You can practically feel the humidity wafting from “Story-ville.” Set in the final days of the famed New Orleans neighborhood — a notorious red-light district that’s also considered the birthplace of jazz — it begins with a mournful march down the aisle, with musicians accompanying a tiny coffin.
But while the York Theatre Company’s new musical has atmosphere to spare, it lacks a compelling storyline. Despite lots of colorful characters and plot strands, the show seems musically overstuffed but dramatically thin.
Composer Mildred Kayden reveals her love for New Orleans jazz with a bountiful score of nearly two dozen songs. Performed by an onstage seven-piece band — including a tuba — numbers such as “Animal Stomp,” “Demi-Monde” and “Welcome to New Orleans” feel authentic, even if they inevitably pale in comparison to the Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton classics.
The episodic story line concerns the arrival of Butch “Cobra” Brown (Kyle Robert Carter), a trumpet player and former boxer described as “the fighter with the eyes that hypnotize.” He falls in love with Tigre (Zakiya Young), a singer who performs in the brothel owned by Countess Willie (Ernestine Jackson, of “Guys and Dolls” and “Raisin” fame).
Other characters include corrupt mayor Mickey Mulligan (D.C. Anderson); Hot Licks Sam (Michael Leonard James), Butch’s musical rival; fortuneteller Mama Magique (NaTasha Yvette Williams) and Baron Fountainbleau (Carl Wallnau), a sleazy Frenchman who tries to entice Tigre to perform at his Paris nightclub.
The Baron also invites the sultry singer to be his queen in the Fat Tuesday Parade, which would be a first.
“A black queen with a white king?” the mayor scoffs. “It can’t happen.”
Written by the award-winning playwright Ed Bullins (“The Taking of Miss Janie”), “Storyville” has been kicking around regional theaters for years. But it still feels very much like a work in progress. It also seems to be bursting at the seams, with the action frequently spilling into the tiny theater’s single narrow aisle.
Director Bill Castellino keeps the action moving at a quick clip, and choreographer Mercedes Ellington — Duke’s granddaughter — gives the sexy ensemble some slinky dance numbers. But despite its affection for a bygone era, “Storyville” doesn’t quite bring that notorious red-light district back to life.