When I call Melissa Ritz she reveals she’s currently at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. conducting research on the subject of her one woman show Bombshell of Rhythm: The Life and Secrets of Ina Ray Hutton. It’s testament to her commitment to telling Hutton’s life story that she is constantly adding material to a show which was already pretty great in the version I attended. As proven onstage, Ritz is a perfectionist unafraid to play over half a dozen different characters, which she imprints with unique traits and personalities, all of whom she embodies to help gain insight into the life of one of the most enigmatic performers of the twentieth century.
Hutton was the most successful female bandleader of her time, going as far as to having her own television show in the 1950s, an era during which women on TV were only meant to appear as objects of adoration or support for men. Constantly criticized and judged for challenging the conventions of her times, Hutton dreamed of nothing else but to be respected for her skills as a conductor. Laced with social commentary and finely tuned drama, Ritz’s show turns Hutton’s life into a melancholy melody, and it was a thrill to converse with her about what’s next for the show and what she’s discovered in her research.
You have many things in common with Ina, such as the fact that you were an army brat and she entertained the troops during WWII, and that she spent time working in Vegas, and so did you. Were parallels such as this what drew you to tell her story or things you discovered along the way which made it clear you had to play her?
Great question, these are actually things I discovered about her as I did the research. What drew me to her story initially was the performance value I saw from her videos on YouTube, and I thought she was interesting because she was tap dancing, singing and conducting this all-female band, and when I did more research I found out she toured with the USO so it felt more personal because I was in the Air Force and did a tour with a program similar to the USO, called Tops in Blue. I traveled around the US and other countries, as a vocalist along with 30 other performers including dancers and musicians. This was before the internet, so that experience made me feel connected to Ina. I also discovered she lived in Las Vegas and I lived there for ten years.
I can imagine a series of goosebumps…
Totally! There were so many similarities, she also has an ex-brother-in-law who still lives in Vegas, and we connected, so for me to have that connection with someone that was close to her at one point in her life made me want to tell her story.
Your show is a one-woman-show, in which you play all the male and female characters. Were you concerned that the show would be thought of a novelty like Ina’s shows were?
Sure absolutely, people have seen it for that and it’s out of my control. I never really thought of it that way but you’re right (laughs). It’s hard, when I’m dressed the way I am wearing rhinestones and I’m playing a male character, people have to get a little bit imaginative, and it can be a challenge, but I welcome that. I think it’s fun for the audience, and if they think of it as a novelty act I hope it’s only for a second and they are able to see past that.
I was sure that this was part of your thesis because theatre seems to be challenging audiences more than other mediums in terms of what to expect, for instance on stage we see more blind casting than we do on television and film.
That’s right, as an actor it’s really fun to portray all these characters and to challenge myself as an actor, I didn’t know how to tap dance until this show for instance. Writing the script was also a challenge, because I had all this information I had to turn into a story, rather than just stating facts and reciting her highlights. Live theatre is so much fun because you ask the audience to take a ride with you and stick with you all through the end. You hope by the end they connected to the story. Every time I do the show I learn more about Ina too.
How did you come up with the press conference and flashback as a framing device? I can swear I see some Citizen Kane influence in there.
No, there were no movies that influenced it really, I was influenced by Chazz Palminteri’s one man show A Bronx Tale, I saw his show twice in Las Vegas, and then a friend of mine Kahlil Ashanti also has a one man show called Basic Training. Both those shows got me excited about doing a solo show, then I also watched Whoopi Goldberg’s and Anna Deavere Smith’s shows. I also wanted to move the story forward with questions the audience might have, while showing how male journalists constantly criticized her, and the best way to do that was to use voiceover reporters, not only reporting on her but almost using this like an interrogation tactic.
That kind of journalism is also still relevant, sometimes the artist’s personal life is more important than the art.
Especially back then, Ina had no one to look up to, movies were just becoming popular and people wanted to know more about the stars offstage, and nobody really knew what to do with this information. Words would get twisted around and Ina didn’t have any other mentors, other women who’d been through that. She was one of the first people to say “we’re not talking about that, we’re talking about my career”, especially because she was a bombshell and used her sexuality to sell her act, she defined how to be respected intellectually even though she was a bombshell.
Why do you think it’s so hard for some people to reconcile that the intellectual and sexual aspects of a woman co-exist and don’t negate each other?
Yes, oh what a question huh? It’s a great question and I’m not sure I have an answer for it, it’s something that I shake my head at too. Women should be able to celebrate all the liberties that men have and not need to explain themselves or apologize for anything.
What I was interested in getting to is the fact that so many things about Ina’s time are still going on. For example a big part of the plot revolves around the fact that some believe Ina was “secretly black”, an issue that’s especially relevant with rising racial tensions in the USA. What do you hope people will get out of this?
Her ethnicity is such a heavy topic and people have been both very critical and supportive of this. In my research it shows that she had African American ancestry and people get fixated on things like the percentage, and the fact is she was born in 1916 and during that time in Chicago this was an issue for her. People were being killed and lynched, there were many hardships, socially and economically, that came from being part African American, they didn’t care what percentage. In the census record it says that she was mulatto, and in my research it shows that her mother decided to “pass” for the betterment of her two daughters. It wasn’t just the racial aspect either, when Ina went on television in the 1950s she was having death threats for being a woman on TV! The FBI had to get involved because she was getting notes that said if she didn’t go off television she would be the next Black Dahlia. There was always something she was trying to overcome.
What’s next for Bombshell?
After my run at the Soho Playhouse I take it to Chicago which is great because that’s where she was from. That’s where her extended family lives so maybe they can fill me in on some details. My ultimate goal for this show is to have it made into a film, I think it’s such a great story, not just Ina’s but also all the girls in her band. It’s a great project for women, it’s a historical piece and it educates people about the role of women in jazz. I would love to have a big band onstage performing the show.
You mentioned you’d be doing even more research, will the show keep undergoing changes? When will you have the perfect show you envisioned?
The show is always getting developed because I’m always learning new information about her, so I’m at the Library of Congress watching some TV shows that don’t exist anywhere else. Learning what songs she sang, her mannerisms, tidbits about her life I might be able to use. You might have noticed that at the end of the show it doesn’t wrap up everything that happened to her because there’s so much I don’t know about the end of her life. She had six husbands and no children, and when she retired from music she stepped out of the spotlight and there’s nothing on her. She died in 1984 but there’s a good 15 years in her life where I don’t know what she did and I’d love to find out.
For more on Bombshell of Rhythm visit the official website.
