Previews: FIRST LADY OF SONG: CHERISE COACHES SINGS ELLA FITZGERALD at Westport Country Playhouse

If you are a fan of Ella Fitzgerald, you are going to be blown away by Cherise Coaches as she performs the legendary singer at the Westport Country Playhouse for two weeks only.

A Chicago native, Coaches grew up singing gospel music. Although she started singing at the age of three, it was her first time singing in front of a big crowd at the age of 11 when the seed started to germinate within her. At 17 she hit the ground running by actively recording and writing songs. At 18, she entered several competitions and snuck into clubs just for a chance to be heard.” At 19, she put out her first song. It was about her first heartbreak. That’s always sad, but for an artist, sometimes it’s helpful in the long run. She has stayed laser focused as she pursued her career.

“My first voiced teachers were the people I listened to in the car,” she says, mostly gospel singers. Coaches was especially inspired by Yolanda Adams, who has been called the Queen of Contemporary Gospel Music, the First Lady of Modern Gospel, and the Reigning Queen of Urban Gospel. It was Adams’s “power and authenticity” that resonated with her, but it was Whitney Houston who was the first popular singer to really influence her. While studying music at Columbia College Chicago, she “fully discovered Ella Fitzgerald,” and caught up with other legendary singers. In addition to the classic pop artists’ music, Coaches has a wide repertoire of music because she was “a jobbing singer” at weddings and corporate events while she was in her early 20s.

Coaches has impressive theater credentials in addition to being an acclaimed vocalist. She appeared on Broadway in the musical Waitress and in the National Tour of Disenchanted: The Musical. She also performed in Hair, Dreamgirls, and Dynamite Divas, a musical revue of Dinah Washington, Beyoncé, and Patti LaBelle. Coaches toured in Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul, Higher and Higher Chester with Gregory, and Signed, Sealed, Delivered: John Mark-McGaha Sings Stevie Wonder. She received a Black Theater Alliance nomination for the Phylicia Rashad Award for Most Promising Actress. She also appeared on television in The Chi and Empire and in the film Plow and The Terrible Tenth.

She was set to play Fitzgerald in Dynamite Divas, but that role was cut, so she was offered the role of Dinah Washington in addition to portraying Beyoncé. Coaches was not that familiar with Washington, but she is the type of performer who will do whatever it takes to interpret the role with respect and sensitivity. Ella Fitzgerald is near and dear to Coaches’s heart. “There’ no one living or dead who sounds like her. She could create a whole sound out of just listening to the horn. What a talent to be able to do that! Her mind being the way it is, it’s just incredible to me.”

Coaches’ “Mount Rushmore” of Black women vocalists are Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, and Aretha Franklin. What did she learn from them, both personally and as a performer? From Ella Fitzgerald, “I learned creativity and ingenuity. She was so fearless and creative. She could sing an entire song with no lyrics and still give it the same emotion.” Whitney Houston “had presence” and even in a venue with low production values, “she could command a room.” Beyoncé is “just an icon and artist.” Aretha Frankin had also grown up with church music. “Church can be difficult,” she admits, but from Franklin, she “learned power from that kind of singing, the personal strength she endorsed.” And persistence through life’s difficulties.

Coach would also like to “take a crack at Chaka Khan.” Patti LaBelle is another one of her icons. She played Young Patti in A New Attitude: A Tribute to Patti LaBelle.” Most of these singers had a lot of heartbreak in their personal lives, but they all pushed the boundaries of performing. Although Coaches is still young, it’s clear from her performances that she channels their talent and their pain. The Chicago Theatre Review called Coaches “transcendent…a gift, glittering songstress.”

When not performing, Coaches is busy writing a lot of songs including R&B, pop, country, and gospel – “whatever the job calls for. I’m a songwriter for hire,” she says.

“I would just want people to know that I’m a very serious artist,” she says. “I put a lot of work and a lot of thought into what I do. Watch my music videos. I create from heart. [I want audiences] to experience what I have to give the world.”

See for yourself @cherisecoaches on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter (X), but don’t miss out as she plays The First Lady of Song: Ella Fitzgerald at the Westport Country Playhouse from Friday, October 27 through Sunday, November 5. The Westport Country Playhouse is located at 25 Powers Court, off Route 1. For tickets, call (203) 227-4177 or visit www.westportplayhouse.org

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