Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor explore Nat King Cole’s personal and professional challenges in the immersive new play “Lights Out,” now drawing audiences at the New York Theater Workshop’s East 4th Street venue. The production spotlights a pivotal time in 1957, reflecting both Cole’s legendary artistry and the turbulent forces of racial discrimination he faced as he became the first Black host of a nationally broadcast TV show.
Best known by many for his timeless ballads such as “Unforgettable” and “Mona Lisa,” his buoyant tracks like “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer,” and the perennial favorite “The Christmas Song,” Nat “King” Cole’s influence ran deep in jazz well before his pop acclaim. As a prodigious pianist in the late 1930s, Cole shaped the swing-to-bop transition in jazz, eventually leading the King Cole Trio, which featured noted musicians like guitarists Oscar Moore and Irving Ashby and bassists Johnny Miller and Joe Comfort. His recordings with Capitol catapulted him to immense popularity, notably as the label’s best-selling Black artist through the 1940s.
The Unraveling of a Groundbreaking Television Moment
Despite mainstream adoration, Nat “King” Cole’s public and private worlds collided during his time hosting “The Nat King Cole Show” on NBC. This was a landmark in television history, offering a Black musician the national stage, yet it exposed the realities of endemic racism in mid-century America. The cancellation of the show in December 1957—a focus of “Lights Out”—became a symbol of sponsor reluctance to embrace a Black host, encapsulated by Cole’s famous words:
“Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.”
-Nat “King” Cole
The questions raised by this moment—what public figures must give up to maintain acceptance, what aspects of themselves they are asked to conceal—echo throughout the play. Lights Out, written and directed by Patricia McGregor with co-writer and actor Colman Domingo, examines these dilemmas using heartfelt drama and vivid jazz performances, with Dulé Hill in the lead role as Cole.
Exploring the Cost of Grace and Visibility
Patricia McGregor, both director and co-writer, delves into the sacrifices made by figures like Cole to sustain public appeal. She articulates the personal cost associated with upholding grace and composure in the face of bigotry:
“As a very public-facing man whose virtuosity and exquisite talent broke so many barriers, sometimes the cost of grace is that he had to silence some of his voices and smooth out any rough edges when it came to anger,”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
Her vision, shaped by previous stagings such as its 2017 debut at People’s Light in Philadelphia (Colman Domingo’s hometown), asks the pressing question of identity and authenticity for people of color in the public eye.
McGregor highlights the direct expectations placed on Cole as a Black entertainer on television:
“Being a Black man in America at that time, in order to be on television, he was asked to literally powder his face — to cover himself up in order to be more palatable. So the question arises: What part of ourselves are we willing to sacrifice, or silence, and what is the cost? And once you have a platform, what can you say?”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
The tension between revealing one’s truth and maintaining acceptance underscores the drama, with Daniel J. Watts portraying Sammy Davis Jr., who visits Cole on the show’s final night. The character must choose—accept continued elegance or expose deep-seated pain. As McGregor reflects:
“Does he stay the epitome of elegance which he was in so many ways, or does he ruffle feathers and expose his pain?”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
“Do you wipe off that makeup?”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
Music as a Reflection of Inner Turmoil
Music permeates “Lights Out,” serving as both a tribute to Cole’s artistry and a vehicle for exploring his inner turmoil. John McDaniel’s arrangements retain the lush orchestration of Nelson Riddle, while also introducing fresh instrumentation and a touch of unpredictability to reflect Cole’s struggles and evolution. McGregor describes the process in shaping signature songs for the stage:
“…to slap in a certain way,”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
“And we added instruments to the songs of Lights Out this time out,”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
“I didn’t know what it could mean to bring in flute and clarinet, to uplift moments like ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’ … a moment where we let the strangeness in. The same thing is true of ‘Nature Boy.’ [The arrangement] is like a portal opening up. And that is a song that already has some melancholy. There are many ways in which we could have gone … but we wanted to lean into the strangeness of it.”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
These bold musical choices underscore transformative scenes. Songs like “Nature Boy” and “Straighten Up and Fly Right” gain new emotional resonance, reinforcing the play’s meditation on identity, masking, and revelation.
The Emotional Highpoint: “The Christmas Song” and Unmasking Pain
As the production closes with Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s “The Party’s Over,” the theme of removing the metaphorical mask becomes inescapable. McGregor draws attention to the lyrics:
“It’s time to wake up/Take off your makeup,”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
These words echo Cole’s inner contradictions: performer versus man, icon versus human being. The musical number “The Christmas Song,” especially, encapsulates Cole’s complicated experience as he succeeded while bearing the burdens of discrimination—contextualized by historic moments such as a cross burning on his lawn, even at the peak of his fame.
“It seems like a biopic that becomes this fever dream, showing the Cole that people never would have witnessed or imagined — a part that has pain and rage, and is exposed,”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
“By the time we get to ‘The Christmas Song,’”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
“you don’t know if it’s tears or sweat that he’s pouring. This is such a monumental journey. It’s the cognitive dissonance of trying to reconcile the history of America. Nat ‘King’ Cole had a cross burned on his lawn while he was at the top of the American Dream. You can’t be walking on air after that, so we expose all of that psychic space — the rage and the pain and the chaos. And you can see it in the audience when ‘The Christmas Song’ starts — you can’t listen to this song the same way again knowing what you know, what Cole faced with grace, ease and velvet. The nostalgia of that song is gone.”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
The Playwrights’ Creative Partnership
The synergy between Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor is central to the show’s emotional impact. Both draw inspiration from the writings of James Baldwin, analyzing the creation and cost of American dreams, as well as the complexity of living as perceived icons. McGregor notes the dynamism in their collaboration:
“We’re sugar and dynamite, but you’re never sure who is going to be what on any given day,”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
“We both come from a place of ‘yes, and.”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
“And we both use our work to share a conversation about who we are as artists, how grace is shared and where compromises are asked.”
-Patricia McGregor, Director and Co-Writer
The Lasting Impact and What’s Next
“Lights Out” offers an unflinching examination of the facade and reality within American entertainment history, challenging audiences to confront the untold sacrifices made by artists like Nat “King” Cole. The play’s unique blend of music, biography, and social commentary ensures Cole’s legacy is viewed through a new, more nuanced lens. As the run continues through June 29 at NYTW’s East 4th Street location in New York, the production stands as a vital testament to the enduring relevance of Cole’s art and the urgent questions raised by his journey.
