Karamu House’s ‘Jubilee’ will change you for the better

It is music, choreography, harmony, opera, humor, drama, church, costuming, projections, revival, history and herstory all blended in a perfect balance. It is Karamu’s “Jubilee” now on stage in the Jelliffe Theatre at 2355 E. 89^th St. in Cleveland, Ohio. What makes this show so superb is the seamless mixing of story, song and staging that makes the nearly two and a half hours (with intermission) fly by.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers were an African-American a cappella group made up of students from the newly formed Fisk University of Nashville, Tennessee. The year was 1871, five years after the university’s founding. Fisk University was facing serious financial difficulty. In order to avert bankruptcy and closure music director and treasurer George Leonard White formed a nine member chorus of four Black men and five Black women. They set out on an 18 month tour that covered Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

It was not easy going for the troupe as they still faced racial prejudice following the Civil War, Emancipation and Jim Crow Laws. At one point after donating their meager take from a concert in Cincinnati to victims of the Great Chicago Fire (October 1871) they found themselves in Columbus, Ohio where lack of funding, poor hotel conditions and mistreatment from the local press and audiences brought them to a new low of fatigue and discouragement.

The group along with their pastor, Henry Bennett and Leonard White went off to pray in order to decide about continuing the tour. The next morning White returned with an inspiration. From that day forward they would be known as “The Jubilee Singers” in reference to the book of Leviticus where each fiftieth Pentecost was followed by “a year of jubilee” in which all slaves would be set free. As most of the students at Fisk University and their families were newly freed slaves the name seemed fitting.

What set the group apart was their departure from the, at the time popular “black minstrel” genre where white musicians and singers performed in blackface. Many audiences were surprised that the group consisted entirely of “genuine negroes”. This held true not only in the United States but in Europe as well. Although well received “across the pond” they were a puzzle to critics and audiences alike. One fact prevailed and that was the high quality of their singing of “simple unpretending songs”.

At the time, the singing of Negro Spirituals as they were know were seldom shared with whites. The “slave songs” were held sacred by the singer’s parents who restricted their use to worship services where they shouted over them. It took many months as audiences began to appreciate the power and beauty of these hymns. Although the first Untied States tour began with a rough start it eventually earned $40,000 ($1,071,426.23 in today’s dollars) for Fisk University.

In 1872 The Jubilee Singers performed at the World’s Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival in Boston. They were then invited to the White House to perform for Ulysses S. Grant. This led to various performances for Vice President Schuyler Colfax and members of the U.S. Congress. They traveled on to New York City with performances at the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn and at Steinway Hall in Manhattan. In all they stayed in New York City for six weeks.

It was during a tour of Great Britain and Europe in 1873 that they did a command performance for Queen Victoria who had requested “Steal Away to Jesus” and “Go Down, Moses”. They returned to Europe from 1875 to 1878 drawing rave reviews. This netted the University $150,000 ($4,017,848.36 in today’s dollars) allowing for the construction of Fisk’s first permanent building, Jubilee Hall, which still stands today. During the show a number of singers remark how their stay in Europe and Great Britain was the first time they actually felt free.

The Karamu “Jubilee” company consists of Brandon Alexander-Smith as Greene Evans, Paris Bunch as Minnie Tate, Sara Danielle Chapman as Georgia Gordon, Jessica Fain as America Robinson, Grant Guyton as Frederick Loudin, Christian “CJ” Hall as Isaac Dickerson, Joshua McElroy as Benjamin Holmes, Mary-Francis Miller as Ella Sheppard, Akemonte Roberson as Mabel Lewis, CorLesia Smith as Jennie Jackson, Angel Tyler as Maggie Porter, Angus King Williams as Edmund Watkins, Kodee Williams as Thomas Rutling and Corin B. Self as Understudy.

Their harmonies are exquisite under the musical directorship of Dr. David M. Thomas. Nathan Henry is the director and choreographer of this fabulous show. The functional stage setting is by Cameron Caley Michalak. Inda Blatch-Geib designed the costumes that sell the show. Logan Chapman designed the lighting and Richard Ingraham was tasked with the all important sound design that is crystal clear. Throughout the show are projections by Brittany Powell Blaschke that change constantly to clearly illustrate the background stories.

This is music performed in its purest form with thirteen incredible voices blending together in heavenly harmony as their story of hardship and success unfolds before us. You will feel all of your emotions well up from deep inside as you laugh, cry, ponder and rejoice in the sanctity that is gospel music.

The Karamu production of “Jubilee” will be on stage in the Jelliffe Theatre at 2355 E. 89^th Street in Cleveland, Ohio through April 19, 2026. For more information and tickets go to https://karamuhouse.org/ or call (216) 795-7070.