James Baldwin's play Blues for Mister Charlie was a successful play. It became famous for its plot-capturing scheme and its playwright's clever ways of expounding everyday issues acutely and intelligently. According to Mark Blankenships, “some comedies grapple with history; yet some seem to themselves be part of the story. Blues for Mister Charlie, a 1964 play by James Baldwin, is a part of history reproduced as clearly and vividly as possible. The show was inspired by the execution of Emmett Till, an African-American boy whose white attackers were freed without trial; the powerful topic was motivated by the documentary "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till". Baldwin, however, takes a simple story and uses his style of playwriting to create an exceptional work. Noted by the New York Times, "James Baldwin has written a play with fires of fury in its belly, tears of anguish in its eyes, and a roar of protest in its throat." In this award-winning comedy, Baldwin turns an execution and its aftermath into an investigation in which even the most narrow-minded white people are in awe, and in which even a murderer is viewed with empathy and compassion. The show was criticized by many but still became famous. When Blues for Mister Charlie broke into the ANTA theater, the New York Times said it had a “loose structure and made valid points as if they were ordinary. " However, according to Yvette Hardie, a famous director, the play is “full of liveliness and zeal. It's like a thunderous battle cry”. Many critics say that if you clearly look at the full picture of the play, the play reflects " Waiting for Lefty" from three decades ago, when Clifford Odets rallied workers for their rights. Blues f...... middle of paper ......erFILE Premier. EBSCO. Network. June 1, 2011.Gluck, Victor. “Blues for Mr. Charlie (stage production).” New York: Behind the Scenes, 1964. Print.Kinnamon, Keneth. “James Baldwin: Overview.” Ed.Jim Kamp. Detroit, 13 August 1994. Web.Lyne, Bill God's Black: The Black Radicalism of James Baldwin." Science and Society 74.1 (2010): 12-36. Premier Academic Research. EBSCO. Network. June 1, 2011. Miller, Quentin D. "James Baldwin: Overview." Writers contemporary folk. Ed. DaveMote. New York Times, 26 April 1964. Web. 1 June 2011. Turner, Darwin T. “Visions of Love and Manhood in a Blackened World: Dramas of Black Life since 1953.” Black Scholar 25.2 (1995): 2. MasterFILE EBSCO 2011.