'A Marvelous Night at the Apollo': Sterling K Brown celebrates ‘intertwined’ Black, Jewish history at theater
A new featurette on the explosive Season 3 finale of 'Marvelous Mrs Maisel' saw the actors and showrunners come together to discuss the legacy of the actual Apollo Theater in Harlem on the episode.
Partnering with the Apollo Theater, the 36-minute video, released by Amazon Prime Video, featured archival footage of legendary performers, including female comic Moms Mabley. Wanda Sykes portrayed Mabley on the show and described the role as a dream come true. Sykes also confessed that she used to dress up as Mabley as a child and was inspired to become a comic because she watched her on TV shows like the 'Ed Sullivan Show'.
The featurette dove into the history of the Apollo and how it hosted successive waves of performers and styles that defined each generation. As showrunners, Amy Sherman-Palladino and writer-director Daniel Palladino, talked to the different cast members about the "Marvelous night at the Apollo", each actor dove into what went to making the finale, which was both a tribute to the performance space as well as a platform for great storytelling within the plot. The actors interviewed in quarantine in their homes included Rachel Brosnahan, Wanda Sykes, LeRoy McClain, Darius de Haas (who provided Shy Baldwin's vocals), and Sterling K. Brown.
The most insightful comment came from Brown about what the Apollo Theater represented in terms of Black and Jewish histories: "It was such a pleasure to be part of this season because of the legacy of the performance that the Black community and the Jewish community have, that run parallel and are intertwined with one another... and also in terms of civil rights pursuit, always being allies."
He continued, "The idea of somebody Black being antisemitic or somebody Jewish being anti-Black is something anachronistic because we have a shared history of struggle and performance. I think that legacy of performance comes out of struggle and oppression... Our need to entertain to put people at ease so we can be safe." Saying that he was a "fan" of the show in the first two seasons, he wanted the showrunners to put some Black people in the show and "see the two worlds merge in such a lovely way".
Breaking down the three main components of kinds of performances staged at the Apollo, mirrored in the episode, the featurette discusses comedy -- especially the legacy of stand up comedy at Apollo, music, and dance featuring the Hines brother tap dance routine, choreographed by Marguerite Derricks and performed by the Foreman brothers.
The featurette also had Apollo’s executive producer Kamilah Forbes discussing how the Apollo was a hub of Black artistry in the past and what lies in the theater’s future. Billy “Mr. Apollo” Mitchell made an appearance as well who earned his nickname for his years of service at the theater as the tour director of the legendary performance space and his in-depth knowledge of generations of performers on stage.
The third season of 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' concluded in December 2019, and has been renewed for a fourth season.