Andre De Shields and Bat Out of Hell

[Lot666]

Over in the BAT OUT OF HELL Will Play 8 Weeks At NY City Center In 2019 thread, a link was recently posted to a demo of a song for a previous treatment of the show, and it's performed by Andre De Shields. I wasn't really familiar with Mr. De Shields' work prior to Hadestown, and it was very interesting to hear him really sing a piece (in Hadestown, his character is more of a poet/storyteller than a singer).

[CarlosAlberto]

Lot666 said: "Over in theBAT OUT OF HELL Will Play 8 Weeks At NY City Center In 2019thread, a link was recently posted to a demo of a song for a previous treatment of the show, and it's performed by Andre De Shields. I wasn't really familiar with Mr. De Shields' work prior to Hadestown, and it was very interesting to hear him really sing a piece (in Hadestown, his character is more of a poet/storyteller than a singer)."

Andre De Shields is Broadway Theater Royalty. He originated the role of "The Wiz" in the 1975 Original Broadway production of "The Wiz". 

Andre De Shields

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Andre and Jim have enjoyed a long association dating back to Jim's first musicals in the early Seventies. It continues to the present; as recently as 2008, Andre played the role that later became known as Falco (opposite Justin Vivian Bond of Kiki & Herb fame as a prototype of Sloane) in one of the earliest readings of Bat Out of Hell.

[Lot666]

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "Andre and Jim have enjoyed a long association dating back to Jim's first musicals in the early Seventies. It continues to the present; as recently as 2008, Andre played the role that later became known as Falco (opposite Justin Vivian Bond of Kiki & Herb fame as a prototype of Sloane) in one of the earliest readings of Bat Out of Hell."

Having recently seen the show at NY City Center with the superb Bradley Dean as Falco, I cannot imagine Andre De Shields in that role. The characterization must have evolved considerably since the early days!

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Oh, you don't know the half of it...

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Way back in the late '70s I was mesmerized by Andre De Shields in Ain't Misbehaving.  He could find the sex hidden in every lyric, as if everything was a double entendre.   I wore out the cast album in college.  Great memory.

 

 

[Someone in a Tree2]

The whole original cast of AINT MISBEHAVIN’ (no G) was electric onstage! So simple in retrospect— five livewire performers, a hot onstage band and pure magic happened every night. This was the original jukebox musical compared to which all others fall very short. One of the greats that made the 70’s perhaps the greatest decade of musicals in history.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Yes, I didn’t want to sway from the thread topic so didn’t mention the others, but the entire cast was amazing.  There are so many moments that stick out; it’s a master class on how to tell a story through song.  I’ve seen other productions since but I’ve never seen any that matched the magic of the original.   

And yes, thanks for the reminder about the spelling.  Temporary brain disconnect.

[GavestonPS]

Someone in a Tree2 said: "The whole original cast of AINT MISBEHAVIN’ (no G) was electric onstage! So simple in retrospect— five livewire performers, a hot onstage band and pure magic happened every night. This was the original jukebox musical compared to which all others fall very short. One of the greats that made the 70’s perhaps the greatest decade of musicals in history."

I so often agree with you, Someone, and this is no exception. I saw AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' so many times I lost count. It's not just the first, important jukebox musical, it's the only good one, IMHO. (To be fair, some people feel the term shouldn't be applied to AM. I don't entirely understand their reasoning and suspect AM was just too good to be lumped in a category with MAMA MIA!)

Mr. De Shields also had a major role in THE FULL MONTY.

So AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', THE WIZ and THE FULL MONTY make three must-have OBCRs the OP should have!