By Bruce Chadwick
originally published: 02/15/2023
My son recently moved to Savannah, Georgia. Right after he told me he was going there he started to hum the Ray Charles hit song, “Georgia on My Mind.” Perfect.
So now, what is playing at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown on Sunday but “Ray on My Mind – the Ray Charles Story” (3 p.m.), a national touring show that has been packing in Ray Charles fans from coast to coast.
It stars Kenny Brawner with his son and several of his brothers in the cast of the show. Brawner and the brothers will sing 'Georgia,' but also all the other Charles hits.
What is – and always was – the magic of Ray Charles, who has as many fans today as he did at the height of his career, back in the 1960s? Charles was not only a single entertainer, but also the head of the famed Ray Charles singers, that performed on television all those years and toured the U.S. He had a certain magic about him. It was not just the songs. It was not just the voice. It was not just that charm. What was it about him?
“To me, the charm was a couple of things. First and foremost, he was a great singer. Second, he kicked his drug addiction. Third, he was so good even though he was blind. Wrap that up and you get a very special man,” said Kenny Brawner, who plays Charles in the show.
There was more. “I think he wrote and sang lovely sings, songs that connected people to each other. Many people have seen the movie about him, too, and that added tens of thousands of fans,” added Brawner, Jamie Fox won the Best Actor Oscar for starring as Ray in the film. Added Brawner, “The movie showed him as a great entertainer, sure, but it also showed him as a man battling blindness and also drugs. The movie made him a figure to be admired.”
People today forget that Charles was in different types of show business for more than 80 years. “He was the singer, the songwriter and head of the amazing Ray Charles Singers, who were all over television. He might have been blind, but he could 'see' everything there was to see abut show business.”
What amazes Brawner is how popular Charles is with young people.
“We’ve added a lot of college shows to our tour because college kids just love Ray’s music. That really surprised me. He is huge among college kids. He is as popular today with young people as he was forty years ago,”
The charm is the same everywhere the group stages its show. No matter where they perform, each coast, west coast and all the America in between, the people just adore Ray.
Brawner is glad that the people see him as Ray. “People in the audience will yell out ‘Ray…Ray’ or they’ll shout, ‘ hey, Ray, sing this song or that song. I think that we make Ray come alive for people, that they have this bond with him and his music.”
The show has an intriguing history. “When I was a kid, everybody called me Ray. I ever knew why. As little Ray, I listened to Charles music and loved it. Later, I did a small show at the Public Theater in New York. A woman in show business said I should do the show as a regular stage show and I put it together. The difference is that this is not a play, but a show with a plot and characters and little vignettes. People liked it right away. In 2013, we put together a cast and made it the show we have now,” said Brawner. “At different times we hired musicians who performed with Ray Charles and they gave the show a lot of authenticity. When I’m on stage with them, I feel very comfortable.’
Historical note. Brawner wanted to feel like Ray Charles, so shortly after the show started its national tour he started to sing with his eyes closed. “I wasn’t trying to be blind like Ray, but I was trying to see how I’d feel as a man who could not see performing all of that music. It was an odd feeling, but it helped to get into his place if only for two hours,” said Brawner. “I could not imagine doing that – not seeing – all the time and putting on all those shows over all those years.”
Strangest moment in the eight years on tour? “Oh, the answer to that is easy,” said Brawner. “Just after Ray died, we had a show in California. The stage manager told me Ray Charles’ son was in the audience and wanted to see me. I said to myself, oh, God. He’s going to come in here and tell me you did this wrong, that wrong and everything wrong. Dad would never have acted like that, Who gave you all this bad information? I was terrified,” said Brawner. “Ray Jr. comes backstage and shakes my hand real hard. He told me he loved the show, just loved it. He said everything was right about it. He said his dad would have loved it, too. I was thrilled.”
"Ray on My Mind" takes place at Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) on Sunday, February 19th at 3:00pm. Tickets range from $29-$59 and are available for purchase online.
photo by Maurice Pinzon
Bruce Chadwick worked for 23 years as an entertainment writer/critic for the New York Daily News. Later, he served as the arts and entertainment critic for the History News Network, a national online weekly magazine. Chadwick holds a Ph. D in History and Cultural Studies from Rutgers University. He has written 31 books on U.S. history and has lectured on history and culture around the world. He is a history professor at New Jersey City University.
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