Video: In Rehearsals for PAL JOEY with Ephraim Sykes, Aisha Jackson & More

nhiều, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

City Center's annual Fall Gala presentation this year is a new revised version of Pal Joey

which will run from November 1st through the 5th, and we dropped by the rehearsal room to bring you a sneak peek and to meet the company

That's why, baby. You know, it's suggested to me by our partner, Carrie Barden

what about Pal Joey? And I didn't really know it that well other than a few of the great songs, you know

and maybe I'd seen the movie, but I went back to that novel, and there's a rawness to that book

and a rawness and a dirtiness to those characters. And I thought, well, we can get back to that

And then years later, you know, like now that our collaboration has evolved

we also realized that we want to jazz to be the musical conduit to that

And so that's been our kind of thing. And like what you were saying about jazz the other day

about it being jazz is a series of mistake. What was it you said? Yeah, precisely

know, just music. Cats were just improvising. Improvisation is just natural things. Natural things

are maybe considered mistakes. So here we are exploring the possibilities of mistakes

through, you know, through the form of jazz and putting it together and expression

Yeah, and giving the both all the actors and the band permission to improvise. I mean, we have a beautiful

script, but also there's a sense of you bring you, you know, Sabian's like choreographing

I'm not teaching you to dance. You got to express yourself. And what is it today? Do something, right

Yeah yeah yeah It like with this kind of material this kind of piece we trying to create creation We trying to create momentum We trying to create organic

So this is the attempt, and we are achieving. Come. I love Joey and I feel very closely related to him because for me and him both, music is my first love

It's his first love. It's almost driving force in life. He's just like, God, family, and music

It's just, you know what I mean? And his quest and his ups and downs, he's so flawed

He's so, you know what I mean? And he's run up against so much in his life that he's just trying to make his way

But his North Star continuing to be the music and the calling and his ancestors that

that are speaking in his body to get this sound out. Comhella High Water and not lose himself

keep his authenticity, especially as a black man in that time. So I just very much relate to this man

It comes from the South, you know, out of the church and has found his way through music and jazz

And just, yeah, I'm living that way, sort of. So you're about to play Vera

Talk about what you love about her already. She's complicated. You know, she kind of feels like the villain for a part of it

So that's a really fun challenge as an actor to find, well, what's really motivating this person

It's probably not evil. It's probably they need something. What is that

So that's been fun. And then personally for me I feel like when we did the first lab of this last summer I felt like I was still crawling out of the trenches becoming a new mom So I just like had been living in that world So it really fun for me to play a woman who is you know she doesn have mom energy right

She has, she's really in touch with her power and her sexuality

And that's been so fun. Talk about this incredible woman you're getting ready to play and what you love about her already

Yes, I think she's a little snarky, but she has a lot of heart

And she's just been scarred. and she has the courage to get back up

And so that's very inspiring to me. And just to remember, like, your gift has so much power

And so don't sleep on that. Okay. Singing this Rogers and Heart score and the new songs

what that means to what that's been like? I like to sing, y'all

It's been really cool. I didn't sing a lot of jazz. Like, I would sing God bless the child growing up

But this is allowing me to sink my teeth into some jazz

And I'm having a lot of fun with that. It's a challenge, but a fun one. And this music, I mean, it's already, it's classic, it's iconic

But then I get to put a little eish on it. I'm excited. I like that. Yeah

Okay, I play Lucille, and she was a famous singer, sort of hoof her back in the day

And she's running a club in Bronzeville. And Joey comes in and sell her a load of whatever

And she's a smart woman, but she's not a smart woman. but she's not smart enough to handle all of the things that he has planned for the future

And so I love the fact that she's in love with show business

She's been in show business her entire life. And even when she was younger, there were people in her family that were in show business

And so this is just an exciting thing because she thinks that he going to save her It a love story that comes up in the show that I think is going to be a surprise for everyone

because there's love everywhere in Pale Joey. Well, we've been struggling with it for many years

Then when Koa came on, what really unlocked it was bringing in spirit

was bringing in a whole other level to the character and the story

that Sabian then took and expressed this through dance in a way that I've never seen, I think anyone's seen before

Yeah, absolutely. I think what unlocked it for me is really looking at the journey of a black artist

a young black artist, and a time and a place that does not have space for him

And what's his journey to have hope, to have belief against strong odds

And the realization that, you know, for me, it has been spirit

It has to be belief that there are forces of good that have our facts and that wants the best for us and that we come from

And again, the presence of that, which we are probably the ancestor of Rios and the peace, it energizes him

It energizes the peace. It's energized all of us as collaborators. and, you know, we're super excited about it