The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s comes to life in Ain’t Misbehavin’, the three-time Tony Award-winning musical revue. Join five sensational performers on a sassy, sultry journey – from uptown clubs to Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood – through the timeless music of Thomas “Fats” Waller. You’ll be jumpin’ and jivin’ with memorable songs such as “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Black and Blue,” “This Joint is Jumpin’,” and “I’ve Got A Feeling I’m Falling.”

STARRING

DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER and MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Music by Thomas “Fats” Waller
Conceived by: Richard Maltby, Jr. and Murray Horwitz
Created and Originally Directed by: Richard Maltby, Jr.
Original Choreography and Musical Staging by: Arthur Faria
Musical Adaptations, Orchestrations & Arrangements by: Luther Henderson
Vocal & Musical Concepts  and Musical Arrangements by: Jeffrey Gutcheon  & William Elliot
Originally produced by: The Manhattan Theatre Club
Originally produced on Broadway by: Emanuel Azenberg, Dasha Epstein, The Shubert Organization, Jane Gaynor & Ron Dante

Maine State Music Theater Subscribers and Portland Stage Members receive $5 off adult tickets to any performance of Ain’t Misbehavin’ from August 6th through August 18th.

NOTE – ALL PERFORMANCES of Ain’t Misbehavin’ take place at: Portland Stage 25A Forest Avenue Portland, Maine 04101

Premium on stage seating available – Have you ever wanted to be in a Maine State Music Theater or Portland Stage production? Now you can! We are inviting 4 people to sit onstage during each performance of Ain’t Misbehavin’.

Premium on stage seating is available for $10 per ticket. Seating is limited to 2 on-stage tables, and just 2 people per table. Contact the Box Office by phone or in-person to upgrade your seats.
On-stage seating is first-come, first-served and is subject to availability.

Fats Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an African-American jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer. He was born Thomas Wright Waller in New York City.

Waller studied classical piano and organ before apprenticing himself to legendary Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson. Johnson introduced Waller to the world of rent parties (a party with a piano player, designed to help pay the rent by charging the guests), and soon he developed a performing career.

He was an excellent pianist – now usually considered one of the very best who ever played in the stride style – but his songwriting and his lovable, roguish stage personality (“One never knows, do one?”) overshadowed his playing. Before his solo career, he played with many performers, from Erskine Tate to Bessie Smith, but his greatest success came with his own five- or six-piece combo, FATS WALLER AND HIS RHYTHM. Among his songs are “Squeeze Me” 1919, “Ain’t Misbehavin'” 1929, “Blue Turning Grey Over You” 1930, “Honeysuckle Rose” 1929, “I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling” 1929, and “Jitterbug Waltz” 1942.

He collaborated with the Tin Pan Alley lyricist Andy Razaf and had a commercially successful career, which according to some music critics eclipsed his great musical talent. His nickname came about because he weighed nearly 300 pounds (136 kg). His weight and drinking are believed to have contributed to his death.

Waller also made a successful tour of the British Isles in the late 1930’s, and appeared in one of the earliest BBC Television broadcasts. He also appeared in several feature films and short subject films, most notably STORMY WEATHER in 1943.

With Razaf he wrote “What Did I Do (To Be So Black and Blue)?” 1929 which became a hit for Louis Armstrong. This song, a searing treatment of racism, black and white, calls into question the accusations of “shallow entertainment” levelled at both Armstrong and Waller.

On December 15, 1943, at age 39, Waller died aboard an eastbound train in the vicinity of Kansas City, Missouri, following a west coast engagement.