Broadway actress writes and stars in Nina Simone musical
LAIONA MICHELLE WROTE AND STARS IN THE MUSICAL ‘LITTLE GIRL BLUE’
Before scoring a Broadway success in “Amazing Grace” six years ago, Laiona Michelle’s manager challenged her to write her own musical to showcase her talent. So she wrote “Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical,” in honor of the iconic singer-writeractivist Nina Simone. The show is running Aug. 4 29 under the tent alongside the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam.
“I took my time,” said Michelle, a Springfield, Mass., native, who started working on the bio-musical over a decade ago. “Nina Simone just kept coming to me. The universe kept bringing her to me. It was like Nina chose me,” she said.
“Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical,” focuses on its subject in two concerts during 1968 (Act I) and 1978. In between the show’s 17 songs including “Feeling Good” and “Ooh Child,” Michelle’s Simone banters with her trio comprised of bassist Saadi Zain, percussionist Kenneth Salters and music supervisor/arranger Mark Fifer on keyboards.
While the musical covers the ebb and flow of Simone’ career, Michelle and director Devanand Janki, who also wrote additional material for the show, wanted to “quiet all the voices around her that tagged her as 'the angry Black woman'” by exploring Simone’s mental illness that fueled her volatility.
“I want to answer that,” said Michelle, adding that Simone’s bipolar diagnosis “is very essential to the story.”
“I mean, it’s such a lowball move to be like 'angry Black woman' all the time,” said Michelle. “I want to show the blows she took — and she took them. I hope people coming to the show have a clearer understanding [and] see that we’re all human beings, we’re all flawed and we’re all vulnerable.”
Michelle immersed herself deep into Simone's life, studying her subject’s biography, writings and, of course, her music. Most of what Michelle absorbed came through pouring over photos of Simone. “I find so much energy looking at her pictures,” she said.
“As an actor, when you pick up a script there’s so much of you that has to go into the research of understanding, bringing yourself to it, trying to step into the shoes," she said. "With Nina, it was lik, the shoes already fit my feet. And it was me coming close to her."
Michelle, plays piano in the show, breezily concedes that her musicianship pales in comparison to Simone’s classical mastery.
“I wouldn’t say (writing the show) was easy for me, but after reading all her books, and going through documentary after documentary, I really felt like I just understood her cadences, her rhythms, her baggage — I understood it," she said. “As we all know, Nina was a genius classical pianist. I am not.”
Michelle, who is presently writing a musical bio on Nelson Mandela, said that she hopes theatergoers will “walk away with a celebratory spirit” despite all of Simone’s anguish.
“It’s been an exciting ride,” she said. “I’m glad she chose me.”
“Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical” performances will be Wednesday through Saturdays at 7p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. This show will include an intermission.
The show will be performed rain or shine under the big top as part of the Goodspeed by the River summer series. Tickets per event will be $45. Tickets are on sale now and only available through the Box Office at 860-873-8668. For more information, visit goodspeed.org.