Earlier in July, acclaimed author Walter Mosley took to the Edward Tyler Nahem Theater to share excerpts from his latest offering Debbie Doesn’t Do It Anymore. Amidst the shocked looks from the content he chose to read from his book about an ex-porn star, Mosley also surprised guests by sharing news that he had plans to bring his previous work Devil in a Blue Dress to Broadwa…AND that it would be scored by none other than jazz legend Branford Marsalis.
Exciting as it may be, some skepticism still looms as this isn’t the first news of further adaptation from Mosley’s now classic book of the same name. We originally got to see Denzel Washington in the role of Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins in the film adaptation of Devil in a Blue Dress but of all the Easy Rawlins-based stories, there haven’t been any other offerings. Additionally, there was talk at some point of NBC developing a show around the character but that was eventually passed on and any other news has been hard to come by. Hopefully, adapting the story for Broadway will prove more fruitful than other ventures with the series, and Branford Marsalis already being named as part of the project is definitely a good sign.
The plot of Devil in a Blue Dress follows Easy, a World War II veteran living in the Watts area of Los Angeles, on his who-done-it journey to find the wife of the mayoral favorite, a white woman, hiding in the black neighborhood. Drama ensues as Easy finds himself amidst murder, corruption and scandalous activities in his search for the missing woman.
Probably taking the route of old film noir and similar themes of other works in the same era, we’re excited about what Marsalis will bring to this project and will hopefully be reporting back to you with more details as they develop.
