Pop stars from the past are having a moment on New York Stages. On Broadway, you can see Jonathan Groff celebrating the life of Bobby Darin in Just in Time. And Off-Broadway, you can see playwrights Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor lamenting the life of Nat King Cole in Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole. In terms of enjoyment, there’s no contest.
Described by its creators as a “fever dream,” the show is likely to leave you with a headache. Which is not to say that it doesn’t have serious things on its mind. It takes place during the December, 1957 taping of the last episode of Cole’s network variety series, which is being cancelled because of a lack of sponsorship support. Preparing to go on, Cole, played by Dulé Hill (The West Wing, Psych), finds himself wrestling with demons both internal and external. Many of them have to do with the specter of racism.
The first example comes with the arrival of Cole’s veteran make-up artist (Kathy Fitzgerald), who attempts to apply copious amounts of white powder on his face, to which Cole vigorously objects. “It’s just, the South, you know,” she says by way of explanation.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★☆☆☆ review here.]
And so it goes. Even as Cole sings such songs as “Smile” and “It’s a Good Day,” he’s beset by problems, such as the fact that special guest star Peggy Lee has backed out of appearing at the last minute. Another guest, Betty Hutton (Ruby Lewis), does show up, but when she and Cole duet on a song they get too close to each other, with the stage manager (Elliott Mattox) rushing onstage to separate them. And in case we didn’t get the message, he holds up a sign reading “Appropriate Racial Distance.”
That blunt messaging proves endemic throughout the 90-minute show, resulting in a serious bummer of an evening. Which is why, when Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. (a tremendous Daniel J. Watts) engage in a fabulous tap-dancing duet, choreographed by Jared Grimes, on “Me and My Shadow,” the joy of their terpsichorean skills provides a badly needed lift and becomes the highlight of the show. (It doesn’t help that the Davis character, who acts as a sort of Greek chorus, is so dynamic compared to the glum Cole that you wish you were watching an entire show about him instead.)
Later, when Cole performs a duet with his daughter Natalie (Krystal Joy Brown) on “Unforgettable,” naturally, the singer engages in an eternal monologue in which he regrets his failures as a father. “I’ve missed every holiday, birthday, first steps…for this?” he asks himself.
And, of course, he chain-smokes throughout the evening, occasionally launching into coughing fits that ominously foretell his tragically early death from lung cancer at age 45.
It’s not all gloom and doom. Hill handles the dramatic moments terrifically and does an excellent job of suggesting Cole’s distinctive phrasing in a series of the singer’s trademark numbers including “Nature Boy,” “Mona Lisa,” and “The Christmas Song,” among others (John McDaniel provided the superb arrangements). The supporting players, most of whom play multiple roles, are outstanding. And the mock commercials littered throughout the “broadcast” provide an amusing reminder of the cheesiness of the era’s television advertising.
This attempt by two-time Oscar nominated actor Domingo and McGregor (the latter of whom also directed) to explore Cole’s psyche and spotlight the racism to which he was frequently subjected is laudable in its intent. But the overall production is so disjointed and preachy that it winds up diminishing the figure at its center. Cole deserved more in life, and he deserves a better show than this.
Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole opened May 20, 2025, at New York Theatre Workshop and runs through June 29. Tickets and information: nytw.org
