Dinah Was

Singer Dinah Washington battles with a Las Vegas hotel where she can headline but not get a room, while scenes from her life play through her mind, interspersed with musical numbers. Hers is the many-times-married rough-and-tumble life of a strong, selfish diva bedeviled by her family, her own failings and addictions, and the ugliness of racism. A (somewhat unconvincing) epiphany lets her see how to do the show without selling out. The cast, mostly playing multiple roles, is sometimes stagy, but still effective, especially Yvette Freeman, who rightly does not try to imitate Washington's singing, except in its intensity. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine