THE ENSEMBLE THEATRE
www.ensemblehouston.com
 

Presents

FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE

A Musical Revue by Clarke Peters

June 24 through July 25, 2010

A DIVINE INTERVENTION

Interview with Anthony Boggess-Glover

Who Plays One of the Moes in Five Guys Named Moe

June 25^th, 2010
By Theresa Pisula
Houston, Texas USA
Theresa@HoustonTheatre.com

EARLY IN THE MORNING

by Louis Jordan

It's early in the morning and i can't get right
'cause i had a little date with my baby last night

Now it's early in the morning
It's early in the morning
It's early in the morning
And i ain't got nothin' but the blues

I went to all the places where we used to go
I went to her house but she don't live there no more

And it's early in the morning
It's early in the morning
It's early in the morning
And i ain't got nothin' but the blues
I went to her girlfriend´s house, but she was out
I knocked on her door and her mother started to shout
"get away from here!"

Too early in the morning
It's early in the morning
It's early in the morning
And i ain't got nothin' but the blues

Went to jenny lou's to get something to eat
The waitress looked at me, she said, "b., you sure look beat"
It's early in the morning, baby
Early in the morning
It's early in the morning
And i ain't got nothin' but the blues

Had a lot of money when i first started out
I couldn't find my baby, now my money's run out

Now it's early in the morning
It's early in the morning
It's early in the morning
And i ain't got nothin' but the blues

It's early in the morning
I ain't got nothin' but the blues

The first time I met and interviewed Anthony Glover was last year during his performance of the Cowardly Lion in THE WIZ.  At the very instant we met, we automatically clicked.  We talked like old friends especially about the most influential musician of our generation, Michael Jackson.

Anthony Boggess-Glover (or Tony as he is called by his friends) has a very passionate, resounding and contagious laugh.  One might even say it echoes, not unlike his powerful singing voice.  He has a very handsome and charming demeanor which a lot of girls will find irresistibly sexy and attractive after they see the FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE show now playing at the Ensemble Theatre through July 25^th, 2010. 

ANTHONY BOGGESS-GLOVER

So, it is fated that we meet again: on the first anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death.

Theresa:  Let me guess which Moe you are in this musical.  Would you be Eat Moe? (laughs).  You gotta be Eat Moe!

Anthony:  (Laughs) it has nothing to do with that!  What is interesting though is that each Moe was a member of Louis Jordan’s band. 

Theresa:  They’re based on real people?  I didn’t know that.

Anthony:  Yes.  Eat Moe was the bassist, I think.  No Moe was the trumpet player.  I know Big Moe was the piano player.  But yeah, they were all real people and musicians.  Mine was the base player (laughs).

Theresa:  I’m so excited…..because of the music.

Anthony:  And it’s music that you’ll know.  We’ve been doing the previews and seeing the elderly people, once they hear the music it brings back memories.  And it’s so fun!  They are songs for their day…that was it!  These were the greatest hits of their time.

Theresa:  And the songs still resonate today….

Anthony:  When you hear stuff like “Is You Is, Or Is You Ain’t, My Baby” you’ll say YES!  It’s the music…it’s so fun.  We have a 3-piece band that’s behind us.  See, I don’t wanna give away the stuff.......

Theresa:  No, tell me!

Anthony:  There’s a 3-piece band that you don’t see until the end of the show. 

Theresa:  Yeah, the director Patdro Harris told me they keep the band a secret from the audience to make it sound like the singers are just singing by themselves.  When there’s really this strong musical accompaniment behind the scenes.

Anthony:  Yeah, the Moes show up in Nomax’s house.

Theresa:  Oh, but do you see the band at the end of the show?

Anthony:  The band is revealed at the end of the show when we go to the club.  At first, people are just like, where’s the music coming from?  Where’s the band?  You don’t see them at all in the First Act.  Because normally we see the band, the conductor sees us.  But here, we have to feel each other because there are sets between us.  And we can’t turn around and look at them and say “did I mess up?”  We have to fall right into it.  And that’s fun.  We see them backstage, but we’re not supposed to, and we go, “ooops sorry!” (Laughs).

Theresa:  You’re so funny!  I love your laugh!  (Pauses) can we talk about MJ before we get into the musical?

Anthony:  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Theresa:  The last time I spoke to you, Michael Jackson just passed away.  I know you’re a big MJ fan from the interview and as you know so am I.  Have you seen the movie “This Is It”?

Anthony:  You know what?  Let me tell you.  I have the movie. 

Theresa:  You have the DVD.

Anthony:  When the movie came out I said, “I can’t do it.  I can’t do it.”  I bought the movie.  But I still can’t do it.  I tried twice (laughs).

Theresa:  No!

Anthony:  That’s right!  (Laughs) I tried twice to watch it. 

Theresa:  Why?

Anthony:  All my friends say, “Okay we’re gonna all watch it together since you can’t watch it by yourself.”  I cannot watch it.

Theresa:  You’ve never watched it at all?  Ohhhh…

Anthony:  Yeah, it’s a year! 

Theresa:  But it’s been a year. 

Anthony:  It’s a year today!  I cannot do it and I know they’re doing all these Michael Jackson specials this week.  They’re doing the 30^th anniversary…

Theresa:  I can’t believe you haven’t seen the movie.

Anthony:  I have not (laughs). 

Theresa:  You’re like the Jackson family brothers.  During the Oprah interview, some of them admitted they couldn’t watch it either.  Even Janet…

Anthony:  Yes, that is exactly why.  I can totally understand where they are at.  When Tito said, “No, I can’t…”  I said to myself, “That’s me!”  Everybody has seen it, they talk about it.  But I haven’t seen it.  As a matter of fact, it’s funny, I looked at it yesterday.  I thought about it but no.  I can’t do it yet (laughs).

Theresa:  I saw it last year when the movie came out on my birthday.  I had to see it.  It was awesome!  He was so brilliant.  It was like days before he passed away.

Anthony:  I know.  Is that not wild to see a person a couple of days before his death?

Theresa:  He was as brilliant as a star could be.  Pure musical genius!  Even the people from the stands during the rehearsals, they’re all cheering for him.  Everybody respected the man and his talent.  And there were times during the rehearsal when he tried not to sing.  He would say, “I really shouldn’t sing because I’m trying to save my vocal chords.”  But the people around him would egg him on.  They would cheer for him and he sang beautifully.  Even the guitar player Orianthi, he brings the best out of her and the people around him.  All his signature moves, it’s all there in the movie.  It’s almost as if every movement is carefully measured.  He looked fine, really.  But then his death, it happened so quickly.  I hate to keep touching on this subject.  But I am truly fascinated by what happened.  With the Louis Jordan musical, we’re about to travel back in time, 1950s Jazz to be exact.  But before we do, I just want to ask your opinion of these current events.  Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray is being charged with manslaughter.  A California state attorney general’s office is letting him keep his medical license for now.  For what?  So he can administer the injection of propofol to anybody else who might need it?  What is your opinion?

Anthony:  I am not like everybody else.  Because I really think that the guy was only doing what he was asked to do.  And some people would say, “Oh my God, he killed Michael Jackson!”  And you know but…you’re talking about the Oprah interview.  Janet (Michael Jackson’s sister) even said that they tried to stop him on many occasions. 

Theresa:  I know.  I had a friend of mine, the other day he was just talking about, “I miss Michael.  I miss Michael Jackson and his shenanigans.”  But what happened to him was something that would not have happened to anyone else. 

Anthony:  You know, hey, if Michael Jackson said to me, “I want you to help administer some IV medications so I can go to sleep.”  Who would not?

Theresa:  (Laughs) No kidding!  I would do the same thing.  I would go above and beyond what Michael Jackson would ask me to do.  And I guess that’s exactly what happened.

Anthony:  So, I’m like, you know the guy was only doing what he was asked to do.

Theresa:  (Laughs) that’s hilarious!  But I really shouldn’t laugh.

Anthony:  And had he not done that.  It would have been someone else.

Theresa:  Right.

Anthony:  You know?

Theresa:  That’s true, that’s true.  Michael had so much power.  He could have done anything he wanted to do.  He’s Michael Jackson!

Anthony:  Yes!  I don’t…..I really feel for the doctor.  You have some people who blame him for what happened.  But then you have others who really feel compassion towards him.  Because you know it wasn’t done on purpose.  But at the same time Michael was asking him to do something and he did it.  And he did not call until later, where we heard about the call that he made when Michael was unconscious.  It’s just a sad situation.

Theresa:  I know, right?  Only in the world of Michael Jackson that would have happened.  Okay good.  I’m glad to have that out of the way.  Now let’s talk about Five Guys Named Moe.  In your own words, what is the story about?

Anthony:  It’s funny that you ask that question because we were talking about Michael Jackson.  When we all sat down around the table with the director Patdro Harris and the musical director Carlton Leake, we were all asked to give one word to describe the show.  And my word was INTERVENTION.  I chose this particular word because the five guys are acting as an intervention for Nomax.  The main character Nomax is the guy that we’re trying to get him to see what he’s done to his girlfriend.  We’re like, “Look dude you messed up!”  (Laughs) and this is what’s been happening.  So, our way of getting him to understand that is through song and dance.  Isn’t that wild?

Theresa:  Well, Intervention me! 

Anthony:  (Laughs). 

Theresa:  When are you guys gonna come into my living room!?! 

Anthony:  And I have a song and initially, I didn’t look at it this way.  But the director and T. C. Carson who plays Nomax and I were talking about it.  He says, “You do realize that your song is the show stopping song.”  I have a song called Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying. 

Theresa:  I know that song. 

DON'T LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYING

Anthony:  We have some wonderful moments in the show.  But this moment is just….I mean, the way it’s staged: TC Carson (Nomax) is on one side of the stage and I’m on the other side of the stage.  And there’s a spot light on me and a special light on him.  And I’m singing to him till the end of the song.  Our director Patdro Harris says that in theatres everything is always so big.  The musical numbers get so extravagant.  But this song, it is so intimate.  He said to me, “Nothing but the words from your song say it all.”  So, when the moon goes down and the dawning and the sun comes up in the morning.  But the line is, “Don’t let the sun catch you crying, if your baby don’t want you no more.” 

Theresa:  Ohhhh…

Anthony:  That’s one of my cues.  I’m telling Nomax, “if you don’t get it now…” (laughs).  So that is our intervention.

Theresa:  That is so sweet!  So, Eat Moe, when are you gonna show up in my living room and sing that song to me?

Anthony: (Laughs).  I don’t think you want us to show up in your living room the way we do it!  Because when you see the costumes, you’re gonna go, “Oh my God!”  And it’s so funny because when the first Moe jumps out, the audience just goes “Oooohhff” (laughs).

Theresa:  Really?  Why?  What kind of costumes do you have?

Anthony:  (points to the picture).

(Foreground, left to right) Anthony Glover, T. C. Carson, Chioke Coreathers; (background) Donald Collier, Carlton Leake and Tommie Harper in FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE Now Showing at the Ensemble Theatre through July 25th, 2010.  Photo by David Bray Photography.

Theresa:  (grimaces) Oh!  That’s really……um, very colorful.

Anthony:  Yeah (laughs), so you don’t want us showing up in your living room looking like that.

Theresa:  Ah, yeah.  I guess you’re right.  That’s pretty wild.

Anthony:  (Laughs) yeah, I mean just amazing…..but that’s just the First Act.  In the Second Act, we go a little more dapper.

Theresa:  So it’s an Intervention.

Anthony:  The reason my word Intervention - is so funny is because that’s the word that we all stuck with to define the show.  We all said, “That’s it.  It is an Intervention.”  Because we are trying to get him to realize and you’ll see what happens at the show as we do the Intervention on Nomax.  And then, Ping!  He catches it. 

Theresa:  Is Louis Jordan mentioned in the show?

Anthony:  No, he’s not.  Not at all, not at all but when you read the program and see the director’s notes and the dramaturg’s notes, that’s where he’s mentioned, as well as the musical director.  If it wasn’t for Louis Jordan, we wouldn’t have anywhere to go.  The playwright Clarke Peters who wrote Five Guys Named Moe, I don’t know if Patdro told you this.  Clarke Peters sent us a letter and he calls the show a “revuesical”. 

Theresa:  Right.

Anthony:  And that made me think….hhhmmm.  I don’t care how many times you do a show you always learn stuff that’s always so different.  You’ve heard of a musical and you’ve heard of a revue.  But to put the two together and call it a “revuesical” like, whoa!  That’s true because it is.  It’s a revue of music but it’s also a musical.  So you put them together and it’s like, wow.  There you have it.  It’s all the same when you have to go through your mind, when you’re doing your character.  But you want to stay true to the work and to the art.  You know, I couldn’t sing Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying the way Brian McKnight sings it in 2010.  It just wouldn’t give the same effect.  That’s like when artists take older songs and modernize it.  It’s just not the same, you know? 

Theresa:  So Clarke Peters wrote you a letter about the show.  You know he’s in Treme on HBO.  I watch him on TV, he’s on every night.

Anthony:  I know. 

Theresa:  I’m excited to see the show especially with Louis Jordan’s music because it was shown originally in the UK.  It ran for several years and won the Lawrence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.  So I can’t wait to see it.

Anthony:  The character that I’m playing, I go back and do research and look at the people who played the part.  There were two guys who played my part (Eat Moe).  The one who really made the best impression to me was Jeffrey D. Sams.  Let me tell you who it is.  Jeffrey D. Sams is the guy who played the husband in Soul Food, the movie.  He played Vivica Fox’s husband in Soul Food.  He is a wonderful actor.  He’s been in CSI and a couple of other shows. 

Theresa:  He played it on Broadway?

Anthony:  Yeah, yeah.  He is on the original recording.

Theresa:  Wow.

Anthony:  I didn’t know he could sing.  He was also in the show Roc - he was Charles S. Dutton’s brother.  Jeffrey D. Sams, I mean I love that guy.  Neither one of us would be described as stocky.  So it’s not like Eat Moe had to be fat, that’s what people really think about.  When you really think about it, you think about Big Moe as being that type of person.  Big Moe is tall.  Eat Moe is the one who has the comedic timing.  I do mention food a lot (laughs) and that’s my way of breaking the ice.  When people are saying things and we start to argue, we’re fighting.  Eat Moe just comes out and goes “Hey!  Anybody got some food?” 

Theresa:  (Laughs).

Anthony:  “I’m starvin’ like Marvin!”  When everybody says, let’s go play, let’s do this.  I say, “I’m gonna get some food.”  I didn’t have too many lines on there because it’s always about food (laughs).

Theresa:  You have that show-stopping song.

Anthony:  Oh my God, that song.  It does something.  You’ll see because we go back to the old time club.  We have the old time microphone, you know all that stuff.  So it’s cool.

Theresa:  Tell us about each character and how well you know the actor playing the role.  Tell us about Nomax played by T. C.  Carson.

Anthony:  T. C. and I have only known each other now for 4 weeks.  And we hang out (laughs).  T. C. is so funny!  Everybody knows him as Kyle Barker from Living Single.  I don’t call him Kyle because that’s so stereotypical.  We have an inside joke, I told him one day, “You know, when you do something onstage I know how to get you.  I’ll just call you a star!”  (Laughs) so that’s our little inside joke.  You’ll hear that tonight.

Theresa:  (Laughs) what about the character Nomax?

Anthony:  Nomax is very refined.  He’s real smooth, he’s slick.  He drinks a lot.  I think that’s his way of dealing with the problem.  You know, he drinks and he smokes.  And we go, no, no, no, no, no.  You can’t do that.  That’s not what it’s all about.  You gotta find a better way to deal with it.

Theresa:  The Moes tell him that?

Anthony:  Oh yeah.  In the first five minutes of the show.  “You drink too much, you smoke too much!  You’re lying and deceiving yourself.”  That’s T. C. as Nomax.

Theresa:  What about Big Moe?

Anthony:  Big Moe is played by Carlton Leake.  Big Moe is the big brother.  He’s the older one of the Moes.  Whenever the Moes start to taunt each other, he’s the one who sort of says “Hey, hey, hey, guys, Moes!  We have business to take care of.”  Carlton who plays Moe?  He’s like that (laughs). 

Theresa:  He’s the musical director for this show.  He’s always the musical director for all the shows, THE WIZ, Christmas with Great Aunt.

Anthony:  Yes.  And he’s like Big Moe in real life - he’s like our big brother.  He really had a more challenging time with this because he’s in the show and he’s also the musical director.  So, there are times when he’s onstage and he would take that hat off as the actor.  He would turn off the onstage actor and turn on the switch and become the musical director.  And he had to be the musical director in two ways, one with the band, if something isn’t going right, something isn’t being played right, the feel wasn’t there, the groove wasn’t there.  And secondly, he had to be the musical director with the actors onstage because he knows everybody’s part musically.  For example, he knows if you’re singing out of tune, and he’ll have to direct you because your part is wrong.  That was a tough time.

Theresa:  Sure.

Anthony:  You know it’s different if you’re not in the show.  But if you’re part of it, you have to make it gel. 

Theresa:  Do any of the Moes play any instruments?

Anthony:  Yes.  Of course, Carlton plays everything.  Four-Eyed Moe is played by Tommie Harper who is also a drummer.  He doesn’t play drums on the show but he’s a professional drummer. 

Theresa:  What about the character Four-Eyed Moe?  He wears glasses.

Anthony:  He wears glasses, with no lens.  So, that’s funny.  His glasses change in between acts.  His character is the cool daddy.  He’s playing it as a real cool jive (“yeah, yeah, you know, he has those girls”).  But the individual is very quiet. 

Theresa:  Tommie Harper?  Really?

Anthony:  Yeah, very quiet.  Now, tell me if you have really good friends like, I tell people “Okay, you know Tommie’s been quiet.”  Uh-uh (shakes his head).  He’s slick.

Theresa:  I’ve seen him perform before.

Anthony:  Tommie played the Tin Man in THE WIZ.  Nice guy!  He’s a nice guy.  I’m the one that carries on (laughs) and I get everybody else in trouble.  And I walk away like, “what are you doing?  What’s been happening?”

Theresa:  Having worked with him in THE WIZ, it sounds like you all get along great.  You’re the fun guy!  You make everything fun.

Anthony:  That’s me.

FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE: Little Moe, Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe and No Moe played by Anthony Glover, Chioke Coreathers, Donald Collier, Carlton Leake and Tommie Harper.  FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE is Now Showing at the Ensemble Theatre through July 25th, 2010.  Photo by David Bray Photography.

Theresa:  So, we’re down to No Moe.  By the way, why is he called No Moe?

Anthony:  Well No Moe is a newcomer to the theatre.  After you see the show you will understand the characters.  His character, well we said that No Moe was a replica of Nomax; he is not as outspoken as Little Moe, Eat Moe or Big Moe.  Little Moe does a lot of singing and talking.  But No Moe is always on Nomax’s side.  As you watch the show, you will hear that every time we try to call Nomax “Max”, he corrects us by saying “The name is Nomax”.  And then Nomax even says that to No Moe because they have a little tat.  In the show, Nomax says to No Moe, “The name is Nomax, No Moe.”

Theresa:  (Laughs).  I can already tell it’s gonna be a fun show.  No Moe is played by Chioke Coreathers, a young guy, college graduate of Texas State University.

Anthony:  He is a young guy, new to theatre.  This is his first show.  And he is like, “How did I get caught up in this crazy group of people in my first show?”

Theresa:  (Laughs)

Anthony:  He is a substitute teacher at an elementary school here in Houston.  And he is also around the Arts because he works at the Alley Theatre.  Because you know, once you’ve been bitten by the bug, that’s it.

Theresa:  And last but not least is Little Moe played by Donald Collier.  He is making his Ensemble Theatre debut.  Is he a little guy physically?

Anthony:  Yes, he is!  Yes, he is.  Believe it or not, he is the youngest in the group.  You would think No Moe would be.  But Little Moe is the youngest of the Moes, but very, very astute.  He’s not like, “Oh I’m the youngest and I don’t know anything.”  He speaks his mind and his character talks.  As a matter of fact, he and Nomax get into a fight almost.  And then Big Moe as the big brother will break the fight up.  Little Moe, he pushes that button and he goes in and makes Nomax just lose it.  Donald Collier who plays Little Moe is a law student – grad student.  We’re like, “Are you crazy doing this?”

Theresa:  (Laughs) yeah it says here he is a graduate of UT in Austin and he is currently pursuing a Juris Doctorate at the UH.

Anthony:  We go to him and say, “Shouldn’t you be at home reading cases?”  But he has a wonderful voice.  He is a wonderful guy.  He’s not even from Houston.  This is his first professional show.

Theresa:  How has Louis Jordan’s music influenced you personally?

Anthony:  I have to admit since we started rehearsals May 18^th, 2010 from that day on until about 2 days ago, that’s all I’ve been listening to.  Because you have to live it!  I love different kinds of music.  I listen to CD’s all the time.  But through the course in preparation for this show, Louis Jordan was the only thing I had to listen to.  There are only 5 of us, well 6 with Nomax.  If one of us messes up, you’ll hear it.  Fortunately, T. C. Carson and I sing the same voice range.  So we have it worked out between the two of us.

TOMMIE HARPER stars as Four-Eyed Moe in Ensemble Theatre's 2010 Production of FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE.

The other guys can’t do that because they are the only ones who sing within their voice range.  When you listen to music, you hear the different voice ranges such as the soprano which is the highest female and the base which is the lowest male.  We have six guys and no women and we’re doing all the parts.  There’s a song called “Aint Nobody Here But Us Chickens” sung by Four-Eyed Moe.  Tommie Harper sings it to the stratosphere.  He sings soprano on the whole song.  I mean, he is up there. And then he comes back down and starts talking like this (low voice).

Theresa:  How brilliant is Louis Jordan?  I mean he wrote all these songs.

Anthony:  Yeah, when you think about Louis Jordan, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington.  These guys defined that era.  You have to do it the way it was written.  You have to stay true to it.  If not, it won’t work

Theresa:  The musicality and the instruments…

Anthony:  Upright base, no electric base.  The Upright Base will give you that feel of 1950s Jazz.  I mean, we have so many musicians in this show, we don’t even know who’s playing.  We have a young lady who plays drums…to die for!

Theresa:  Have you ever played this musical before? 

Anthony:  No, I have not.  I have to admit, it is a musical I’ve always wanted to do.

Theresa:  Have you seen it before?

Anthony:  Yeah, in New York.  It was a touring company.  There are just shows that when you see it, you wanna do it.  And Eileen (Morris, Ensemble Theatre Artistic Director) and I talked about her selections two years ago.  And she says “I got this show this week, this is mine this year, but what am I gonna do next year?”  I tried to convince her and said, “Eileen…”  Now I did a show here called GET READY which consisted of six people, five guys and one female.  She’s never done an all-male show, an all-male musical.  And she said, “Well….” and I insisted, “FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE!”

Theresa:  (Laughs)

Anthony:  And she says, “Really?” and I told her, “Carlton has done it already.”  Carlton Leake has done it in Memphis.  He was the musical director and he was in the show.  So I told her, she went to talk to Carlton about it and here we are.

Theresa:  What was it like working with the director Patdro Harris?

Anthony:  This is my fifth show with Patdro.  I know where he’s going because I know him.  I know what he thinks.  We communicate a certain way and when he’s trying to tell me something, I totally get it.  He even said to me, “I know when I say things to you, you get it.  It’s there. I don’t have to worry about it.”  And he told me the other day that he wants me to be better than I was in the last show.  Not saying that he’s comparing the fact that I was bad in the last show.  He means that he wants me to come back and do something different and better than my last best show.  I’ve learned that from doing AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ five times.  Each time I am supposed to walk away with something different.  And I did.  Working with Patdro because I know the type of person he is, he brought so much more out of me.  He’s a wonderful person.

Theresa:  What was it like when you first saw FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE?

Anthony:  I was blown away.  Because I just couldn’t believe so much energy was on that stage.  Also, just like the show Patdro who is also the choreographer has a lot of energy.  That’s just the way he is.  That starts at the top and if the director has IT, if he has that type of excitable and electrifying energy, it has to trickle down.  Let me tell you, the show starts in less than an hour; I’ll be stretching in about 20 minutes because you can’t go in there cold.  We talked about it the other day and one of the guys said, “How do you guys stay healthy?”  You have to eat right; you have to drink plenty of water and Gatorade.  I mean, that’s what we lived off of: fruit, nuts, crackers, Gatorade and vegetables.  That’s it.

Theresa:  Wow.  Who is your favorite actor?  What about your favorite musician?

Anthony:  Oh my God!  It may sound very cliché but I really love this guy.  Every year he does something incredible.  He just won a Tony.  Denzel Washington.

Theresa:  Oh yeah, he has an Oscar too. 

Anthony:  Oscar, Tony, you know he can play anything!  But he is amazing.  As far as musicians right now, I’m really leaning more towards a lot of JAZZ stuff.  Not just because of this show, but I’m listening to a lot of Branford Marsalis.  I love Harry Connick Jr., and they are two different types of jazz.  But I’ve been listening to a lot of Branford Marsalis and I love his music!

Theresa:  What would you like to say to the Houston Theatre-going audience?

Anthony:  We need to support it.  It is something like they’ve never seen before.  It is something that will literally knock your socks off.

Theresa:  Earlier on the interview, I used the word “fun” to describe the show.  The word “fun” is an understatement.  The show FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE is what I would describe as Beyond-Beyond.  It is beyond entertaining.  It is beyond hilarious.  They had the entire audience laughing, singing and dancing down the aisles.  We danced a Conga Line, the Limbo Rock and we sang songs called “Push Ka Pi Shi Pie”, “I Like ‘Em Fat Like That,” Saturday Night Fish Fry” and more.  T. C. Carson, Donald Collier, Chioke Coreathers, Anthony Glover, Tommie Harper and Carlton Leake’s voices are quite heavenly especially when they sing acapella.  The finale IS YOU IS OR IS YOU AIN’T MY BABY sung by Nomax and the five Moes is simply divine.

I have seen the show INTERVENTION on TV, but it’s always so sad, gloomy and depressing.  I swear to you, FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE is the happiest Intervention I have ever witnessed.  Those five guys named Moe will encourage you to participate in all the fun activities.  They will not take “NO” or No Moe for an answer.  A lot of us could use an Intervention like that, maybe even the invincible Michael Jackson.  So I wish to thank Louis Jordan for writing such beautiful music and the playwright Clarke Peters for a helluva great time!

So hop on that Metro bus to get to the Ensemble Theatre at 3535 Main Street, Houston Texas 77002 and don’t miss Louis Jordan’s Greatest Hits in Five Guys Named Moe before July 25th, 2010.

FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE: Little Moe, Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe and No Moe played by Anthony Glover, Chioke Coreathers, Donald Collier, Carlton Leake (Musical Director) and Tommie Harper with Nomax played by T. C. Carson and Director and Choreographer Patdro Harris.  FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE is Now Showing at the Ensemble Theatre through July 25th, 2010.  Photo by David Bray Photography.

IS YOU IS, OR IS YOU AIN’T MY BABY

By Louis Jordan

I got a gal who's always late
Any time we have a date
But I love her
Yes I love her

I'm gonna walk right up to her gate
And see if I can get it straight
Cause I want her
I'm gonna ask her

Is you is or is you ain't my baby

Way you're acting lately makes me doubt
You’se is still my baby, baby
Seems my flame in your heart's done gone out

A woman is a creature that has always been strange
Just when you're sure of what you'll find
She's gone and made a change

Is you is or is you ain't my baby
Maybe baby's found somebody new
Or is my baby still my baby true

Is you is or is you ain't my baby
Maybe baby's found somebody new
Or is my baby still my baby true

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