Malcolm-Jamal Warner: Don’t confuse him with Theo Huxtable

>Archive - PWW Print Edition Archive - 2006 Editions - Feb. 11, 2006


 

The Chicago State University campus theatre came alive Jan. 28 with A Night of Spoken Word, Jazz, and Funk featuring Malcolm-Jamal Warner. In the words of the Dells, “Oh what a night!”

Don’t make the mistake of confusing this grown man with the young boy who brought Theo Huxtable to life in your living room every Thursday night how ever many years ago, or any other character you’ve seen him play on television. Malcolm-Jamal Warner mesmerized the auditorium with his urban jazz/funk spoken word concert. He and his fellow musicians turned it out. I mean they turned it out!

The theater was packed with young women who revealed they could appreciate the musings of a man whose words gave evidence of serious creative thought even when speaking of the very naughty. He took you into the naughty so cleanly that you willingly followed even though you knew exactly where he was headed. I must say as an over grown woman that his words were oh so clever that you could only ooze joy in the presence of his magic. The men in the audience were all smiles. I looked.

If his concert ever comes to your town, don’t make the mistake of not going because you’ve seen Theo, in the reruns we perpetually watch, enough for a life time. Malcolm-Jamal Warner is a mature thinker who captures urban cool with a style which is pleasingly edgy. He takes you there with language, subject matter, and social commentary, but he does it so well that it’s all good. On a four star scale, I give his spoken word concert five stars!

Malcolm-Jamal Warner will appear Friday, Feb. 24, in Santa Monica, Calif., at The Temple Bar, 1026 Wilshire Blvd., 10 p.m., (310) 393-6611, $12. For more concert information:

www.malcolmjamalwarner.com/calendar.html.