But her new friends helped crystallize her inchoate political thinking. That Simone was absurdly talented was already clear. Simone soon befriended Hughes, and through him she dove into the beating heart of that era’s young black intelligentsia, becoming close to both James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry, who would become godmother to Simone’s daughter. So is Mort Sahl, so is Ernie Banks.” He continued: “You either like her or you don’t. She is far out, and at the same time common. “So are the plays of Brendan Behan, Jean Genet and Bertolt Brecht.
“She is strange,” Hughes wrote in The Chicago Daily Defender.
Yolanda Rabun definitely channeled Nina Simone.In 1960, one year after Nina Simone’s first album, “Little Girl Blue,” was released, the poet Langston Hughes struggled to put the appeal of Simone’s music and presence that dusky voice, that unblinking gaze into words. The play is an electrifying and interactive experience for all ages with a moving call to action from Simone who sacrificed everything for love, life, and her music. No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simoneincorporates licensed Nina Simone made classic hits including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free”, “ Feeling Good” and “Young, Gifted and Black”. The show stars equity actor and national recording artist Yolanda Rabun, as Simone who, with the help of the audience, contemplates why Nina Simone risked everything to break through barriers becoming an icon of the Civil Rights era.īetween the songs, Craft’s sensitive script crisply touches on formative biographical details.
Craft’s 90-minute, one-woman show, No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone, the world meets Nina when she returns to earth to address certain events in her life, answer questions and leaves her audience with a unique perspective on dealing with fear and current events in our world today. Craft’s No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone Photos by HuthPhoto Yolanda Rabun as Nina Simone in Howard L.
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