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Is there such thing as an octuple-threat? Because NeNe Leakes can add another role to her stacked resume – Broadway star.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Glee actress has signed on to play the wicked stepmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella
on Broadway, from Nov. 25 to Jan. 3, 2015. Leakes will be taking over
the role from the show’s current stepmother, Sherri Shepherd, and acting
alongside Keke Palmer, who plays the titular character. Leakes recently
came off a stint as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, which could come in handy in case the stepmother ends up doing some wicked jazz hands.
The play also announced that it will also close its two-year run on Jan. 3, 2015.
Miki Howard
PANTHER TRANSFORMATION
by Belinda Trotter James
There is nothing more gratifying than to be able to go back in time and
recapture the essence of the music that was birthed out of the soul of
Grammy nominated, multi-platinum songstress Miki Howard. Her music has
soothed our ears since the 80s. She has given us some of the most
beautiful music ever. Time has definitely changed the music industry
over the years and Miki has seen it all. "It has really changed a lot",
recalls Miki. "From the recording process to selling millions of
records or selling just two records there has been a lot of changes in
the music industry." The one thing that hasn't changed for an artist is
to write their own music. Miki explains, "If you write your own music,
you get all the money. It's better to be a writer. Personally I'll take a
good song where ever I can find it. If I write it, great; if somebody
else writes it; it really doesn't matter, but it is definitely more
beneficial to write your own music."
Her new album "I Choose To Be Happy" is a phenomenal piece of work.
"Its mostly a live album with two studio songs along with some really
fun guests like Too Short and David Ruffin Junior", says Miki. "Some
of the live cuts are Come Share My Love, Baby Be Mine, Til You Come Back
To Me and Panther is like a soul rap song. It's about just being a
strong woman in the world and growing up and maturing. A lot of girls
are cougars, but then you grow into being a panther. That means being
strong and supportive to your loved ones." I listened to the new single
Panther with rapper Too Short on the cut and the single along with the
music video puts you in a fun dancing mood. It was co-produced by Miki
and Jon Nettlesbey.
Miki enjoys working with musicians from different genres. "It just makes
the music more creative and fun", says Miki. Even though Miki is a
solo artist there are many collaborations fans would love to see. "Wow,
I would love to work with almost everyone", says Miki. "It's just so
amazing when you get different talents in the room and feel the
inspiration that starts coming from that collaboration. I love everyone
from Drake to India Arie."
If you didn't know, Miki's full name is Alicia Michelle Howard. The
shortened version of her name is not what you may expect. "People just
always shorten my name", remember Miki. "My family calls me Michelle."
Miki goes on to tell me how no one knew how to pronounce her first name
and she hated all the different variations kids would call her in
school. Soon everyone started calling her Michelle and from there it
became Miki. "There was a woman at my church that was
Asian/African-American", recalls Miki. "I wanted to grow up to be like
her and her name was Miki. It was the Japanese version of Michelle so I
stuck with being called Miki."
As a child growing up in Chicago, her mom, Josephine Howard along with
her father Clay Graham were gospel singers. Her mother sang with The
Caravans and her father with the Pilgrim Jubilees. They would have
friends over like Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin and James Brown just
to name a few. Miki told me everyone knew everyone. I pictured everyone
coming over for dinner and singing songs in the living room afterwards.
However, Miki had to bring me back to reality and tell me what really
happened when famous friends would come over. "Everybody would sing on
each other's records and after the recording sessions they would finish
work and come over", explains Miki. "They weren't really coming over
for dinner; they were mostly hanging out. Maybe they would cook some
food or have some cocktails and of course it would be a lot of music.
It was wonderful. I had a wonderful childhood." At a young age Miki
used to play the harmonica. I bet her fans would love to see that,
however she laughed and commented..."Oh wow, I have not picked it up in a
long time, but I still love it."
Miki's siblings are now prominent ministers and one is in medicine. Just
like Miki two of her three children are following in her footsteps.
Brandon Howard and Kaitlyn Howard are both making music today and her
son Nicholas is a head chef.
The music industry today is so different that of course I'm going to ask
Miki for her advice for those following in her footsteps. She shouts,
"DON'T DO IT!!!" We both laughed because we know the challenges can be
so overwhelming that you would question yourself on whether this is
something that you really want to do. There are so many highs and so
many lows that you mentally have to be strong and have strong, strong
support group around you at all times. How did Miki get through the
rough times mentally? "Prayer", states Miki. "Prayer, a lot of prayer
and I really believe in mental health. You should check your mental
health just as you do your physical health. Everyone should also have a
therapist to see now and then. A lot of the things we go through and a
lot of the anguish that we suffer through we really don't have to go
through it. There are solutions."
I asked Miki to look back at her life and sum it up in a few words on
how she feels at this moment in time. She replied, "You know I was just
in the studio and we were talking about some of the people that we
really miss and have perished right before our eyes. That's so difficult
to deal with because the business is so hard on you and I would just
hate to miss my life. I'm glad I have this life. I enjoy my children and
my grandchildren. It's hard work to stay in this business and to stay
afloat and do what you love to do, but it's still good."
Now that the songstress has mastered the music industry she's spreading
her wings as one of the producers of a project she's working on called
Bloodlines. "David Ruffin Jr., Lou Rawls Jr., Richard Pryor Jr. along
with myself are producing sort of a reality documentary. She also wrote a
book that she's is reluctant to release. "I'm not sure I want people to
know that much about me," she says. Hmmm... With all the things that
happen in her life this book may be something that was therapeutic for
her own spirit. However when I interview people my spirit tends to butt
in on the conversation. In this business there are people who get close
to you for a season or a lifetime. Some may leave your life for whatever
reason and when they do, they feel they can write a book about you. If
this is your journey, how can they write a book without you being there
to make sure the events are told correctly and truthfully. We are on
earth to help each other understand and grow and be victorious in life.
When you are in the public eye your life is not your own anymore. You
voluntarily or involuntarily become a teacher or role model.
In this age of technology you can find a lot of unnecessary personal
stuff about celebrities on the Internet and no one knows if what they
are reading is true or not. Miki Howard's fans love her so much that
they would want to hear her story from her own words. Her children and
her children's children need to hear it from her and no one else; no one
else will do. Her words, her truth will live on forever in her
autobiography.
You can catch up with Miki and all the wonderful things she is doing on her website, www.MikiHowardmedia.com
and on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/MikiHowardlive She also tells me she's coming out
with a line of sugar scrubs for the body. "I really believe in
exfoliating, moisturizing and keeping your skin very clean and very
moist", explains Miki. After the interview she said she is going to
start working on the line of scrubs. This is exciting for me because I
revealed my challenges with the dry skin. I am looking forward to it and
we will definitely have an update on where fans can get Miki's products
when it hits the shelves.
By Karu F. Daniels
For close to a decade, Anthony Wayne has been treading the boards of
The Great White Way with stellar work in Broadway musicals such as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Anything Goes and most recently the Tony Award-winning revival of Pippin. This fall, the Norfolk, Va. native, along with his partner Kendrell Bowman, will present their longtime passion project, Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical– exploring the life and music of late disco icon Sylvester.
Set to open at New York City’s Theatre at St. Clement’s on September
5, the project was inspired by an episode of the TV One documentary
series Unsung. “I said, ‘Let’s do something to celebrate his
drive and his ambition to just be who he wanted to be,’” says Wayne, 33,
who does double duty as the writer and co-director of the show.
Previously produced as a tribute concert at (Le) Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village, Mighty Real
is now a full musical theater experience with more songs, costumes and
layers that Wayne promises will be, “higher, bigger and better.” Bowman,
32, who hails from Charleston, S.C., boasts a background in fashion
(working with brands such as Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga and music
stars including K. Michelle and Kanye West). In addition to
co-directing, he also handles costume design, taking cues from many of
Sylvester’s music videos and live performances and by working closely
with the late singer’s family.
Survivng The Dead is a webseries that follows Shayla. Shayla is a
nurse who's working in a hospital when a mysterious "flu" takes over the
city. Shayla is forced to flee the city with her younger sister Lucy.
They soon discover that the virus, is a lot more serious than anyone
could have ever imagined. Not only is their father somehow involved with
the virus, Shayla and Lucy are now being hunted by the Government.
Shayla and Lucy are in a race against time to not only find their
father, but save the fate of mankind.
My name is Reagan Gomez. I've been an actress in Hollywood for over
20 years. I love what I do but I'm also well aware of the lack of
quality roles and opportunities given to people of color in the
business. Both in front and behind the camera. It's up to us to change
this.
I'm raising $8,500 to make this show happen. I've raised money
via Indiegogo twice for seasons 1 and 2 of my first webseries, Almost
Home. I'm extremely proud of the show and I'm looking to continue to
create original content starring people of color.
This show and campaign are extremely important. This show is
all about Sci-Fi. People of color love Sci-Fi shows and films. But
rarely are we represented in said shows and films. The running joke is,
if there's a black guys in the movie, he dies first. And black women,
well....we aren't considered at all. We're never the hero. We never
survive till the end. We're never the stars. It's time for that to
change and I need your help and donations to make that happen.
This weekend will mark TV One’s network premiere of their original film, “Girlfriends’ Getaway.” Starring
Garcelle Beauvais, Terri J. Vaughn, Malinda Williams, and Essence
Atkins the two-hour comedy takes place in Trinidad as four longtime
girlfriends descend on the Caribbean island for a birthday getaway, only
to be confronted with a number of life changing events.
In
addition to starring alongside three of her closest friends, Vaughn also
serves as the movie’s producer. She said she found filming to be a
healing experience.
“To be able to work with your girlfriends in
such an intimate setting like that, after from the hustle and bustle of
the city of Atlanta and Los Angeles, and being out in Trinidad, it just
made something magical happen,” she said told The Huffington Post. “Just
the sharing that we were able to do, on and off the screen, it just
added to the experience.”
The film adds to a growing list of projects helmed by Vaughn’s production company, Nina Holiday Entertainment.
And as the actress further explained, making the transition from in
front of the camera to behind the scenes has been quite a “journey” for
herself and partners Cas Sigers and Davida Campbell.
“I
had to bump my head and I had to bump on these doors because I just
feel like when you’re trying to make that transition from being in front
of the camera to being behind, people don’t really take you seriously
at first,” she said. “So it took a couple of years for people to see
that we were really serious and we have viable projects that can make
money and that people want to see.
“So I would say in the past
couple of years it started to get so much better. People are really
starting to answer the call for the producing side of Terri and Cas. So
we’re really just trying to brand and get our company name, Nina Holiday
Entertainment, out there. Because as we’re growing and want to do
bigger projects the people will be very familiar with the success of our
projects.” TV One’s “Girlfriends’ Getaway” premieres
on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 8pm/et with an encore at 11pm/et and at 11am/et
on Sunday, Aug. 31st.
