Spotlight On NYMF: Brenda Braxton & TRAV'LIN

Today we kick off our series on the 2010 New York Musical Theater Festival with the warm and fuzzy memories - as well as some less than fond remembrances - of the life and career of Broadway triple-threat leading lady Brenda Braxton. From the original company of DREAMGIRLS on Broadway under the direction of Michael Bennett to CATS and LEGS DIAMOND and George C. Wolfe's JELLY'S LAST JAM all the way up to her many stints in the Broadway revival of CHICAGO - as well as directing and recreating the original Bennett/Avian/Peters choreography for the post-9/11 star-studded DREAMGIRLS concert starring Audra McDonald, Lillias White and Heather Headley - we talk it all, plus all the exciting new musicals she is participating in - such as her NYMF starrer TRAV'LIN and another new musical reading, as well as projects of her own creation - both onstage and, now, behind-the-scenes! Ms. Braxton was generous enough to spend some time on a rainy afternoon earlier this week to discuss her career, the state of Broadway, the necessity of new musical theatre voices, working with Michael Bennett, and all the details on the new musical she is starring in that premieres this Friday at the NYMF, TRAV'LIN as well as some exciting news of what lies ahead!

Chicago, Cougar-style

PC: Tell me about the Actor's Fund concert of DREAMGIRLS. What was it like getting it all together after 9/11?

BB: Oh, God. It was bittersweet, but, you know, I think because it was DREAMGIRLS it was still able to hold its own. You know what I remember most about that night?

PC: What?

BB: I remember seeing LaChanze. (Pause.) LaChanze had done DREAMGIRLS with us, of course, but she was eight months pregnant and she had just lost her husband in 9/11. She still came to the concert.

PC: Wow.

BB: I remember seeing her, she was in a black dress. All we could do was just hug each other. I mean, I remember the wonderful concert and everything, but that was pretty devastating for everyone.

PC: It's almost the ten year anniversary. Can you believe it was that long ago?

BB: Isn't that something? Yeah. I would love to do another concert of it or something. But, they are holding on to the right so tightly! I am sort of in my own little protest, I haven't seen the movie or seen the revival or anything.

PC: Nothing will ever match the original production.

BB: No, nothing.

PC: Tell me about working with Michael Bennett. What was the audition like?

BB: Oh. My. God. (Pause.) I had to audition so many times! For one thing, I was dating Cleavant Derricks at the time.

PC: I didn't know that! He's like Broadway royalty.

BB: Yeah, we dated for six years. I was his guest at the Tony Awards when he won his award for DREAMGIRLS.

PC: That's right! How could I forget!

BB: But, as far as the audition was concerned - and I later learned, years and years later, after we closed and everything - the reason they gave me such a hard time at the audition was because they didn't know how it would be for Cleavant, because he had done the workshop and everything. I mean, I was clearly qualified. But, they didn't know how it would be for him having his girlfriend in the show and all that.

PC: How interesting.

BB: I mean, I auditioned five times or something... for the ensemble!

PC: Crazy!

BB: Later on, I found out that that was the reason. They weren't sure if they were gonna let me have the job because I was his girlfriend.

PC: Have things changed in the last thirty years?

BB: Absolutely. Now, nobody really cares about that.

PC: Tell me about your one-on-one interactions with Michael Bennett.

BB: I didn't get to work a lot with Michael because I was in the ensemble, so in rehearsal I worked more with Michael Peters. But, once we came to New York, we were all working together. I remember watching all three of them - Michael, Michael and Bobby - work in tandem the way they did. It was really quite something to see.

PC: Michael Bennett wasn't making musicals: he was making movies onstage.

BB: Exactly! Exactly! Oh, yeah! A lot of people didn't realize that. While they enjoyed it, they couldn't put it into the terms like you just did. He was making movies onstage.

PC: That original production of DREAMGIRLS had cuts and wipes and dissolves and close-ups, just like a movie.

BB: Oh, yeah! I wish the new versions kept it closer the way Michael saw it. That's all I'm gonna say about that!

PC: The sung dialogue is what makes the show so unique.

BB: Exactly. Remember, Jimmy wasn't a drunk or a junkie in our DREAMGIRLS. It wasn't about all that. It was about the rise and fall of this girl group and the people that were involved with their life in that.

PC: Or even less showbiz: it's just about a family.

BB: Yes. An extended family.

PC: They just happen to be famous.

BB: They became famous - and what fame did to them.

PC: DREAMGIRLS is a work of art, a modern-day HAMLET, there are so few American works that perfect.

BB: You could use everything the same as it was then today. It's because it's a period piece. You know, it's not just about updating and making things contemporary. Michael made it as a period piece. Everything was taken into consideration. Especially on DREAMGIRLS. To take any element of it out can kind of make it clunky and do a disservice to it.

PC: I completely agree. What was your favorite step to do every night? The end of "Steppin' To The Bad Side"?

BB: Oh, "Steppin'"! See, the thing with that is, I had to teach "Steppin To The Bad Side" a hundred million gazillion times! So, I know every single part of it. You have to understand, or a woman to be able to do a number like that... oh, my God, just unbelievable!

PC: I'll take your word for it! I believe it.

BB: Yeah, it's funny because Milton Craig Neely came to see us. I am doing this new show TRAVELIN' with Doug Askew, who is friends with Milton, who is on the new DREAMGIRLS tour right now. Milton Craig Neely and I started in DREAMGIRLS together. We were the first two swings on DREAMGIRLS.

PC: No way!

BB: Yeah! So, we started talking and reminiscing about DREAMGIRLS and "Steppin' To The Bad Side" and having to cover the men and women in that number. It was just madness. It was brilliant. I get excited just talking about it!

PC: I get goose-bumps talking about it, too. What a moment!

BB: It was brilliant.

PC: Talking about fond memories, who have been some of your favorite CHICAGO co-stars?

BB: Oh, Rita Wilson and I had a ball.

PC: What about Ruthie Henshall, who has also participated in this column?

BB: Oh, yeah. Ruthie is crazy! We would just go crazy and they would tell us, "OK, guys, bring it in a little bit!" (Laughs.)

PC: That's hilarious. She said she loved working with you. Anyone else?

BB: I loved working with Charlotte D'Amboise, too. That was our first time working together, in CHICAGO.

PC: What was working with George C. Wolfe on JELLY'S LAST JAME like?

BB: Oh, JELLY'S LAST JAM. I don't even know where to start. To work with Gregory Hines, Keith David, Savion Glover, Anne Duquesne - we had the best time. To watch George work... I would say he and Michael [Bennett] are both right up there. You know, he directs movies onstage, like you said, as well.

PC: Totally. The turntables in THE WILD PARTY and JELLY'S.

BB: Yes! Yes! His vision is so clear for the actors, for the dancers, for everybody. His favorite words just rush to the surface and he just ends up saying, "Fum, fum fum!" He gets so excited.

PC: So passionate. It's a shame you've only done one show together. But, then again, it's so hard to get a new show on Broadway anymore.

BB: I loved working with him. I'd love to do another show with him. Actually, I have a great idea for a show I'd love to have George take on. But, to get the funding for it is a whole other ministry, as they say. He is just brilliant. But, I guess that's part of the problem sometimes, too, that you don't want to take on just any old project. You have to be selective.

PC: What was CATS like? Did you do it with Betty Buckley?

BB: I actually never did the show with Betty Buckley. We did press pictures and things together, but Loni Ackerman was Grizz in the show.

PC: What was that experience like? It was pretty revolutionary at the time, despite it being a punch line now.

BB: I was dance captain. I remember one day I was rehearsing and I caught myself becoming like a kitty cat. I slid and fell right into the seats! I was out for a few days!

PC: What about going on as Grizabella?

BB: It was totally amazing. I knew I was going on so I had enough time to prepare. But, it was the type of role that you really have to prepare for. So, for me, it was the first time I had done a principal role like that. So, to jump into those tights and discover her sensibility and who she was - the journey through that whole play - was amazing. As far as the song she sings, it was something like I had never sung before. No, it wasn't opera - but, it was something that not a lot of African Americans get the chance to sing. It was a challenge.

PC: DREAMGIRLS to CATS to LEGS DIAMOND...

BB: I loved that show. Peter [Allen] was precious. He was such a talented man. I ended up doing some shows with him at Westbury because he liked my voice. He kind of took me under his wing. I had a good time in the show, too, because they were trying to fix it and the tech was just horrendous, but Peter just kept us all together with his sense of humor and everything. The choreography was just wonderful.

PC: The opening number was great.

BB: (Sings the beginning of "Speakeasy".) "Where all you hustlers..."

PC: LEGS DIAMOND lives again!

BB: It does now!

PC: Did you love doing SMOKEY JOE'S CAFÉ? With Lesley Gore!

BB: Yes! I love Lesley. I still have people come up to me on the street and say, "I love that boa!"

PC: Yeah, you're on the DVD forever!

BB: Exactly! They did a beautiful job of it, too!

PC: Can you tell me what readings you have done recently?

BB: I've done a reading of a musical called SOCKS: THE MUSICAL where I played Old Lace Sock. I did a reading of a musical called THE BLUE LOBSTER where I was the Starfish. I also just finished doing a workshop of a musical loosely based on the life of Sammy Davis, Jr..

PC: That sounds exciting!

BB: Yeah, it's good. Tonight I am actually doing a Triad reading called WINNER TAKE ALL. It's a rock opera.

PC: Oh, a contemporary score!

BB: It's very contemporary! It's a little bit of everything.

PC: Who's in it?

BB: Alyson Williams - who I actually went to high school with - and Ty Stevens and Romona Keller, and a bunch of people I just met.

PC: What's the major difference you have found between the choreography of Bennett and Fosse, having done both?

BB: Bob's choreography is a character in and of itself in the way it's done. Because of the way everything is turned in, and just the whole sensibility and style. Michael's choreography is more grounded and technical, as you say. I love them both. As I get older, I've grown to really love Fosse because it's so sexual as well. You can have a whole dialogue in your head going on. They're both brilliant.

PC: Tell me everything about this new NYMF show TRAV'LIN.

BB: TRAV'LIN takes place in the 1930s in Harlem and it is the music of JC Johnson. He was not a known composer, but he worked with Ethel Waters and Billie Holiday and a bunch of other people. It's about three couples - one in their twenties, one in their thirties and one in their fifties - and I play the female part of the couple in their fifties. Doug Askew plays my former lover... you see, we met a long time ago, but we meet again but he doesn't recognize me and I recognize him and it's all about how I manipulate that whole situation to my benefit.

PC: Sounds fun! What's the score like?

BB: We did a little bluesy, we do a little more traditional 1930s music. We pretty much run the gamut.

PC: How'd you get involved?

BB: Well, the way this show came about is a man named Alan Shapiro met JC Johnson when Alan was ten years old. I think he came into Alan's father's store or something. He became mesmerized by him and obsessed with his music. He would listen to all of JC's stories when he came in. So, when JC died in 1981, Alan went to his widow and asked if he could use his music to tell a story. He said that all of JC's stories were pretty much love stories and relationship stories about 1930s Harlem. So, Alan went though all the songs and built a love story around the songs of J.C. Johnson. That's TRAV'LIN in a nutshell.

PC: Sort of a jukebox musical, without the jukebox! What's it about, at its heart?

BB: Yeah, it's about how we travel in and out of each other's lives - physically, mentally, spiritually. Love defies all of that. It's a great show.

PC: Would we know any of the songs?

BB: The blues song I do I think Ethel Waters did at one point. "Empty Bed Blues".

PC: Great title!

BB: Most of all, the beauty of it all is that you have three stories about African American relationships that is just about love. Nothing negative.

PC: Tell me about your new show that you're writing.

BB: I've been kind of obsessed with PYGMALION for a couple of years. This is a modern day, gender-switched version. It's about a an older woman and a younger gentleman. It's about the older woman trying to understand that world - what the spoken word is, what hip-hop is, what that poetry is - and the younger gentleman finding our where his history comes from. Rap didn't just come about. There were different versions of it going way, way back.

PC: Sounds prescient! And progressive!

BB: It's kind of about the discovery of both of us. It's about the older woman understanding life as it is now and the young man learning his roots so he can move ahead further. I am looking for a new hip-hop artist and composer to write the score. It is called IN OTHER WORDS.

PC: Great title! There isn't enough rap in theatre.

BB: It could really be amazing. I would love if George would do it. It's not just about rap or hip-hop or a horny older woman who loves younger man.

PC: A cougar musical! A cougar-sical!

BB: (Laughs.) Yes! It's about a lot more, too! But, that, too!

PC: This was amazing! Good luck with TRAV'LIN and all your exciting projects! When does it open?

BB: TRAV'LIN opens on the 11th! Everyone should come see it! You'll have a blast! Thank you so much for this. It was great!