If only! Seriously, Chapter 7’s “Missus Wrong,” is like a terpsichorean palate cleanser: a “dancing soothsayer,” all sexy and hot, confesses to being Al’s mistress, until, that is, he meets “Missus Right.” This foreshadows what will happen to Al, who tries “selling houses to Blacks in white neighborhoods,” before losing everything in Chapter 8, “The Descent.”

Here the physicality erupts into a faux fight, with the ubiquitous chairs serving as a repository for mind-bendingly high kicks that would make a Rockette turn green with envy. Then, a bit of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” coursed through the theater, as associate artistic director Courtney J. Cook, lets out a primal scream that brought this reviewer to tears, the crushing realization becoming all too clear that life is hard, unfair and seemingly unknowable. “Helllll-p,” she bellowed from a deep, dark place within her body, that could also be our collective bodies. 

This is what inevitably happens when dreams slam into the realities of American life in the ’40s and ’50s. Thankfully, relief came—in the form of a disco ball—with dance once again saving the day, and the return of Zollar as Al, in the final chapter, “Dream.” Arms shaking violently as if possessed, with Jones’ drumming accentuating the body quakes, she dishes about Al wearing Old Spice and Dot digging her Evening of Paris perfume. 

“I am a dreamer from a long line of dreamers,” confessed Zollar, whose folks told her that “Success is not the test.” But, as we all know, it often times is, with Zollar admitting, “I gotta do this thing. Dream, dream, dream,” her dancers running in place, again offering one-legged stances, moving in a circle—of life, love and loss—as the rear projection featured a blue, blue ocean. 

But some dreams do come true, and Urban Bush Women, also featuring Tendayi Kuumba and Stephanie Battle—with the cast all decked out in sparkly, many-layered garb by “costume visionary” co-artistic director Chanon Judson —created a reverie not soon to be forgotten. And, as the world continues to swirl in chaos, it’s comforting to know that the dream Zollar once had, can speak to so many.