Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Plots: Tensions rise when trailblazing blues singer Ma Rainey and her band gather at a recording studio in Chicago in 1927. Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians await trailblazing performer, the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey (Academy Award® winner Viola Davis). Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music. As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman) – who has an eye for Ma’s girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry – spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories revealing truths that will forever change the course of their lives. Adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM celebrates the transformative power of the blues and the artists who refuse to let society’s prejudices dictate their worth. Directed by George C. Wolfe and adapted for the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the film is produced by Fences Oscar® nominees Denzel Washington and Todd Black. Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, Taylour Paige and Dusan Brown co-star alongside Grammy® winner Branford Marsalis’ score. Chicago, 1927. Ma Rainey, the legendary American blues vocalist, is about to record her best-known songs with her hand-picked backing band. In the meantime, the band members kill time bantering on a hot summer afternoon while waiting for her in the studio. But tensions rise, painful secrets come to light, and trouble brews as the demanding diva shows up fashionably late for the recording session. Now, insolent ambition, self-assured arrogance, a deep generation gap, and centuries of black oppression create obstacles to capturing Ma’s expressive, emotional voice on vinyl. However, the defiant Mother of the Blues knows she is the star of the show and won’t be pushed around. After all, it’s what Ma says that counts.