By Andrew Gans
17 Feb 2012

 

	NaTasha Yvette Willams, Norm Lewis and Audra McDonald
	photo by Michael J. Lutch

Question: When did performing change for you from being a hobby to when you knew this is what you wanted to pursue for your career?
Williams: It kind of never was a hobby for me. It was always what I wanted to do; however, I didn't know what that was. Three I started singing, and at five I was watching the "Sonny & Cher Show," the Jacksons had a show, and little Janet was on there. I used to watch Angie Dickinson [in the] "Police Woman" show with my mom, and I knew that I wanted to have families sit down like we were doing and be entertained—laugh and sing. I knew I wanted to do that. I thought that you could only do it on TV, because that was my experience. I was sitting in the living room with my mom watching TV, and I knew that I wanted to do that, and then it turned into, "Well, how can I do that and what do you do?" Then you grow up and you learn, "Oh, there's people doing this live every day," and they don't have to be really skinny or really pretty people—they can be, but they don't have to be—they can look like me or look like everybody because I'm a big girl, so it's like, "Where does that put me in this world of entertainment?" And, theatre was the most receptive to me and I to it, I think. So, I knew at a very young age that I wanted to perform and entertain, and, I guess, high school maybe defined what avenue I'd take.

Question: After high school, what was your path?
Williams: I went to North Carolina A&T State University and had a double major of math and theatre arts… It was going to be math, and then I was in the plays all the time, and I was like, "Okay, the math is slipping, let's make this work for us," so I ended up double majoring. And, I went to grad school at Michigan State University and just got an MFA in acting, and then moved to New York. Actually, I moved back home for a bit, taught high school at Westchester High School.

Question: Did you teach math or performing?
Williams: I taught math. [Laughs.] I taught everything… I taught an Algebra I class, I taught speech and drama. I taught two drama classes. I taught a forensics class, which was the speech and debate team, and I taught something else… Oh, I taught chorus! I had no business teaching music, but I taught that, too. [Laughs.]… Then I moved to New York right after that. I moved to New York in '96-'97, somewhere around there.

Question: What was your Broadway debut?
Williams: My Broadway debut was actually The Color Purple.

Question: What did you do between when you moved to New York and The Color Purple?
Williams: I did all of the Broadway series tours just about. I did Dessa Rose at Lincoln Center, understudying there. I did a couple of things at the Paper Mill. Certainly, I have done a lot of regional theatre, but the bulk of my life has been on the road doing the tours. I did the The Goodbye Girl tour, Xanadu, Drowsy Chaperone tour. I've done just about all of the shows that have a person like me, the tour of them. [Laughs.]

Question: When you finally got to Broadway, do you remember your first night? What that was like for you?
Williams: I actually had the blessing and benefit of having two first nights, basically. I went into The Color Purple as the second Sofia—the first replacement for Felicia P. Fields. And, it was an extraordinary night in that I had been trying to get in The Color Purple since it did its world premiere pre-Broadway in Atlanta, and it was constantly just, "Oh, we love you, but not right now." The story of my life. [Laughs.] So, it was an extraordinary night for me—magical like never before. I was nervous, but not nervous—just able to sort of exhale. I had that for my first night. Then, I had another first night when Fantasia came into the show about a month after me. It was like it was opening night, you know. It was like totally the beginning, like what it must have been like for LaChanze when she opened in that there were photographers and all this fanfare and all these people. It was a surreal experience for me that I got to experience, actually, from my first opening night to Fantasia's opening night to my closing night. Certainly, there were less photographers there by the closing night, but that experience of, "Wow. I'm standing on this stage—a stage that I've been trying to get on for ten years, basically." When I moved to New York—it must have been '97 because it was when Ragtime and Livent had all these shows. Ragtime was opening for the first time there… And, that was the first show that I saw when I moved, and it was intermission. I called my mom and was like, "Oh, my God, this is what I so want to do. I know I'm in the right place." Ragtime did that for me—that lifting. Being in the audience now and just watching this show, this music, these pictures unfold, this story onstage—it was all of that for me, to be able to give that to someone, and that was what it was all about for me—opening night and even now. I'm sorry, I'm crying. [Laughs.] But, it's just an amazing career… Certainly, it started with that first night, but it didn't stop there. That was the beauty of it. It didn't stop with the first night. It was every night I got to do it because the audience was new, and that is how I feel now.

Question: How is it combining motherhood and eight shows a week? That's got to be pretty…
Williams: Oh, yeah. That's pretty rough. [Laughs.] I have lots of help, and my husband has been great and wonderful and amazing—most of the time! Especially when we were previewing and having those ten-out-of-twelve days and stuff, that was really hard. The hardest part, now, is that they've started to cry and cling when I leave. And, you know, you are always wondering, "Wow. I'm doing what I love, and I'm doing what is enabling our family to exist, basically, but how much of it is my ego wanting to perform versus being a mom?" It's been difficult, and it's been fun. It was great in Boston or Cambridge because they were with me in the show, so we all left and went to the show together. They left a little earlier to come home, but it wasn't as much of a strain, basically, in terms of time as it is now. But, they've been kind and the kids come, and actually tomorrow we're having a Porgy and Bess play date. All of us are bringing their kids, and we're going to hang out and stuff. I come home at night, and my little girl is generally asleep, my little boy is generally up. [Laughs.] So, I have some time with them and I certainly have time with them during the day, and just do our best to be in their lives—make sure they don't forget who I am. [Laughs.] To go to work, and be able to creatively do what I do, and then come home and love on them as much as I can.

 

[For tickets, visit Ticketmaster.com. The Richard Rodgers Theatre is located at 226 West 46th Street.]

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.