Yesterday Came Too Soon Explores Tragic Life of Dorothy Dandridge

By Andrew Gans
April 4, 2005

Dorothy Dandridge, who starred in the title role of the 1954 film "Carmen Jones," is the subject of a new drama with music titled Yesterday Came Too Soon.

Leslie Lewis Sword will play the ill-fated actress, who died in 1965, age 42, of a drug overdose. Written by Jamal Williams, Yesterday Came Too Soon will be presented April 14-16 at 7:30 PM at The National Black Theater. Dr. Barbara Ann Teer directs.

Yesterday Came Too Soon is set at Dandridge's final engagement, a minor Las Vegas performance in 1965. The one-person drama, according to press notes, follows Dandridge's "road of struggle, failed marriages, exploitation, fame, bad judgment, promiscuity, booze, pills and an untimely end. Adding new dimensions to this classic plight, however, is the matter of Dandridge's race and the birth of a mentally retarded daughter, which emerges as the most painful component of a life filled with disappointments."

The National Black Theater is located at Fifth Avenue at 125th Street. Tickets, priced $35 (general admission) and $25 (seniors and students), are available by calling (212) 722-3800.