Over the years fortune has favored us by giving us the opportunity to meet some of most talented and brilliant people in the world of theatre and art. The most recent mega star to allow us to visit is certainly one of the most well know singers and actresses in the world. Leslie Uggams has been in show business since she was a child. At the age of nine she was singing at the fabled Apollo club opening for the likes of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and other greats.

On November 19, 2010 the Pasadena Playhouse will open Uptown – Downtown starring Leslie Uggams so we began our interview by asking Leslie about the show.

LU Yes. Let me tell you how this all happened. I was asked to be a part of what they call “The Great American Song Book”. They do a “Jazz at Lincoln Center” every year with several different artists and naturally, it’s incredible music, so I was very happy to be asked.

I had not appeared in New York other than when I was doing theatre, but I had not appeared doing concerts or nightclubs in many, many years. I traveled everywhere else, but I had not been in New York for a long time, so I thought “I really want to make sure that this turns out to be something special”. So I asked the director of Stormy Weather, Michael Bush, who is a dear friend of mine to work with me and co-write it with me. So we put together a show.

RP What was the major theme of the show?

LU It turned out that the things that I was singing and talking about - - - is my life!

RP I read about that on the internet. So would you consider this play autobiographical?

LU Yes! In many, many ways it is. So we did it at the Allen Room and people just went wild over the show! We were kind of stunned- We thought it was good but the response was really absolutely amazing.

RP Having seen you perform, I can’t imagine it not being amazing.

LU  I also did it up in Massachusetts recently and got the same response. I realized when we were putting it together that there are a lot of things that people don’t know about me. They know me from either the Broadways shows, or they know me from Mitch Miller or they know me from Roots. But they didn’t know that I had a career going as a child.

RP Where did you perform as a child?

LU  I did a lot of television starting at 6 years old and I also worked at the Apollo at nine years old. When we started putting the show together I began to remember that I worked with all these incredible people and I said, “OMG, look who I worked with!” and then I remembered this and then I remembered that, and it just evolved so now the music is part of the story as well.

RP At the Apollo, I read that you opened for Dinah Washington?

LU I worked with Dinah Washington, I worked with Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, The Drifters.

RP At the time, did you have the slightest inkling that you would be as great as they are?

LU No! (laughing) I loved to sing and I was very excited that I was getting the opportunity. I played the Apollo constantly as a child. But I had no clue what lay ahead. My first television gig was working with Ethel Waters as the niece on one of the episodes. Then I was doing shows like Milton Berle in the Show of Shows and many others. Television was young then and there were a lot of children’s shows and a lot of opportunities. When I look back I realize that it was a great, great experience – and it was LIVE!

RP So had one shot and that was it. No retakes! On the subject of “live”, how did you bring this show to Pasadena?

LU The Pasadena Playhouse asked me if I would come out there and do my show. So we’ve extended it because when I did it here in New York I only had a certain amount of time that I was allowed, and I never got to the Television Years. People would come up to me after the show saying “We loved the show but you didn’t talk about Mitch Miller – you didn’t mention the show!”

RP So this show covers more time?

LU At that time I didn’t have the time allotment to be able to do that. Now that they have given use more time, we have made it more of a theatrical presentation and we’ve included the television years, because I enjoyed a successful career in television.

RP So there’s narrative and songs in the show.

LU Yes, and it also has a lot of humor. It’s not the kind of show where you sit there and yawn. I don’t want people yawning. The stories are interesting, the music is great and there a lot of funny things that happened to me in certain situations which I tell the audience about. It’s a fun show and I enjoy doing it and I also have fabulous musicians.

RP Well, let me tell you, if you’re on stage, there’s no way anybody is ever going to yawn! No way! But on another note, you had a very successful career when you were young, but you did Stormy Weather last year playing Lena Horne, who had a terrible time finding her rightful success because of the way America felt about African Americans in those days. Did you ever experience that as a child in show business?

LU Yes! Yes, when I was growing up there were a lot of situations where I was held back from certain things because I was Black. I remember I did a show when I was about seven years old. It was a contest and every week I kept winning and the grand prize was a car.

RP Even today that’s a terrific prize.

LU So the sponsors decided that they had already given the prize to a Black child that had been on the show weeks before me and they didn’t want to do it again.

RP So how did they get around it?

LU They had an applause meter, you remember? The ones where the dial went up to 100? Well they had someone go underneath the meter and tie the dial so it wouldn’t reach 100 because they didn’t want to give me that car.

RP That’s terrible.

LU It was very hurtful at the time, but at the same time, my parents didn’t drive - - -

RP So what would you do with a car?

LU You know, (laughing). We lived in a ghetto. What the heck were we going to do with a car?

RP That’s very funny!

LU Well, I got over that eventually. But sure, there was a lot of racism when I first started television.

RP Mitch Miller was quite a taskmaster, wasn’t he?

LU You know what? He had a reputation for that, but he and I got along great. I talk about him in my show, and in fact, we wound up being neighbors for many, many years. We kept in touch and I saw him up until about 6 months before he died. When I was performing he would also come to see me whenever he could be there, and I have to say, we got along great. I learned so much from him about television and music and things like that, and we really got along. I know he had some ups and downs with some singers, but I never had that problem with him. But I have to tell you that Mitch Miller stood up for me when even then in the 60’s there was still a lot of heat about having this young Black girl in his show every week. We talk about that in my show – I talk about my experience with Mitch and a lot it is funny and I give him the credit he deserves. We did the Civil Rights in Sing Along With Mitch.

RP That’s great to know that. Would you like to talk a little about “Roots”? I remember seeing that show and it was absolutely electrifying for me..

LU It was electrifying for us seeing the response that it got when it first aired. I was in Las Vegas at the time rehearsing Guys and Dolls. I remember that the first night it went on I had trouble getting room service and I thought – “this is weird – it’s never happened before.” But I was in the third episode, and by then I realized that if I wanted to eat - - - I better order early – “

RP Before Roots, right?

LU Because everybody was watching Roots. That was the first time in all the times I had been in Las Vegas, where the casino floor was empty! Everyone was in their room or somewhere around the television watching this show.

RP It was quite an experience.

LU Ann Margret was appearing at the Hilton, and she called me up and said, “Leslie, we’ve changed the time of the show. We’re all watching Roots”. And all the shows had been changed, and I had never heard of that in my life.

RP No kidding

LU It was quite amazing – quite amazing. We were all stunned. We felt it was special but we had no idea it would become the phenomenon that it did.

RP Was Roots your first major or serious acting job?

LU Well, I had done some acting things before in theatre, major theatres, but that was the first time I had the opportunity to play a character on TV that had some depth – that had something to say.

RP Kizzy had a lot to say.

LU Yes – a lot to say. And a lot of people seemed a little shocked at the time - - - “…oh my God – she can act too!” Well, I had been studying acting since I was 8 years old. I studied with Stella Adler and I had done a lot of small things in acting class, so it wasn’t like I was not prepared. So when this role came along I just connected with this character, to the point where Alex Haley said to me, “You know, I have pictures of all the people I’ve written about in the book but there was never a picture of Kizzy. But I am so sure that she would be you.” That was the best compliment anyone could have given me.

RP Yes absolutely. So we go from Kizzy to Broadway and you have won a Tony, right?

LU I have a Tony,

RP You have an Emmy

LU I have an Emmy

RP So how come you don’t have an Oscar.

LU I’ve never been able to get a role that was Oscar worthy.

RP I’ll talk to somebody

LU I would love to have that. (laughing) I’ve done a couple of films but they were not anything to talk about.

RP How did you feel the moment they announced at the ceremony, “The winner of the Tony is Leslie Uggams!”

LU SHOCKED!

RP Shocked?

LU Shocked! Because it was my first Broadway role. That was another character where just like, Kizzy, I connected with the character. It was like I was born to play that particular role. This is interesting because Lena (Horne) and I have been connected in many ways – like six degrees of separation. Because originally, the role of Georgina in Hallelujah Babies, for which I won the Tony, was written for her. She turned it down.

RP That’s right she turned it down.

LU But we’ve been connected on and off through my life.

RP So how are you preparing for this show that’s coming up?

LU Well, we’re rehearsing very hard. We’re putting the television years in, as I said. We’re very excited about that phase, and we’ve added extra songs. Besides I used to live in California so this is like coming back to my second home. I love playing at the Pasadena Playhouse and working with Sheldon.

RP Everyone I interview who has worked at the Pasadena says the same thing – “Sheldon is a great guy to work with”

LU Oh, he is. He directed me in another show – Blues in the Night and this will be my third time here. I first worked with him when I took over Blue when Phylicia Rashad was doing that show. Then I did Stormy Weather and now this new show, Uptown Downtown.

RP So in closing, is there anything that you would like to include that you would like people to remember?

LU Well, the fact that I’ve had an amazing life. I hope they enjoy the stories where I tell about things that most people had no idea had happened and now with this thing called the internet I’m getting more friends than ever who come in to see me.

RP Well, I’m looking forward to your stories although for me, if you just stood there even if you didn’t say anything, I would be awestruck. Thanks for your time and I’ll see you opening night.

LU Thank you, and don’t forget to come and say hello.

So our interview with Leslie Uggams ended and once again I found what has been evident over the years when I have had the privilege of talking with famous and important people. The greater the talent the more down to earth the person is and the more approachable they seem to be. Leslie Uggams is undoubtedly one of the great talents of the last decades and her 53 years in show business have made her aware that the greatest privilege an artist can have is to connect with the people who come to hear and see them perform. It can be truly said that Leslie Uggams is a master performer, a master communicator and one of the nicest people you can ever talk to.

Uptown – Downtown opens at the Pasadena Playhouse on Friday November 19, 2010.

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