When “Ma Rainey” burst onto the stage at opening night of August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at the Goodman Theatre earlier this month, the crowd erupted in cheers.
The titular character, deftly portrayed by Chicago actor E. Faye Butler, emerges on stage like a whirlwind. When audiences first meet her in the production, she’s already over an hour late to a recording session, and she is screaming at her agent about an incident with a police officer.
Worth noting: The year is 1927. Ma Rainey is a Black blues artist. She’s insisting her white manager inform the white policeman of the level of star he’s dealing with.
The Goodman’s production is stoking fresh interest in the real-life Rainey, including an April 18 special-edition reissue of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” on vinyl in select local record stores. Based in Chicago a century ago and nicknamed “the mother of the blues,” Rainey was a true diva, according to those who’ve studied her, including Edward Komara, distinguished librarian and music librarian at Potsdam State University of New York and author of “Encyclopedia of the Blues.”
“Ma Rainey was not only as large as her legend, but even larger,” he said. “There are accounts of her, that as part of her show, they would wheel out this large fake gramophone player, a record player, and she would pop out from the lid of the record player and start her show.”
Komara said she was known for always being well dressed and making a point for her outfits to be visible not only from the front rows, but also for people in the back.
“She had gold teeth,” he said. “She is someone who really just exuded this diva spirit and made it felt, if not seen, wherever she was performing.”
It took a so-called “diva” to take on the role of Rainey on stage. Cue Butler, who a few weeks ago over lunch on the second floor of the Goodman before rehearsal, also fits the bill of ‘diva’ — but in a good way.
In the play, Butler’s Rainey feels larger than her actual stature. Even standing in a large open space during our meeting, without amplification, Butler’s voice has a melodic boom. In a way, she speaks like the singer.
“I think the diva is the cover,” Butler says of her character. “She knows she’s talented. She’s always been a performer, and she’s used it. Performance has gotten her through life.”
To embody Ma Rainey on stage, Butler dove into the essence of the character.
“She’s a very sexual presence, too,” said Butler. “She’s aware of her sexuality. And in that time, we’re talking about the 1920s, that was something big to do, to be a Black woman who was openly available to their sexuality and not afraid of that.”
In the opening scene of the play, Ma Rainey arrives fashionably, clad in fur after a mixup regarding her luxurious automobile. In real life, Komara says Rainey was also known to travel in style.
“Many blues singers [back then] traveled by train,” he explained. “She had one of the early buses. That says a lot about where she was as a performer that she could tour in style on a bus. She didn’t have to rely on railroad timetables or anything like that. She could bring her and her whole band under one roof in this bus.”
Back at the Goodman, Butler marvels at how a Black woman, born in the mid 1880s, was able to become such a commanding presence. Underneath the big voice and flashy wardrobes, Ma Rainey was a complicated character. Born in rural Georgia, the singer spent a great deal of time in Chicago, where she recorded music for Paramount Records.
“She was a dark-skinned, African American woman,” said Butler. “She was larger than most people would think, and those things went against her in that period. She didn’t have ‘good hair.’ All those things fight against you. She was always fighting to get to the top, and once she got there, I think she said, ‘No one is ever going to pull me down again.’”
As Ma Rainey, Butler’s power is on full display during the onstage rendition of one of the blues singer’s most popular tunes: the titular “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
“It is a very real dance,” said Butler. “It was a slap on both of your legs, touching your buttocks, which was really provocative in the 20s, to slap your butt, and then to lick your finger, and slap your butt — ooh, that in itself, was not to be done.”
The provocative dance was not the only way the savvy singer went against the grain. Komara said many artists in that time period went broke during the Great Depression when banks failed. But Ma Rainey had invested in real estate. Komara said she also owned a movie theater in Columbus, Ga.. After she retired from performing on the road, she lived there, in her own building, until her death in 1939.
“She was a woman in a time when men were in power and they were telling her what to do,” said Butler, “but she wasn’t going to have anyone telling her what to do. So she took charge of her own career.”