Features

The Ru Report #134

Give My Regards…Home Bound
Tony Award winning diva Heather Headley is on edge.

The Trinidadian-born, Grammy Award nominated chanteuse is holed up in New York City's Solo City Studios contemplating her next big move. "I wasn't ready for all of this," she reveals to The Ru Report. "I'm scared to death now… I was like ‘Um, can we put it off for a year?' and they were like, ‘No, pull yourself together."

And what actually got the beautiful brown girl's nerves in a fray?

Her long awaited return to the Great White Way. That's what it is.

On May 24, the RCA Records recording artist and original "AIDA" star returns to the place where she started it all--three quarters of a decade ago--for a concert event entitled "Home." Disney's New Amsterdam Theater is where the big show is taking place and it's all in the name of charity--to benefit the Children & Family Initiative of Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS.

"I wish I would've figured that out like six months ago because I would've planned this a year down the road and I would've run out of town," the newlywed quipped. "It's really a big undertaking because I'm such a perfectionist and it's tough to do anything like this. And not only is it just the singing, it's going back to my stomping grounds so that's scary at well."

In the midst of planning for the one night only event--which has been described as an evening of songs from the worlds of pop, R&B, and Broadway--Ms. Headley is putting the finishing touches on her sophomore album, which is due out later this year.

"We're working on a bunch of stuff over the next few weeks," she explains. "We got to get it out. Mr. [Clive] Davis is in charge of it, along with my A&R guy Steve Ferrara. I want it to be more R&B/Pop but more popish to cross it over even more. And I'm just really still with songs that I like and songs I love to listen to. I hate to talk about this but it's the songs that showcase voice and stuff like that. If we just make sure we get all of those things together, it will be okay."

Next week, she's due to re-team with super-producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis in Los Angeles, to collaborate on another hit record. The multi-award-winning dynamic duo--behind Janet Jackson--gave Ms. Headley the Top 20 ballad, "I Wish I Wasn't," from her gold-selling 2002 debut, This Is Who I Am.

"I'm excited about working with them again. They are just so sweet," she gushes. "I know they don't want to hear that, but it's true."

Their Midas touch helped her garner a Best New Artist Grammy nod, which she subsequently did not win. But there were no sour grapes. "Can I just tell you this? I was just so stupidly in like awe and so blessed and so humbled by getting nominated that that was just it," she confides. "After a while, I didn't care. Of course, it would've been nice but I told somebody that if I would've had won I would've been balling so hard, it would've been worst than the Tonys."

Speaking of the Tony Awards, her real return to a Broadway production is imminent.

This event will mark her third engagement at the New Amsterdam Theatre. She made her Broadway debut on the stage as Nala in "The Lion King." She returned to the New Amsterdam for the BC/EFA benefit concert "Your Song" where she and other Broadway stars performed the music of Elton John. Her last appearance on the Broadway stage was in the benefit concert of "Dreamgirls" in 2001.

She promises to give all she possibly can this new show. "Anybody who has ever listened to anything that I have done within my life is going to be happy," she states. "You won't hear everything from the album but everybody is going to get something. If the only reason you know me is because of the album, you'll hear something from the album. If the only reason you know me is because of Broadway, you'll hear something from Broadway. If the only reason you know me is because I sang in your bathroom as a kid and called you mummy, mummy will be happy because we'll sing one of her songs. I think it's going to be okay. But that's the toughest part of it, making sure that everyone is happy."

There will be what Ms. Headley describes as a "mini orchestra band" directed by her collaborative conductor Rob Mathis--making it even more of a big deal.

"It's so weird how these things happen because I got the call to do something for the charity saying, ‘It would be great if we did a little show, it will be a little show' and then six months later, it's at the New Amsterdam, it's in the New York Times. I was like ‘Whoa, whoa wait a minute! I'm not that well practiced. Now, hold on."

But she'll do anything for a good cause. It's called sweet, sweet charity.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) is the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fund raising and grant making organization. "It's a charity event targeted for the women's health and the children's initiative, and those are two things that I'm really, really excited about," the self-proclaimed "Trinimerican" adds. Since it's founding in 1988, BC/EFA has distributed over $85 million for critically needed services for people with AIDS, HIV, or HIV-related illnesses.

"I was like, maybe Heather should've stopped somewhere before she came home because its just so funny how things [get stressful]. But it's going to be fun and I hope that God is going to get me through it. I know He will." Indeed.

Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS: (212) 840-0770. BroadwayCares.org.

Showtime
What's in a name? Ask the producers of the deliciously wicked Broadway musical named "Wicked." Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, the magical and mystical spectacle--currently playing at the Gershwin Theater--tells the story of the two witches of Oz, the green-skinned Elphaba (Idina Menzel) and golden-coifed Glenda (Kristin Chenoweth), way before and after Dorothy and Toto--and that raggedy house of theirs--descended onto the fantasy land with midgets, and flying monkeys, and ruby red shoes. Oh my! The show was a rave right of the box when it opened last Halloween. And for good reason too. It's a show worth seeing. Since its big opening, the Joe Mantello-directed tour-de-force has just received ten Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Choreography. That's the most for any show this season. "Wicked" also earned the most nominations of the 2004 Drama Desk Awards with a total of eleven, including Outstanding Musical. Hosted by "Hairspray" star Harvey Fierstein, the Drama Desk Awards will be held on May 16 at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. According to a spokesperson, "Wicked" also had the highest gross sales of any show on Broadway the week of May 3. With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, the show also stars Carole Shelley, Norbert Leo Butz and Joel Grey as the Wizard. The original cast recording of "Wicked" has been released by Decca Broadway and has sold well over 100,000 copies to date, making it one of the fastest selling Broadway recordings of recent years.

Stages
My good pal Billy Porter is all aglow about his recent string of performances at New York City's hot and hip downtown watering hole/performance venue Joe's Pub. His show, titled "Billy Porter: At The Corner of Broadway and Soul" is all the rage among his loyal legions of admirers and fans. I like to refer to them as Porter Daughters. He doesn't. The always quick-witted Mr. Porter, who was last seen on the New York stage in The Public Theater's production of the George C. Wolfe-directed "Radiant Baby," wouldn't want to do his show anywhere else beside the neighboring Joe's Pub. "It's a venue that is all encompassing, and I'm that kind of artist," he tells The Ru Report yesterday afternoon. "It's called "At The Corner Of Broadway & Soul" [because it's] a mixture of gospel, new American Broadway standards and neo-soulful originals of my own," he continues. "And it came together because I got off my ass and made some calls. I haven't the foggiest idea of what people will expect, and I no longer care. This project is about me! No more apologies." Alrightee then. The string of shows is being recorded for a live CD in the near future. When probed about the distribution of the forthcoming disc, Mr. Porter quipped, "with the Lord's help." He's happy his best friend Michael McElroy was nominated for a Tony Award nomination for his turn in "Big River" ("There is a God!"). He also says that his next Broadway gig has got to be right. He has appeared in award winning Great White Way productions of "Smokey Joe's Café," "Miss Saigon," "Grease" and was originally cast in the current production of "Little Shop of Horrors." "You will see me when it's time again. It's coming, but it's got to be right this time," he adds. All of this talk of a "Dreamgirls" revival has gotten him excited, however. "Now that would be right!" He played male lead character James Thunder Early in the 2001 star-studded benefit concert of the show, which was immortalized with a recording on Nonesuch Music. The next performance of "At the Corner of Broadway and Soul" is May 17. 212-539-8770.

It appears mainstream America can't get enough of Wayne Brady. The slick-haired, soon-to-be- former daytime talk show host has signed on to take on the role as publicity savvy legal eagle Billy Flynn in the hit Broadway production of "Chicago," currently selling out at New York's Ambassador Theater. Mr. Brady will join the company on September 7 and continue in the role through November 28. One of the most versatile men in show business, he has rewritten the television record books by being the first actor to win both primetime and daytime Emmy Awards in the same year (2003). He's no newcomer to the stage, either. The Orlando, Florida native has appeared in stage productions of "A Chorus Line", "Fences", "I'm Not Rappaport," "A Raisin in the Sun" and "Blade to the Heat" at the Mark Taper Forum. His star turn in the six-time Tony Award-winning musical will mark his Broadway debut.

Lynn Nottage's acclaimed Broadway play "Intimate Apparel" won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best play of the 2003-2004 season, this week. The selection was made at the annual voting meeting of the organization earlier this week at the "Variety" offices in Manhattan. "Intimate Apparel" stars the phenomenal Viola Davis and the strapping Russell Hornsby. The play takes place at the dawn of the 20th century, when opportunities for Black women were scarce. Esther is a 35-year-old skilled seamstress with a gift for sewing exquisite lingerie. Risking her independence, she weds a Caribbean laborer whom she acquainted via love letters, which leads to much doubt. Directed by Daniel Sullivan, it is current running at the Roundabout Theatre Company's Laura Pels Theatre through June 6. Founded in 1935, the Drama Critics'Circle is comprised of twenty drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines, and wire services based in the New York metropolitan area. Ms. Nottage will receive $1,000 with her New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. The awards will be presented at a private cocktail reception at Sardi's on May 18.

Bronze beauty Sanaa Lathan embodies the spirit of Beneatha Younger in Kenny Leon's critically acclaimed revival of Lorraine Hansberry's classic "A Raisin In The Sun," playing sell-out audiences at Broadway's Royale Theater. For her remarkable Great White Way debut, The Yale Drama School trained star of flicks such as Love & Basketball and Brown Sugar has garnered a nomination for a Tony Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress in a Play. But she's already won an award--a Theater World Award for breakthrough role. The winners of the 60^th Annual Theater World Awards were also announced this week, with Euan Morton ( "Taboo") and Anika Noni Rose ("Caroline, Or Change") amongst its twelve winners. Actress, playwright and director Sarah Jones will receive a special honor for her much-heralded "bridge & tunnel" one-woman show. The Theatre World award winners have been chosen by the a committee, which is composed of eight theater critics from respectable outlets such as Playbill, Theatre World and Hollywood Reporter. The awards, which were first presented in 1945, is one of the oldest honors given to stage performers. Previous Theatre World Award winners LaChanze, Viola Davis and Lonny Price will be on hand as presenters during a special ceremony, which will take place at Studio 54 on May 24.

Just realize that your goal is greater than your struggle, hold on and be strong!

Next Week
The Ru Report continues our Give My Regards… month-long series celebrating the theatrical arts. Stay tuned.

Message Karu F Daniels or email him directly at therureport@aol.com

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