Norm Lewis Is Back in a Revival of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men

People often joke about already knowing the last line of their obituary. Norm Lewis has performed for decades and still one wonders: Will he always be described as the first Black man to be the Phantom on Broadway? Well, Lewis not only doesn’t worry, he just keeps on going. And now he is playing Russell Parker, the lead actor in a revival of the great Lonne Elder III play Ceremonies in Dark Old Men. The venue is once again Off Broadway, at the intimate Theatre at St. Clements through May 18.

Somehow that almost feels right for Lewis and company. Even though the stage has been remade into a failing Harlem barbershop in the 1950s. “The venue is also a church, and that adds a spiritual component that works,’” Lewis says of the intimate 160-seat theater, which actually was a church before it was converted.

“It’s small and intimate, no bad seats. You and the other actors feel you are in a church of thespians, if you will.” When I mentioned the recent death of Pope Francis and the incredible outpouring of emotion, he added that he’d sung for that Pope at a concert at Madison Square Garden. “But I did not get a chance to meet him.”

Lewis admits he had not seen, or even knew much about, this play even though it was a Pulitzer finalist in 1969 after first earning the playwright critical acclaim in its Off Broadway debut. Lewis soon realized it has enjoyed a reverential following ever since. “Suddenly, everyone was telling me they loved this show, they’d studied it in college, or did a production somewhere. And I learned that all these famous people like Billy Dee Williams and Glynn Turman had done it. Once I really studied it, I realized how poetic and tragic it is; I am so honored they’d trust me with this character and this material.”

In the show, Lewis plays a father and a former vaudevillian, which is a nice fit, since he is known for his singing—and occasional dancing—as much as anything. But no humming or strutting in this one. “We wanted it to remain a straight period piece,” he says.

As for strictly talking, not using his melodic chops? “When you’re doing theater with music, that stamina has to be there eight days a week,” he notes, “and the voice has to be pristine. Doing a straight play like this is still a discipline medium, but you don’t have to pay attention to those other things.”

”Working with Norm on this revival of Ceremonies In Dark Old Men has been a rewarding and enlightening experience,” says director Clinton Turner Davis. “I am amazed how often we were ‘on the same page’ artistically, often completing each other’s thoughts, or sharing a sense of humor, and most importantly, how we shared tremendous respect for Lonne Elder’s masterpiece. That kind of communication and collaboration doesn’t happen often enough.”

Have we reached a color-blind point, where anyone can do anything, regardless of race? Yes and no, Lewis suggests. “There seems to be a reversal in our society that’s happening,” he warns. “We’re on a trajectory of being considered for different roles, accepting that anyone can bring authenticity, no matter the color. There’s still a ways to go. Hamilton changed a lot of things,” he adds, joking that because of the worldwide acclaim of the play and its all-Black cast, some students now want their textbooks “corrected” because guys named Washington and Burr are shown as white men.

While he is not a political activist—per se—he is clearly aware of what our current leadership is proposing or disposing. “It’s very concerning,” he says, about what the Kennedy Center and the public networks are facing. “I wish I had an answer or the great solution,” he says. ‘Every day there’s something new. PBS, NPR—what is happening? We have to figure out what to do as a society to get to where we are as Americans. PBS has been a saving grace for me my whole life: From watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers as a child, and now as someone who has performed on PBS so many times. It feels like full-circle.”

His own heroes, as he outgrew Fred Rogers and Bert and Ernie, included Sidney Poitier. “I still remember seeing To Sir With Love and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, says the 61-year-old actor. “Sidney was the lead, and that was inspiring. Someone who looked like me, but showing the struggles he had to go through to get to those places.”

Lewis moved from Tallahassee, Fla., to New York some 36 years ago, and still loves it here. “There is always this sense of newness,” he says. “I don’t think there are a lot of natives anymore. It still has the buzz, and somehow manages to feel small, and convenient, and you always run into somebody. I live on the Upper West Side and it’s such a great neighborhood.”

Now, it’s all about those “ceremonies” taking place on West 46th Street. So far, the audiences have been “different ages, different colors,” says Lewis. “No matter the cultural background, people are saying, ‘Oh my god, that character could be my uncle.’ ”

And what about Lewis and endless games of checkers in the barbershop with a friendly neighbor? A grown daughter, Adele (Morgan Siobhan Green), fumes about her father wasting his time, bantering with her unemployed brothers. “I knew already how to play,” he says, “but what we had to figure out was how to dramatize the big moves in the script. People are sitting close to the stage watching, so it has to at least look like we know the game.”

I’d put my money on Norm Lewis in any game in town.

Michele Willens’s Stage Right or Not airs weekly on the NPR affiliate Robinhoodradio.