num_pages: 72
description: 1934. Harlem, backstage at the Apollo theater, in the midst of the Saturday night crap game. Music fills every corner as it combines with the heat of the hustle. Dady Jerry and Eclipse, best friends and fellow gamblers, are playing for money and props. Dady Jerry is having the night of his life. Every throw is a winner. Upstairs, watching the show is his pregnant wife who suddenly goes into labor. She finds Dady down in the bowels of the stage surrounded by other players of the underworld, still playing. He ignores her and the pleas of the gangsters to tend to her. Dady continues to play until he is accused of cheating by Eclipse. When the dice are inspected and found to be loaded, Dady slashes Eclipse across the chest with a razor and escapes, leaving his woman behind. Neptune, Eclipse's girlfriend, finds Dady's wife, who has given birth under the steps, and slays her. Neptune brings the child to Eclipse who decides to keep the child as ransom and raise it as his own. 1959. Apollotis, the son of Dady is now a grown man and devoted to Eclipse, his foster father. Apollotis is treated as a prince of the Harlem Numbers rackets. Though now an accomplished player, Apollotis is feeling the pangs of restlessness and the need to change his life, especially with the decision by Eclipse to change the focus of the business from gambling to the selling of narcotics. A chance run-in with the Black Muslims and their charismatic leader only intensifies his dilemma to turn away from all he has known and take a new path. Further complicating his decision is the return of Dady Jerry, setting up a showdown on the "main drag of many tears."
language: English
title: Dancing on Moonlight.
titlecomplete: Dancing on Moonlight. (Acting Edition for Theater Productions)
publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.