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Behind The Scenes

Valisia LeKae: From The Sunshine Band To Motown Land

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The star of the new Broadway hit Motown: The Musical sat down with Playbill.com for a little Diva Talk. Valisia LeKae is Diana Ross but in this one on one interview she steps outside of that character to let us know more about the Nashville born, church raised, superstar she’s always been. She talks about her musical influences, including Same Cooke and Tramaine Hawkins, her journey to New York, how Motown: The Musical came about, as well as playing Deena Jones in Dreamgirls and how the roles are very different.

Question: When did you start performing?
LeKae: I started very early on in the church—in African-American churches and things like that. We have things like the Sunshine Band, and so I think it was probably around the time when I was six when I started singing in church, and then from there, it went from elementary school to different programs and wherever else they would have me! [Laughs.]

Question: How did Motown come about?
LeKae: Motown came about in January of 2011. I heard about them having auditions for this show, and I remember e-mailing or calling my agent and saying, “You have to really get me in for this because, you know, I am Diana Ross.” [Laughs.] And, they’re like, “Okay. I hear auditions are coming soon,” so I was like, “Okay.” I gave him a week, and I think by then he emailed me the sides and what the character breakdown was, and I immediately went into my obsession with trying to find out everything, and I had my one audition with the director and the musical director at the time, and he was looking at me and saying, “Are you doing something with your voice because you have all these ‘isms’ and you sound like her?” And, after that audition, I know they called my agent…

Question: And, you also played Deena Jones in Dreamgirls…
LeKae: I did. That came about very weird because I remember auditioning for North Carolina Theatre, which is one of the theatres that I love, and going in for [the role of] Lorrell, and having that whole audition process be about Lorrell, so when my agent called me, he said, “Hey, you got the job for the North Carolina Theatre, but they want you to play Deena Jones.” Not that I had a problem with that, but I didn’t read for Deena Jones, I didn’t sing for Deena Jones… He said, “No, they really want you for Deena Jones.” That was another experience where it wasn’t a difficult audition… And, what was so great was that we got to use the original Dreamgirls costumes, so we got to use the costumes that were in the Broadway show, and I could look at the back of my tag and see “Sheryl Lee Ralph”! And people over the years who were in those outfits, [including] Terry Burrell, who was in my first Broadway show… I was in one of her outfits. I could see those outfits, and we got to use the fur and everything from the original Broadway production, and for two weeks, we were living! We were living on the stage, and it was such a great production, and such a great town with a wonderful cast, so I got very lucky with that one.

Question: For Motown, how did you go about approaching playing Diana Ross? Did you want to imitate her sound? What was your thinking?
LeKae: No, I can definitely tell you that I’m not doing an imitation of anything. If you asked me to do an imitation, it would probably suck because I wouldn’t even know how to go about approaching that. [Laughs.] I wanted to make her as human as possible because being in this business, [people] can come off larger than life and big icons and untouchable and so many things, and people forget that they’re just like us. Stars are just like us—they’re human, they cry, they get upset, they laugh, they do all sorts of things, they make mistakes. So I wanted to really approach her in that manner because, to me, that’s who she is. After reading so much about her, I found so many things that were alike…growing up in the church just like she did and singing, and sort of wanting to be a dancer when I was younger, and the thing about love—wanting to share it and give it. That, to me, is such an important part of her journey, not wanting to let her fans down and wanting to serve her purpose in this world and also give the people everything that they wanted. She got to be such a songstress and a storyteller through her journey, and I really wanted to emote all of those things. I don’t do an imitation of her. I’m an actress, and I study my craft to portray this woman in a way that people would understand her, and I would hope that she would be proud. She started off when she was 15, and she was an unknown, and then she became this woman, this person, this icon. I am an unknown and Motown is so larger than life—it’s something that everybody experienced through their lifetime—I can sort of bring my own life into this role of…taking this journey with her and understanding it. So it wasn’t very difficult for me to channel her because we’re sort of going on kind of the same journey… When I go on that stage, and when I’m performing and entertaining for people, there is nothing else I’d rather be doing because the people—for two-and-a-half hours—are removed from everything that could possibly be wrong or right in their life, and for that moment, they are laughing and living and loving and crying, and I get to be a part of that, and I think that was something that was so important to her.

READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE!!!

Founder/Editor-In-Chief of BroadwayBlack.com | Actor | Artist | 1/3 of @OffBookPodcast | Theatre connoisseur | All Audra Everything | Caroline over Change | I'm Not Charl Brown | Norm Lewis is my play cousin | Producing an all-black production of Mame starring Jenifer Lewis in my head

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  1. Pingback: Meet 2013 Tony Nominee: Valisia LeKae "Supremely Sensational She Is!" - Broadway Black

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Behind The Scenes

Behind-The-Scenes: The Men of Ain’t Too Proud VOGUE Photo shoot

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Derrick Baskin, Jawan M. Jackson. Jeremy Pope. Ephraim Sykes, James Harkness Photo: IG @jawanjackson4

Go behind-the-scenes of the Vogue photo shoot with the men of Ain’t Too Proud.

Leading the cast as The Temptations will be Derrick Baskin as Otis Williams, James Harkness as Paul Williams, Jawan M. Jackson as Melvin Franklin, Jeremy Pope as Eddie Kendricks, and Ephraim Sykes as David Ruffin. The Broadway cast will also feature Esther Antoine, Saint Aubyn, Shawn Bowers, E. Clayton Cornelious, Rodney Earl Jackson Jr., Taylor Symone Jackson, Jahi Kearse, Jarvis B. Manning Jr., Joshua Morgan, Rashidra Scott, Nasia Thomas, Christian Thompson, Curtis Wiley, and Candice Marie Woods.

Ain’t Too Proud is the electrifying new musical that follows The Temptations’ extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Five guys. One dream. And a sound that would make music history. With their signature dance moves and unmistakable harmonies, they rose to the top of the charts creating an amazing 42 Top Ten Hits with 14 reaching number one. The rest is history — how they met, the groundbreaking heights they hit, and how personal and political conflicts threatened to tear the group apart as the United States fell into civil unrest. This thrilling story of brotherhood, family, loyalty, and betrayal is set to the beat of the group’s treasured hits, including “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,” “Get Ready,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” and so many more.

Ain’t Too Proud will play the Imperial Theatre on February 28th, 2019, with an official Opening Night set for Thursday, March 21, 2019.

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Behind The Scenes

Behind The Curtain: Eclipsed Will Air The Historic Broadway Journey On Centric TV

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Eclipsed is returning and this time it’s on television. Well, kind of.

According to the press realease:

BET International releases a multi-part documentary series chronicling the ascent and realization of ‘Eclipsed’; a Broadway play all written, directed and acted by women of African descent.

  • Danai Gurira (Zimbabwe), playwright
  • Liesl Tommy, (South Africa), director
  • Lupita Nyong’o (Kenya), actress
  • Akosia Busia, (Ghana), actress
  • Zainab Jah (Sierra Leone), actress
  • Saycon Sengbloh, (Liberia), actress
  • Pascale Armand, (Haiti), actress

A winner of nine accolades including a Tony Award, the play tackles the survival stories of five women near the end of the second Liberian civil war. Written by actress, Danai Gurira who was inspired by a New York Times article about Black Diamond, a female freedom fighter and the female peace activists.

Broken into three episodes, each part delves into a central theme; Context, Cultivation, and Community. The series documents the fearless women using art to combat social injustice and give voice to the voiceless. With a strong production team including Stephen Byrd, Alia Jones Harvey and Michaela Angela Davis the documentary uses cinema-verite style to complement the rehearsal/show footage and ancillary interviews.

Ava L. Hall, executive producer and Vice President, Programming & Brand Advancement, BET International commented:

“It was really important to us to capture and to some extent immortalise the extraordinary stories of these women in Liberia and also the women who fought to bring it to fruition on the other side of the Atlantic, in New York on Broadway. This is a tale of how sisterhood, support and humanity travels globally to create a vision which breaks boundaries, sets new standards and while sobering, inspires a generation to find value and strength in their stories.”

This ground breaking play took its place firmly on Broadway and this documentary will take a place firmly in your heart and mind. Celebrating the intersection of Black and women’s history months airing on March 1, 2017 at 8pm EST on Centric

This is not one you’ll want to miss. You’ll even see a guest appearance from a photoshoot Broadway Black did before the Tony Awards. Live tweet with us tonight! @BroadwayBlack

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