By Richard Harrington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 9, 2007; WE47

"Blues Journey," receiving its world premiere Friday at the Kennedy Center's Family Theater, has had a transformative journey of its own. An introduction to the blues intended for ages 7 and older, "Blues Journey" began as a children's book by Walter Dean Myers and was adapted for the stage by Jerome Hairston before being brought to life by director Scot Reese and a talented quartet of actors.

All that makes the process sound much simpler than it actually was. Myers's book, originally published in 2003 and richly illustrated by son Christopher Myers, was an impressionistic collection of stand-alone, blues-inspired verses touching both historical and contemporary aspects of the African American experience. A picture book with no identifiable narrative, it was bookended by an introduction outlining the roots of this uniquely American musical idiom and a historical timeline and mini-glossary of terms.

Myers, winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for his contributions to young adult literature, as well as a two-time Newbery Honor and five-time Coretta Scott King Award recipient, says he wrote "Blues Journey" because "I felt that so much of this music is being marginalized. The kids are not being exposed to it, they don't know about it, and yet this is part of black history and part of our social history, too. . . .

"And when young people do have a chance to hear the blues and learn where it comes from, they're interested."

Out of Myers's disparate verses, Hairston crafted a coherent story in which a narrator, venerable bluesman Willie Brown (Keith N. Johnson), concurrently tells his story and that of the blues, conjuring crucial signposts and legends of the music along the way. Blues aficionados will recognize them immediately: iconic bluesman Robert Johnson gaining his astounding guitar skills and fame after selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads; Muddy Waters being discovered by folklorist Alan Lomax on a Mississippi plantation and later electrifying the blues in Chicago; rock-and-roll being birthed out of the blues in the '50s; and the blues being abandoned with the coming of rock-and-roll and Elvis Presley.

The Johnson and Waters stories are recast as those of the Great One and Young Willie, respectively, both played by actor Isaiah Johnson, a graduate of Howard University's theater arts program. Monique Paulwell is Big Mama Bailey, inspired by Big Mama Thornton, whose original 1952 R&B recording of "Hound Dog" inspired Presley. Interestingly, the four white characters represented by actor James Konicek are clearly identified as Lomax, Chess Records owner Leonard Chess, Presley and "The Man in White," who does some devilish dealmaking at the crossroads.

Hairston doesn't belabor issues of racial and cultural exploitation or credit stolen; like Myers, he's more interested in using such signal moments to introduce young people to a musical genre with all too few entry points in today's pop-culture landscape. That's ironic since the blues is a root of 20th-century American music, informing gospel, soul, rock, jazz and even hip-hop. Hairston says the last should offer youngsters recognizable commonalities as "music coming from the disenfranchised and the whole notion of making something out of nothing. There's going to be some elemental, spiritual connection to the blues, I think. . . . I hope."

(As a bonus, all those attending "Blues Journey" will receive a "cue sheet" CD, with Hairston and Reese recounting the origin and development of the show and blues historian Kip Lornell providing an extensive overview and stylistic analysis through historic recordings. Cue sheets are performance guides designed for students' and teachers' use before and after attending performances; this will be the first time one has contained an audio recording. There's even an activity track encouraging young listeners to create their own blues, acoustic guitar backing included.)

Director Reese calls "Blues Journey" "a song in four movements." Because the show, geared to young people, lasts less than an hour, it's structured with short, sharp, succinct scenes. But it manages to encompass the wide emotional range suggested by the first verse in the "Blues Journey" book, also the first musical element in its theatrical adaptation: "Blues, blues, blues / Blues, what you mean to me? Are you my pain and misery / or my sweet, sweet company?"

When Reese was first approached about directing "Blues Journey," he was familiar only with Myers's book and its nonlinear structure absent plot or characters. "I thought it might be a much more abstract movement-dance piece with musicians on stage," Reese says. "Then I got [Hairston's] script and went, 'Let's readjust now!' I wouldn't have thought of this story, and it's not really an adaptation of the book," more of an "inspired by"-style project.

That, it turns out, is a familiar process for the Kennedy Center's Family Theater. In 2002, it presented a stage adaptation of Myers's book "Harlem." That one, scripted and directed by Bill Grimmette, involved a storyteller, a singer and a jazz quartet journeying through the legendary New York neighborhood in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance. After its world premiere at the Kennedy Center, "Harlem" toured 18 cities; there are plans to take "Blues Journey" on the road as well.

"Young people going to those performances [of 'Harlem'] were treated to live improvising jazz around the narration, and that was an interesting introduction to jazz," says Myers, adding that "it's the same with the blues. I grew up in Harlem three blocks from the Apollo Theater, and seeing live performances there just changed my whole idea of what music is about. Reading about the blues and reading about music -- if you haven't seen a live performance, you don't really know it."

Reese expects theatergoers will respond to Myers's blues verses, given their underpinning by music director Steve McWilliams, using classic blues forms. "We hope they'll come out of 'Blues Journey' like [they would] a good musical and the songs will stick in their heads a little bit -- and that they'll want to learn more about the blues."

BLUES JOURNEY Friday at 7:30; Saturday and Feb. 17 at 1:30, 4 and 7:30; Feb. 18 at 1:30 and 4. Kennedy Center Family Theater, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600 or 800-444-1324. (TDD: 202-416-8524).http://www.kennedy-center.org. $15.