Queer Voices
Queer Voices
May 1st QUEER VOICES - D. Jerome, The Tin Man from THE WIZ
D. Jerome is starring in THE WIZ, running at the Hobby Center now through May 4th. Broadway World writer Brett Cullum got to interview him, and they talked about his background as a fierce triple threat who brings new life to his role. THE WIZ has been around for 50 years! But this tour represents a fresh take on the material.
More information:
https://www.thehobbycenter.org/events/the-wiz/
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/
D Jerome is coming to Houston to perform in the Wiz at the Hobby Center. It's going to run from April 29th through May 4th. Presented by Broadway at the Hobby Center, he will be playing the Ten man. Now this show has been reinvented on Broadway and this is the first tour of this revival. So D Jerome is originally from North Carolina. He's described as a formidable triple threat and a lot of his past shows indicate that. So hey there, d Jerome. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm so well, how's it going? It is good.
Speaker 1:I am happy to have you. You know what the Wiz it is like, this cultural phenomenon. I remember I am old enough to remember when it first came out I was a kid but I still remember it and people were just crazy for this musical. Why do you think that the whiz is so important? I mean, what is it about this material that just keeps it going and going and going?
Speaker 2:I don't know, I guess I could say this, brent I think people love the idea of something that will withstand time.
Speaker 2:I think people like legacy, people love to remember what it felt like when there was a demand for this cultural shift and just to feel the vibration of things changing and, you know, almost sort of a renaissance.
Speaker 2:So I think 50 years ago the whiz came at a time where black voices maybe weren't really elevated and even in that time, looking at the iterations that the whiz had, there were there were a lot of things like in terms of came at a time where Black voices maybe weren't really elevated and even in that time, looking at the iterations that the Wiz had, there were a lot of things like in terms of I see ballroom scene in there as well. So it's kind of like I think people were hungry for maybe a new look, a new culture, a new feeling, a new vibration, and I think the story of joy and community is what people love to see and I think that that's why the legacy of the Wiz is so important the music, charlie Small's choreography, the staging, everything about it. So yeah, I think people love to see legacy and we love to see things be modernized and keep having effect on our communities.
Speaker 1:What do you think is different about this version of the Wiz? I mean, when you approach it as an artist, what do you see as the thing that makes it unique?
Speaker 2:So I've done the Wiz before and this iteration of the Wiz is so special to me and I think because I was able to use so much of my personal background to infuse into the character. This particular Tin man has some hip hop chops. So you know I'm a dancer as well. I started at the School of the Arts in North Carolina and my passion grew from there. This Tin man gets to sing. He has two songs, he has one classic number, slide Some Oil To Me, and so what I like about this version is that it's a little bit more. You know, I see how the music was influenced by Alan Rene and then how our orchestrations Master, joseph Dubert, was able to kind of twerk that music and make it still sound classic to the original, but giving it a modern goal. So this production, I love the fact that it's modern and that it can, I think the approach will really connect with all generations.
Speaker 1:Well, I always have to ask you this what's your favorite song in the show? It doesn't have to be yours, but you know my favorite song in the show is.
Speaker 2:So you Wanted to Meet the Wizard. I love the song. I keep saying I'm going to add it to my book, just because I love the way it sounds. And to be able to work with the incomparable Andre De Shields during my time working with George Faison in the 40th revival in New York City, that was just. It's just unmatched to see him do it. And then so now it's like my favorite song and it's the one that I secretly want to do. But I'll never let the Wiz know, because I love my Wiz Love to you, alan.
Speaker 1:Are you familiar at all with the original? The movie adaptation? Yes, okay, so obviously Nipsey Russell, nipsey.
Speaker 2:Russell yeah.
Speaker 1:He was the Tin man. Are you doing anything to salute him or give him a shout out or anything like that?
Speaker 2:Well, no, you know, in the moments there's a moment in what would I do if I could feel and what I remember about his iteration, because it happens before Slide Some Oil in the film, so they reversed actually.
Speaker 2:And when I think about him talking about what if he could feel, I remember his hands and how his nails were like nails, true nails, and so now I kind of get my nails painted so I can like have a little bit of an inspiration there because I wanted it to look like broken nails. But during the song there's a line that I say and just to think the time I could spend being vulnerable again and I kind of fold my hands out. If I, if I'm tapped in and up, I'll fold them forward. And I just remember a part of his choreography where he had his hands and his arms kind of exposed forward, and so that's my ode to him. And then I just love the classic number itself and so I had to work a little bit to make it a little more modern, because I'm like I love the jazz, I love how it sits and I love the sheet music, but sometimes we get a chance to make it new. So it's been really fun thinking about him during this process.
Speaker 1:Well, it's very cool because you've got kind of like in your voice a little bit. I can hear a little bit of nipsey there uh, yeah, he's a raspy sultry guy, yeah right on there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm wondering how and and then I think I just kind of resemble tiger ames who played the tin man on broadway so it's just like I feel like we're both kind of chocolate skin and high cheekbones, so it's kind of interesting. I'm like I'm kind of using their, definitely standing on their shoulders, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, speaking of the original cast of the Wiz, the movie version in 2022, you were in the original MJ on Broadway, the Michael Jackson musical. What the heck was that like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, they opened and I was able to join the company. Wow, it's been, it's been insane. I, you know, I give all glory to God and you know, and the fact that I put the work and the time part is if anybody can take anything away from this if you're in this industry and you're going to an audition, don't regret not taking something with you. So make sure, if you know you need your jazz shoes or if you need something else, half of the battle is preparedness, and so at the audition I danced, you've been hit by, uh, uh, you've been stuck by us. Something else half of the battle is preparedness, and so at the audition I danced, you've been hit by, you've been stuck by. You know we had to do it and if I didn't watch the video tutorial before that audition, I wouldn't have been prepared. So I'll get, I'll get off of that, but, yes, be prepared. So I had my jazz shoes and it was great. So after that I joined the company and it was just a surreal experience. It was so nostalgic to me.
Speaker 2:I started in middle school and my middle school teacher, grady Miss Grady Smith had us dance to the Jackson 5, and so that's literally one of my very first experiences in dance, and so to join the cast, to join the Broadway cast of MJ the musical, was surreal. I was like I'm doing I'm actually doing a show where it's like I'm working with one of the fiercest artists to ever walk this planet and I get to go on stage and I get to live my childhood dream. I used to always say my mom could dance for Michael Jackson, because that's I know. I got my dancing ability from her. She was just an incredible dancer from the videos that I saw back in the day. And so I was, you know, joining that company. I can't, I could never replace that experience.
Speaker 1:So I think every kid wanted to be Michael Jackson. At some point I learned to moonwalk. I mean I was like all into it, yeah for sure. I don't think I'm going to be doing this.
Speaker 2:Oh listen hey, hey, come on. Everybody can do it in their living room, and all we need is a little AI now and you can work it out.
Speaker 1:I gotcha you also toured with Hamilton. I mean, you're like this pop culture divo. What shows or roles would you love to do next after you do this 10-man stint?
Speaker 2:That question has really been coming up a lot and I believe a lot in you know, I believe a lot in manifestation and what you say, you know the law of attraction in the universe hears you Okay.
Speaker 2:So yes, hamilton was insane. Now, funny story, I was really kind of between two because I had already booked something that I really wanted to do and a director I wanted to work with. But then Hamilton came at the time that it did and I joined the company and it was an incredible experience, an incredible story. I still can't believe that I was a member of the Angelica tour of Hamilton, the music I mean. You know I don't take it lightly. A lot of people think like, oh my God, you always take it lightly. I mean I take my work seriously and my craft seriously, so I deserve to be in any room that I'm in, but it's still surreal when you're like yo, this is a phenomenon, this is a cultural awakening. You know when Hamilton came around and so the characters I'd love to play now definitely I'm not going to back down off of that.
Speaker 2:I think I could play an awesome Hamilton. I think Aaron Burr is in the stars there I would really love to play, although he talks a lot. I love Lafayette Jefferson. I think that that is the role that would kind of capture all of the nuances of who I could be in those two particular characters. But we'll see what happens and I'm open. Hmm, what else is on Broadway that I'd be interested in playing? There's a Simba out there. I actually went in for what's his name. In Chicago, I actually went in for Billy Flynn.
Speaker 1:Well, I went in and then I got a packet for Billy Flynn.
Speaker 2:I sent the whole packet in Heard nothing back. We Well, I went in and then I got a packet for Billy Flynn. I sent the whole packet in, heard nothing back. We'll see, it just would be amazing to have a young, dark-skinned Billy Flynn with locks, up here still giving him class, giving him sophistication and just a suave finesse. So I think I'd really enjoy doing Billy.
Speaker 1:Flynn? That would be amazing because you know, usually Billy Flynn just stands there and doesn't move while everyone dances around him.
Speaker 2:So it'd be crazy, because I'm thinking it elevate me. You know I love the movement, but people know that everything is movement. You know just how we communicate in our body language, and so I'm loving this tin man and how he gets to. You know, settle into his body, because he literally needs people to help him move. And so what does it look like? From going to being stiff and not able to move and then gaining the mobility back again? How do you tell that story of actually coming alive?
Speaker 1:So it's fun, I'm having a good time. Well, it sounds like a good time. I mean the Wiz is going to be playing Hobby Center in April 29th through may 4th, so we're all super excited about it. I can't tell you how popular oz is right now between wicked and everything else and now this, so ready to come to so ready for houston it's gonna be ready.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and my birthday is on the 25th, and so I'm literally coming again. I'm hoping to throw opening night birthday bash. Hopefully we can make it work, but I'm really excited so you're bringing the Taurus energy?
Speaker 1:is that what you're saying?
Speaker 2:I'm bringing the Taurus energy, but the thing about it is that it's a Taurus, you know. I love my Aries feel, because I'm April, you know, and I also like my Virgo moon, you know. So I really have a. I'm about business, but I really enjoy having a good time and really connecting with beautiful people, knowing that relationships are the source of, you know, our community and so building relationships and, actually, you know, showing each other that we see you like I. I admonish and admire your work and the things that you're doing to help support, you know, a better community, oh, yeah, yeah, well, thank you.
Speaker 1:That's what it totally explains why you're a triple threat right there. All right, well, thank you. So much to jerome. We will see you break legs as the tin man. We will stay with you there opening night.
Speaker 2:I already can't wait to see you. I'm there. Hey, let's do it. I can't wait to see everybody there. See you soon, thanks.
