VOA常速英语2014--Broadway Celebrates Legendary Cotton Club 百老汇庆祝传奇的棉花俱乐部（在线收听）

Broadway Celebrates Legendary Cotton Club 百老汇庆祝传奇的棉花俱乐部

NEW YORK — From the early 1920s to 1940, Harlem’s Cotton Club was the showplace for African-American performers in New York.

纽约—从20世纪20年代早期到20世纪40年代， 哈莱姆棉花俱乐部是美国黑人表演者在纽约表演的地方。

Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith and the Nicholas Brothers are just a few of the artists whose work is interpreted in a new revue on Broadway called After Midnight.

莲纳.荷恩，杜克.艾林顿，凯伯.凯洛威，贝西.史密斯和尼古拉斯兄弟等一批艺术家在解释百老汇讽刺时事的一种新滑稽剧被叫做”午夜之后”.

New York University History Professor David Levering Lewis, author of When Harlem Was In Vogue, thinks the show does a pretty good job of recreating the legendary nightclub.

纽约大学历史教授，大卫.利弗林.路易斯，一位是当时哈莱姆正在流行时的作者，认为“午夜之后”这种表演确实是这个传奇夜总会娱乐消遣的好方式。

"I thought it captured the flavor of what would have been one night - the best ever - at the Cotton Club," he said. 

“我认为它抓住了一个夜晚应该有的味道-永远之最-在棉花俱乐部”，他说，

After Midnight began as a collaboration between Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Jack Viertel, artistic director of Encores, an organization that puts on concert versions of old musicals. Viertel says they both feel close to the subject.

“午夜之后”作为一项在林肯中心的爵士总监温顿.马沙利斯和重唱艺术总监杰克.菲尔特，菲尔特他是把旧音乐融入音乐会的组织，菲尔特说他们都感觉贴近主题。

"I have a fixation with Harold Arlen, who started his career, or early in his career, wrote songs for the Cotton Club," Viertel said. "And Wynton has a lifelong obsession with Duke Ellington, and, while Arlen was writing songs for the Cotton Club, Duke Ellington was the house band of the Cotton Club."

“我和哈罗德.阿伦有了一个定位，哈罗德.阿伦在他早期的生涯是为棉花俱乐部写歌。“菲尔特说。温顿是杜克.艾林顿终身的粉丝，当阿伦正在为棉花俱乐部写歌的时候，杜克.艾林顿是棉花俱乐部的乐队。

Viertel and Marsalis drew on old photographs, YouTube videos and classic recordings.

菲尔特和马沙利斯凭借的是旧照片，You Tube 录像和经典的录音。

The Cotton Club was owned by a Chicago gangster named Owney Madden as a way to sell liquor at inflated prices during Prohibition, when the sale of alcohol was banned.

棉花俱乐部是由一位名叫欧尼.马登的芝加哥匪头掌管，欧尼.马登在酒被禁止销售时，在开夜总会以酒价浮动的形式来销售酒。

While it was located in the heart of the African-American neighborhood of Harlem and showcased black performers, it was open to whites only, says historian Levering Lewis.

“当棉花俱乐部位于哈莱姆美国黑人邻居的中心，舞台是由黑人表演时，它仅对白人开放。“历史学家利弗林.路易斯说。

"As everyone knows, it was infamously racially-exclusive," Lewis said. "W.C. Handy wished to go one evening to The Cotton Club and he was turned away. And he could hear his music being performed." 

“正如每个人都知道，它臭名昭著于种族排外“，路易斯说。”W.C. 汉迪希望去棉花俱乐部一晚上，随后他就被解雇，而且他可以听见他的音乐正在被表演。

That gives actor Dulé Hill pause. 

这使演员杜尔.希尔踌躇不前。

"As much as we try, I don’t think we’ll really ever understand what that felt like; to come on the stage and to be so fabulous and to be so amazing and to be so elegant and classy, but not be able to sit down," Hill said. 

“我们尽力去做，我认为我们重来没有真正明白那种感觉像什么；登上舞台，如此的难以置信，如此令人惊讶，如此高雅和上等，但是就是不能坐下。“希尔说。

Hill, who’s best known for his work in TV, serves as master of ceremonies, reciting poetry by Langston Hughes, as well as singing and dancing. 

希尔，在电视节目中显为人知，作为一个仪式的主持，背诵，唱着和表演真兰斯顿.休斯的诗。

The original Cotton Club revues featured some offensive racial stereotyping, which Viertel says the show consciously avoids. 

原始的棉花俱乐部滑稽剧的特点是套用老套的攻击性的种族，菲特尔说这个节目在有意识的躲避。

"I think we decided that one of the services we could do for the artists who created the work originally was to give them an opportunity to be liberated from that circumstance," Viertel said. "We didn’t think it would serve them, or our current cast or musicians to try to, sort of, circumvent the joy of the art with the shame of the social reality, which continues in this country in various ways up to this very day."

“我认为我们决定我们能为艺术家做的是给他们一个逃离现状的机会。“菲特尔说”我们任务是它能服务他们，或者我们当时的投掷，或者音乐人去尝试几分每天以各种各样的方式持续存在社会现实羞耻的包围着艺术的高兴。“

After Midnight is not trying to whitewash history, says Hill.

“午夜之后不去掩饰历史“希尔说。

"It’s not that we’re brushing it underneath the rug and saying 'No, don’t pay any attention to that,'” he said. "No, that informs everything we’re doing. But we’re choosing to celebrate and life is all about choice. And so is art."

“它不是我们正在地毯下冲洗它，并且不关心它。“他说。”不，那是告知每一件我们正在做的事情。但是我们选择去庆祝，生活处处是选择。它就是艺术。

By choosing to celebrate the art of the entertainers who made the Cotton Club famous, After Midnight is giving a new generation a chance to discover the music, dance and magic of an earlier era.

选择去庆祝那些使棉花俱乐部闻名的表演者的艺术，午夜之后是给新生代一次去发现音乐、舞蹈和一个更早时代的魔法。