Jevetta Steele as Ma Rainey. Photo: Tim Fuller.

Penumbra Theatre's co-production of August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" that is to be presented at the Guthrie in February has good advance buzz coming out of Arizona, where it just opened. The production, directed by Penumbra founder Lou Bellamy, stars Jevetta Steele as the title character. Terry Teachout, drama critic for the Wall Street Journal, likened this production to Bellamy's "magnificent Off-Broadway revival of Wilson's 'Two Trains Running' [that] was one of the highlights of the 2006-07 season."

Steele hits "the center of the bull's-eye as the bisexual blues shouter whose sidemen are at murderous odds with one another," Teachout raved, then suggested that "[t]his 'Ma Rainey' would look great on a New York stage."

The staging is "pitch-perfect," according to the critic for the Arizona Republic, who noted that Bellamy "also directed beautiful versions of 'Jitney' and Lorraine Hansberry's 'A Raisin in the Sun' here, so it's no surprise that he has given us another polished gem."

The review calls Steele "a walking thunderstorm" and hails the entire "top-notch" cast, including James T. Alfred's "powerhouse performance" as trumpeter Levee. Meanwhile, Obie-winner Bellamy has jetted to California to stage the L.A. Theatre Works presentation of "A Raisin in the Sun." That company records classic dramas for radio broadcasts. Bellamy's one-week run began Wednesday and continues through Sunday with a cast that includes Judyann Elder, James Gleason, Noah Gray-Cabey, Deidrie Henry, Terrell Tilford, Rutina Wesley, Mirron Willis and Corey Antonio Hawkins as dreamer Walter Lee Younger.