Lillias White
The show may be called Fela!, but for this diva lover the star of the high-energy new musical at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre is Lillias White, who plays Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti, the late mother of the Nigerian activist and songwriter. White's stage time is fairly brief, yet she makes all her moments count. In fact, her second act solo may be the high point of the production. The singing actress, whose Broadway credits also include Dreamgirls, Barnum, Cats, Once on This Island, How to Succeed… and a Tony-winning turn in The Life, possesses one of the great belts in the musical theatre, and she uses that one-in-a-million voice in an emotionally stirring manner in the Bill T. Jones-directed and choreographed production. Last week I had the pleasure of chatting with her about her latest role and her upcoming New Year's Eve concerts; that brief interview follows:

Question: How did this role come about?
Lillias White: Well, darling, I auditioned — like hundreds of others.

Question: What was your audition like? What did they ask you to do?
White: What did I do for the audition? I don't remember. [Laughs.] . . . . Oh, I remember! We had to learn some of the music from the show. We got in there and that's what the audition was. At the callback we had to come back and sing the music from the show.

Question: Had you seen Fela! when it was Off-Broadway?
White: No, I didn't.

	Lillias White and Kevin Mambo in Fela!
	photo by Monique Carboni

Question: Did you do much research into the role?
White: There's a book called "For Women and the Nation," and it is about Funmilayo. It is about her life and how she grew up and the things that she did in her lifetime to help the women in Nigeria. I did as much research as I could online. There was not a tremendous amount on her online, but I researched her as much as I could. I read whatever I could get my hands on.

Question: Was there anything that stood out to you as particularly memorable as you were learning about her?
White: Mainly that she was pretty stern. She was a pretty stern, strict mother, which I try to be. [Laughs.] I don't know how successful I've been with that, but anyways... She really loved Fela. She loved his spirit. Some people may even say that he was her favorite of all her children.

Question: In the first song you imitate the vocal sounds of the region. How did you go about getting that sound?
White: Honey, I live in Harlem. We have lots of Africans in Harlem from every part of Africa. Africa's a very, very big place. Here in Harlem we have people from all over the African Diaspora. So I'm really good at accents, and I've been studying the Nigerian accent and different accents all my life, so I just kind of picked it up. I got some help from a Nigerian buddy who was friends with Fela.

Question: The second number is so great and powerful. What's it like doing that song in the second act every night?
White: It's pretty intense. There's a lot of energy that's created with those moments in that particular part of the show. There's a lot of prayer going on, prayer to the African god . . . . There's chanting going on, there's a lot of movement going on, and it's a very intense moment. The energy in the air, where I'm sitting up there, is very intense. It's not fun and games up there. It's very serious. I take it very seriously.

Question: You get to perform opposite two different leading men. What's that like?
White: It's wonderful. They're each brilliant, they're each really sweet guys, but they're very different in their approach to the role. It's wonderful to be onstage with both of them, it really is. I can't say one is better than the other. I will say that they are each different. They each bring their own power and energy and humility and humor to the role, and I very much appreciate it.

Question: It's such a great cast. What's the atmosphere like backstage?
White: It's kind of quiet on my side of the stage. My dressing room is on stage right side. [Backstage] we hear Sahr [Ngaujah playing his] music and Saycon [Sengbloh] plays her music, and I'm gonna get my iPod dock, and I'm gonna play my music.

Question: What type of music do you listen to?
White: Everything. Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin... everything.

Question: Do you think that the show has a message? What does it say to you?
White: That last song says it all. . . . His mother says it all through the show. When you wake up the cat, when the rat bites the cat's tail, the rat's gonna have trouble. When you wake up the authorities, when you shake things up, when you expose the truth to people, there are gonna be people who don't like that. You're gonna get a backlash from that. You ought to expect that, but these things have to be done.

Question: You had mentioned your motherhood. How old are your kids now?
White: Honey, my kids are grown up. I have grandchildren. [Laughs.] I have two beautiful grandsons. My kids are adults.

	Chuck Cooper and Lillias White in Putting It Together
	photo by T. Charles Erickson

Question: You recently did a production of Putting It Together. What was it like singing Sondheim's music?
White: It was very challenging, because his stuff is not that easy to sing. But it was fun to do because it was the first time I've gotten to work with Chuck Cooper on a show since The Life. We had a lovely time. It was a great cast. It was up in Syracuse, so it was snowing everyday, it was cold...

Question: Will you be doing any of those songs in your New Year's concert that's coming up?
White: No.

Question: What will that concert be like?
White: That concert's gonna be, I would say, the softer side of Lillias White. There'll be some old standards in there and some Broadway tunes and some fun stuff and maybe one sing-along with the audience, because I like to do that.

Question: You've done so many Broadway shows. How difficult is it to keep a career going in the theatre?
White: It depends on who you are, to be honest with you. It depends on how dedicated you are to it. It depends on if you're a black girl or a white girl. I'm being totally honest here. We still have racial divides and racial problems in this country, and that does not exclude the theatre. Unfortunately, we still have those issues in our society. I don't know. I look back and wonder how I've done it all these years, with two children to take care of as a single parent. I've had my family around to help me, thank God.... It hasn't been easy, but somehow I've done it. I've continued to hang in there and do it, and here we are!

Question: Is there any production you look on as a high point in your career?
White: I have a couple. There's a show that I did by William Finn that we did at the Public Theater a thousand years ago called Romance in Hard Times. I played the role of Hennie; I got an Obie Award for it. It was one of the greatest scores that I've ever had the privilege to sing and listen to. I keep nudging him every time I see him to please revisit that show. I really enjoyed doing that. That was also a phenomenal cast at the Public Theater at that time. And The Life. I really loved doing The Life. I loved coming to work, I loved the crew and everybody involved. It was just super to do it. Continued...