{"id":453079,"date":"2026-10-01T10:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/453079\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T10:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:44:07","slug":"circle-theatre-revives-tony-winning-aint-misbehavin-in-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/453079\/","title":{"rendered":"Circle Theatre revives Tony-winning \u2018Ain\u2019t Misbehavin\u2019\u2019 in Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The charismatic stage persona of Harlem Renaissance jazz musician Thomas Wright \u201cFats\u201d Waller makes him a perfect subject for theatrical treatment. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/arts-entertainment\/performing-arts\/article\/circle-theatre-s-electric-rent-satisfying-22234782.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Circle Theatre<\/a> is reviving its production of Richard Maltby Jr. and Murray Horwitz\u2019s Tony-winning 1978 musical revue Ain\u2019t Misbehavin\u2019, named after one of Waller\u2019s best-known compositions.<\/p>\n<p>In a relatively short career, he became known for live performances full of witty banter and the intense stride piano he had learned from his mentor, James P. Johnson. Waller helped innovate the style during the early swing era when jazz was exploding in popular culture. He wrote and recorded hundreds of songs before dying of pneumonia in 1943. He was only 39.<\/p>\n<p>Ain\u2019t Misbehavin\u2019 doesn\u2019t delve into Waller\u2019s biographical details, instead establishing his importance through songs performed by a cast of five. They play Harlem Renaissance archetypes like the Party Hound, Woman of the World, Innocent Ingenue and Sassy and Confident Diva.<\/p>\n<p>J. Dontray Davis, who portrayed Waller in Circle\u2019s 2025 production, returns in the role. Khira Hailey again directs the show, which moves from the theater lobby to the main stage while maintaining the look and feel of a nightclub. VIP table seating and cocktail service are available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The charismatic stage persona of Harlem Renaissance jazz musician Thomas Wright \u201cFats\u201d Waller makes him a perfect subject&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117,93542,88643,89866],"class_list":["post-453079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-tp-performing-arts","tag-tp-fort-worth","tag-tp-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}