What
is your show about?
The
controversial life of Hattie McDaniel—this woman was
the first black person to win an Oscar, and then seven years
later she couldn't get a job. The head of the NAACP at that
time [Walter White] was on a mission against "Mammyism,"
which ended up destroying her career.
What's
next for you?
I have
recently released a new CD with the composer Louis Rosen
called "South Side Stories," available at cdbaby.com,
and we have some concert dates coming up. We will also go
back into the studio soon to record another project. I will
also be in the Encores! production of Stairway to Paradise,
May 10-14.
What
theater do you regularly attend?
I try
to see everything—straight plays, musicals. I do support
everything my friends are in. I just saw my good friend
Eliseo Roman in In the Heights and loved it.
Who
or what are your influences?
I am
influenced by life experience. I find the older I get and
the more experiences I have, my perspectives shift. Musically,
I am influenced by so many for many different reasons. I
love Sarah Vaughn for staying true to the melody, I love
Frank Sinatra's phrasing, I love Gladys Knight's voice,
I love Barbra Streisand's tone, I love Tony Bennett's storytelling
… I could go on and on.
What
do you want audiences to take away from this production?
It has
been a history lesson for me. … I hope that audiences
get [that] this is who Hattie McDaniel was and
this is what she did. She was not just "Mammy,"
she was a woman who lived life and felt everything deeply—a
real person, not just an image.
There
has been much written and performed about Hattie McDaniel.
How is this show different, and why is it important?
This
play takes place in her mind. Hattie rarely spoke out in
the press, so these are all of the things she would have
said had she spoken out at that time. It is important because
she is worthy of the provocative conversations that this
play will undoubtedly spark. Everyone will have an opinion
about it, and that's good. It's what theater is all about.
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