A Light in the Darkness

The story of an underrated song from a beloved musical

Two weeks ago, I had the chance to see a local community theater perform a version of the beloved musical, Hairspray.

I’ve always had a mixed relationship with the musical — I enjoyed the movie, but hated John Travolta, was indifferent towards the “Original Broadway Cast” recording and was not a huge fan AT ALL of the live television special last Christmas (except for Harvey Fierstein).

But, I must say, the performance by the JCC Uncommoners absolutely tilted my scale towards the positive relationship scale. I haven’t been able to get the songs out of my head since I saw the musical on Nov. 3.

But, while perhaps the biggest (and intended) audience reaction came at the end for “You Can’t Stop The Beat,” arguably the staple song for the show, I left that night with a different tune in my head.

—

“I Know Where I’m Going,” performed by the character of “Motormouth Maybelle,” an African-American woman who takes over “The Corny Collins Show” on Negro Day each month, received a standing ovation in the middle of the show — unheard of and something I’d never really experienced.

The performance by JamieLee Rose was indeed inspiring, but the text by Scott Wittman makes the power of the song rather easy to relate to.

Consider:

There’s a light in the darkness
Though the night is black as my skin
There’s a light, burning bright, showing me the way
But I know where I’ve been

There’s a cry in the distance
It’s a voice that comes from deep within
There’s a cry asking why, I pray the answer’s up ahead, yeah
‘Cause I know where I’ve been

There’s a road we’ve been travelin’
Lost so many on the way
But the riches will be plenty
Worth the price, the price we had to pay

There’s a dream in the future
There’s a struggle that we have yet to win
And there’s pride in my heart
‘Cause I know where I’m going, yes I do
And I know where I’ve been, yeah

There’s a road we must travel
There’s a promise we must make
Oh, but the riches, the riches will be plenty
Worth the risks and the chances that we take

There’s a dream, yeah, in the future
There’s a struggle that we have yet to win
Use that pride in our hearts to lift us up to tomorrow
‘Cause just to sit still would be a sin

I know it, I know it, I know where I’m going
Lord knows I know where I’ve been
Oh, when we win, I’ll give thanks to my God
‘Cause I know where I’ve been

Musically, Marc Shaiman matches the text with the mood of the piece incorporating a Gospel-feel to the overall scope (a powerful choir sound backing up Motormouth) and even getting as detailed as adding a mezzo descant to the second verse to create that “cry in the distance.”

Genius and HIGHLY underrated, in my opinion.

Who did it better?

Well, let’s evaluate each “Motormouth,” shall we?

Mary Bond Davis (2002, original Broadway cast)

Davis gives perhaps the most emotional performance and you can experience the rush she is feeling from performing in front of an audience (as a performer, nothing beats that). While her vocal quality alone does not grant her the score I’m about to give, it is her phrasing and ability to take the emotion to the part that sells her performance in this piece alone.

Grade: A

Queen Latifah (2007, movie)

I LOVE “the Queen” and in 2007, for those casual viewers who were not familiar with the musical, her legitimacy as an actress and public figure added legitimacy to a movie version of a beloved musical that was going to find scrutiny whether it was actually good or not. (Sorry, Zac Efron — get over it.)

I love that through the power of Hollywood, the song is able to be presented through the march-through-Baltimore sequence rather than “Big, Blonde, and Beautiful.”

It’s more powerful that way, not to mention Latifah absolutely destroys the elongated “I know” note at the end of the piece that each diva who portrays Maybelle takes the liberty of doing.

The only thing that would have made this better would be if it was performed in front of life audience … oh, wait …

You’re welcome.

Grade: A

Jennifer Hudson (2016, live TV special)

I’ve always enjoyed Jennifer Hudson no matter what she’s singing. She’s the definition of a true, Hollywood success story — gets eliminated off American Idol and ends up winning an Oscar? Pretty sick.

Her rendition of this song is a good one — but it’s perhaps the most diva of all three. I understand there needs to be an element of Aretha Franklin when performing a piece like this, but she lets her voice overpower the piece … especially at the end during that pivotal “I know” moment before the piece wraps up.

She’s good — don’t get me wrong, but it’s hard to re-originate a role defined by some dominant predecessors.

Grade: A-

—

“I Know Where I’ve Been” is moving.

It is an anthem of hope and resilience and it stresses the cognizance of knowing where you come from when you reach that final goal.

The final goal, however, in this sense, is far from being accomplished.

But when that day comes, “the riches will be plenty” and will be “worth the price, we had to pay.”

Pax et Bonum.