In New York, a show at New World stages pays tribute to African-American soul and jazz icon Nina Simone, starring Laiona Michelle. The actress, who wrote the show, dances and sings on “Little girl blue”, the diva’s first album released in 1959.
I decided that as an artist, it’s important that we, as black people, own our stories and tell our stories, because no one can step into shoes better than us. This is therefore the whole mission of this project. And I’m really proud of this piece.
The actress tries to tell the life of the one who was called Eunice Waymon, born in 1933 in North Carolina. The show doesn’t dilute anything about Nina Simone’s suffering, her husband and manager Andrew Stroud’s beatings, or her mental turmoil. As for its radicality, it is claimed by the singer.
“When I was growing up, you know, Nina Simone was buried, in history. She was constantly told to sit down and shut up: You’re too loud. You’re the angry black woman. So, it was really my mission to bring all that noise to the forefront and answer these questions. Why was she so unsettled? Why was she angry? You know, why was she so deeply sad?”
Gifted for singing and classical piano. Nina Simone had to give it up after her failure to enter a conservatory in Philadelphia. Bruised, she will attribute it all her life to racism.
“Nina Simone was a classically trained artist. She loved Bach. And what she signed up for was to be a classical pianist, to be the first black classical pianist. had to step up and fight for her people, you know, and sing protest songs. And that’s how she was thrown into the jazz world with a bang.”
Laiona Michelle wants to bring her work to one of the most prestigious theaters on Broadway in New York, where biopics already celebrate Bob Dylan, Tina Turner or Michael Jackson: “This is where Nina Simone deserves to be. On the big scene”.
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