Don’t Play Us Cheap
Melvin Van Peebles’s film version of his own Tony Award–nominated Broadway musical is a bold blend of theater and nervy, New Wave–inflected cinematic invention. A cast of Black stage and screen luminaries including Esther Rolle, Mabel King, and Avon Long stars in this charmingly offbeat, fablelike fantasy in which a pair of mischief-making devil-bats dispatched by Satan assume human form in order to wreak havoc on a Saturday-night house party in Harlem—only to find their diabolical plan thwarted by their hosts’ infectious generosity of spirit. Staged with ebullience, the original blues- and gospel-infused songs by Van Peebles burst forth in a life-affirming celebration of Black joy, tenderness, resilience, and strength.
Available In
Collector's Set
Cast
- Joe Keyes Jr.
- Trinity
- Rhetta Hughes
- Earnestine
- Avon Long
- Brother David
- Esther Rolle
- Miss Maybell
- Nate Barnett
- Harold Johnson/Rat
- Frank Carey
- Mr. Johnson/Cockroach
- Joshie Jo Armstead
- Mrs. Washington
- George "Ooppee" McCurn
- Mr. Washington
- Mabel King
- Mrs. Bowser
- Robert Dunn
- Mr. Bowser
- Jay Van Leer
- Mrs. Johnson
- Thomas Anderson
- Mr. Percy
Credits
- Director
- Melvin Van Peebles
- Written by
- Melvin Van Peebles
- Composed by
- Melvin Van Peebles
- Produced by
- Melvin Van Peebles
- Edited by
- Melvin Van Peebles
- Musical director
- Harold Wheeler
- Director of photography
- Bob Maxwell
- Scenic designer
- Kert F. Lundell
- Costume designer
- Bernard Johnson
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