mr. Derricks-Carroll.
   Another guitar player was performing, but he couldn’t pick up
the cues fast enough, he says. "I come from theater, I was able to pick up the
cues, and so they said, ‘Well, Clinton, you should play in the show as well.’
So I played and that’s how I was able to get the part of My Honey."
   Music is at the heart of the story in Polk County, at McCarter
Theatre in Princeton through Oct. 31. Ms. Hurston labeled it a "Comedy of Negro
Life on a Sawmill Camp with Authentic Negro Music." She deposited the play in
the Library of Congress for copyright in 1944. It remained there until 1997, when
it was identified as one of 10 unpublished and unproduced theatrical works by
the playwright.
   Polk County includes characters modeled on people she met while
conducting research for her folklore collection, Mules and Men. First performed
at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in 2002, the play will move to Berkeley Repertory
Theatre after its McCarter run.
   "It’s really remarkable how this play has come this far," says
Mr. Derricks-Carroll. "It was in the Library of Congress getting ready to get
thrown out — it’s a fairy-tale story if there ever was one. They were getting
ready to toss it in the rubbish and here it is at the McCarter Theatre."
   Not a musical but a "play with music," the second production
of Polk County combines traditional songs with original music by music director
Chic Street Man. In addition to a cast of musicians and singers, Mississippi Charles
Bevel, Bill Sims Jr. and Michael Keck provide live music on stage. Mr. Street
Man also composed music for and starred in Spunk, an off-Broadway hit adapted
from three short stories by Ms. Hurston.
   "This show is different in that I’m actually having people interpret
my music, which is exciting to me," says Mr. Street Man, as he strums his guitar
with Mr. Derricks-Carroll in between rehearsals. "This show in particular has
a wonderful cast of musicians and singers and actors. To have these people doing
your music is very special to me, because they’re all so good."
   The sawmill workers of Polk County rely on the blues to carry
them through the days and nights. When an aspiring singer, Leafy Lee, comes to
the camp from New York City to learn the "real" blues, she gives My Honey hope
that music might also be his key to a better life.
   "Blues comes out of the suffering of a people," says Mr. Street
Man. "I liken it to a tooth being pulled. You have a pain or a cavity and it’s
gotta come out. While it’s in there it’s hurting and painful but coming out it’s
a relief. Blues is similar to that in my opinion -— when you express it you’re
letting go of stuff.
   "The people in this particular period were going through some
hard times," he continues. "It was already hard being African-American in that
community at that particular time, and the Depression was hitting as well… So
my job was to try to understand who was going to do what and to create a music
that fit with what they were feeling and where they were coming from at that particular
time. Zora explains what she was looking for… I read what was there, I would
listen to my feelings inside, I would actually set music to it."
   Earlier this year Mr. Street Man performed with Mr. Bevel in
Passing the Blues Along, an evening of stories and blues music at Crossroads Theater
in New Brunswick.
   "There aren’t a lot of young African-American people playing
the blues," he says. "There’s a lot of young white guys playing it, but it’s hard
to find a lot of young African-American people playing the blues, I’m not talking
about big-city blues, I’m talking about rural, country-folk-type blues, which
is where it really began."
   Though Mr. Derricks-Carroll didn’t grow up as a musician, his
Baptist preacher father was a gospel composer, his mother played piano, and his
twin brother played bass.
   "My father wanted to be an actor — really, most ministers
want to be actors," he says. "He was a composer, he wrote… everyone sang my
dad’s music, they made millions on my dad’s music. He died poor and my mother
died poor. My father was writing when he was 13 years old. He would walk over
to the record companies in Nashville. They would give him five dollars and say,
‘Go write some more, boy…’ My grandmother used to say he would be practicing
his preaching with all the cows and the chickens and stuff… He was strange."
   Mr. Derricks-Carroll’s brother, Cleavant Derricks, also fulfilled
their dad’s dream of becoming an actor. Both brothers have starred in Dreamgirls
on Broadway, for which Mr. Derricks won a Tony Award. When Mr. Derricks-Carroll
got the call from the producers of the new Broadway musical Brooklyn, he was busy
with Polk County.
   "As I was getting ready to hang up, I said, ‘Oh, wait a minute,
my brother’s available,’" says Mr. Derricks-Carroll. "We switch around a lot —
if I’m doing something and I can’t continue, I call and say, ‘Look, I got my brother
who can do it.’ We’ve been doing it for years, and it’s really funny… I called
my brother and he got (the part). I said, ‘You owe me buddy, if you win another
Tony, you owe me.’"
   After spending 10 years in London, studying at the Royal Academy
and performing in West End shows including Grand Hotel, Five Guys Named Moe and
Miss Saigon, Mr. Derricks-Carroll went to Hollywood hoping to act in TV and film.
He found the industry had changed and decided to continue his theater career.
   "When Hollywood shuts the door, the theater door opens," he
says. "I enjoy theater more than film and television. The audience is right there,
I love the nightlife, I love going out after the show.
   "I think in my other life I wanted to be a musician, to sing
in a club, one of those clubs that’s all smoky, learning the craft," he continues.
"People don’t do that anymore, there’s so many things pulling young people away
from things like instruments… I imagine myself sitting in a club, just learning."


Polk County continues at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton, through
Oct. 31. Performances: Wed.-Thurs. 7:30 p.m.; Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 3, 8 p.m.; Sun.
2 p.m.; Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $28-$53. For information, call (609) 258-2787.
On the Web: www.mccarter.org.
Chic Street Man on the Web: www.chicstreetman.com