Standing 6’ 3”, weighing 365 lbs and bad as she wanted to be, “Big Mama” (Willie Mae Thornton) became one of America’s wildest R&B women and one of the blues’ most colorful pioneers. Known for “Hound Dog”, “Ball ‘n Chain” and “Watermelon Man”, this musical revue takes the audience through one woman’s gritty, hard-rocking history of blues, booze and a Who’s Who of legendary talents who were catapulted into stardom via HER recordings.
This video is excerpts from the 2000 Canadian production that was written and produced by Audrei-Kairen.
Contact Info:
Audrei-Kairen
Producer/Writer
audrei-kairen@hotmail.com
702.271.4446
Timecode and credits
00:00 Show Graphic
00:03 Author’s contact info
00:10 Excerpts from Lunchbox Theatre’s production
00:30 Piano Player introduces Big Mama Thornton
01:21 Big Mama Thornton enters
01:30 “Black Rat”
02:20 monologue-Young and cleaning hotels
04:05 monologue-How I got my singing start
04:40 “Catfish Blues”
09:00 monologue-Archie Moore and Buddy Guy
10:00 monologue-Johnny Ace playing Russian Roulette
12:24 monologue-closing message to audience
12:50 “Wang Dang Doodle”
17:06 Author’s contact info
17:14 End of show and standing ovation