Ain't Misbehavin' is a musical
revue with a book by
Murray Horwitz and
Richard Maltby, Jr., music by
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller, and lyrics by various writers. It is named after the song by Fats Waller,
"Ain't Misbehavin'"
It serves as a tribute to the
black musicians of the 1920s and '30s who were part of the
Harlem Renaissance, an era of growing creativity, cultural awareness, and ethnic pride, and takes its title from the 1929 Waller song "
Ain't Misbehavin'". It was a time when
Manhattan nightclubs like the
Cotton Club and the
Savoy Ballroom were the playgrounds of
high society and
Lenox Avenue dives were filled with piano players banging out the new beat known as
swing. Five performers present an evening of rowdy, raunchy, and humorous songs that encapsulate the various moods of the era and reflect Waller's view of life as a journey meant for pleasure and play.