Play Tambourines to Glory, by Langston Hughes.

¶ … play "Tambourines to Glory," by Langston Hughes. Specifically it will discuss the significance of the work, and what Hughes was trying to say through his fiction.

TAMBOURINES TO GLORY

This is a comic book about religion and morals, not often subjects of comedy. Critics have often called Hughes dramatic works "folk plays," and "Tambourines to Glory" is no exception. In fact, Hughes himself said about the work in the program notes, it was "a fable, a folk ballad in stage form... -- if you will, a comic strip, a cartoon -- about problems which can only be convincingly... presented very cleanly, clearly, sharply, precisely, and with humor'" (Peterson 346).

The protagonists are two women who pose as sisters and decide to start a church, not for spiritual salvation or a great belief in the Lord, but for money. "Money! I sure wish I had some. Say Essie, why don't you and me start a church like Mother Bradley's? We ain't doing nothing else useful, and it would beat Home Relief. You sing good. I'll preach. We'll both take up collection and split it" (Hughes 19-20).

They are extremely successful in their endeavor, in fact, they begin partnership with "Big-Eyed Buddy Lomax," a streetwise hood who cheerfully admits at one point he is really the Devil, and becomes Laura's boyfriend.

Essie and Laura are both strong individuals - Essie, in her goodness, and Laura, in her predilection toward chicanery. Symbolically, they represent two very real aspects of all revivalist, perhaps all religious, movements. The saint and the charlatan often live side by side, even in established religions, and sometimes exist in a single personality. Hughes chose to write a rousing musical melodrama about some aspects of Harlem religion. The result is a skillfully created, well-integrated musical play, written with humor, insight, and compassion (Bloom 79).

Essie really is a good person, and hopes to use the money to send her daughter north. Laura just wants money to keep Buddy, but nothing can keep Buddy faithful. Unfortunately, Buddy soon reveals his true nature, and Laura begins to distrust him. In the end, she kills him, and tries to put the blame on Essie. In the end, good prevails, and Essie is unscathed. She ends the play by announcing her daughter is going to marry a choirboy, the ultimate gospel happy ending.

If it sounds as if Hughes' major concern is good vs. evil in this play, it was. He manages to reveal his characters weaknesses without making them weak, and instill a real sense of life in Harlem at the time the play was written, in the late 60s. He wanted to show that God would win out over the Devil in the end, while mixing his metaphors with gospel music based on some of his earlier poetry that had been turned into music. It was the first play to include gospel music as an integral part of the performance.

Some critics found the play to be disappointing - not up to Hughes earlier works. Some found the entire plotline reminiscent of Faust, and a little hard to take. Others found the characters delightful and totally representative of Harlem, the world Hughes was attempting to portray.

Laura's attitude toward the "religion business" [...] all indicate the near poverty, the ignorance, and the superstition that prevail in the world of which Hughes writes. Nevertheless, it is a colorful, wonderful world he presents to us, and we cannot but admire the spirit and vigor of his characters.

Other critics said it was one of Hughes most "fully developed" plays, but theatre critics of the time were not quite so happy with the play or its content. The original Broadway opening only lasted 28 performances. Hughes' plays are always deceptively simple, just like his poetry. This play only contains one act, but over 25 musical numbers, so some playgoers found it too long and drawn out, for all its simplicity.

Analyzing the critical reception of Tambourines to Glory, James A. Emanuel observes that "the play received a little less praise than blame in the New York press. Comments in "The New Yorker," the "Times," and the "Herald Tribune" typically censured the poor balance between predictable, sometimes melodramatic narrative and jubilant song" (Hurst).

Hughes also uses simplicity in his characters. The good vs. evil theme is just as strong in the characters of "Tambourines to Glory" as it is in the plot. Essie is inherently good and sympathetic to the audience, while Laura is less easy to like. She is the one to introduce evil in the form of the phony church, and with her attraction to Buddy. Then of course there is Buddy, who does not need to tell the audience he is the devil; the persona just seems to ooze from him. His characters embody the time and the place, and were meant to appeal to ordinary people, not the blacks he thought were "pretentious" and "middle-class" (Hurst).