By Dustin Fitzharris***It’s been eight years since Leslie Uggams performed at New York’s 54 Below. On November 10, she makes her much-anticipated return. A lot has happened to the Tony and Emmy-winning actress in those eight years. For starters, there was her role as Leah Walker, the bipolar mother on TV’s “Empire.” She remembers how that caused quite the stir and fanfare.
“People really liked that woman that I was playing. I was in the supermarket and all of a sudden, I heard all of this commotion,” Uggams says. “I didn’t know what was going on—and it was me! The power of what a character can do!”
Since playing Blind Al in Deadpool and Deadpool 2 opposite Ryan Reynolds, Uggams gained a brand-new following with comic book enthusiasts. Now the versatile Uggams will star in Nanny, the horror film that will have a limited release in theaters later this month before streaming on Amazon. And in 2023, her voice will be heard in the Netflix animated series “My Dad, the Bounty Hunter.”
It’s been a long and satisfying road for the star who made her show business debut at 6 years old playing opposite Ethel Waters on the television series “Beulah.” That little girl went on to win the Tony Award in 1968 for the Broadway musical Hallelujah, Baby! In 1977, over 130 million viewers watched Uggams in the groundbreaking miniseries “Roots.”
Despite the impressive resume, she says she continues to see herself as a “working actor.” When one spends time with Uggams it’s apparent that while she acknowledges the past and is grateful for the blessings that have come her way, her focus is on today.
Here’s more from my interview with Leslie Uggams:
Dustin Fitzharris (DF): What’s interesting is with all you have accomplished and the greats you’ve worked with—Mitch Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong—you manage to live in the present.
Leslie Uggams (LU): Yes, yes. I’m not trying to look back. In putting this show together at 54 Below, I wanted it to be the energy of now. I’m always curious.
DF: What can audiences expect at 54 Below?
LU: Basically, it’s the journey of my life through my career, which took so many twists and turns.
DF: The title is intriguing: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue. What’s the blue?
LU: The blue are some tunes that I might have done before, but they’ve taken on a new meaning. As we get older, we see things a lot differently from when we were younger. When you get older you go, “Oh, so this really means this now in this phase of my life.”
DF: How do you select the songs you’re going to perform?
LU: It’s not easy. I really haven’t done an act for a long time. I want to make sure what I’m choosing has something to say, which is what I’ve always tried to do. This show kind of told me what it wanted to do. I started off with a different kind of idea. Then it took on something else, and I love what the something else turned out to be.
DF: Is there a song that gives you the greatest feeling or is the most you?
LU: Most of the songs we chose give me a great feeling. That’s really what the show is about.
DF: 54 Below is such a New York venue. You’re a native New Yorker, and although you’ve traveled all over the world, you’ve pretty much lived in New York all your life.
LU: When I started analyzing my career, all of the most wonderful things—other than “Roots”—have been here in New York. That’s my life story—the incredible things that happened to me in New York City.
DF: In these turbulent time, much has been said about New York recently in a critical way. Do you still think it’s the greatest city?
LU: Oh, yeah. No matter what problems our city goes through, we get back on track. Everybody wants to come here!
DF: When one hears your name, it’s often used with words like “legend,” “trailblazer,” “pioneer” and “superstar.” How do you process those words?
LU: It’s wonderful, and it’s an honor, but I just keep walking that line and doing my stuff. I don’t get wrapped up in “oh, I’m so important.” It’s wonderful to have honors, but I’m always looking for what’s the next job.
DF: One honor you will be receiving is the The York Theatre Company’s 30th Oscar Hammerstein Award at a gala on November 14 at The Edison Rooftop in Manhattan. You’ll be in the company of past recipients that have included Angela Lansbury, Jerry Herman and Stephen Sondheim.
LU: How about that! It’s really quite the honor. I know if my parents were still alive, they’d be very impressed.
DF: But this award is not your first honor this year. In June the Broadway League presented you with its inaugural Juneteenth Legacy Award. What did that mean to you?
LU: Yes, that was wonderful. My grown children were impressed. It meant a lot. Juneteenth is such an extraordinary thing.
DF: In your speech that day you spoke about not giving up the fight and making sure the history of Juneteenth and what led up to it continues to be told.
LU: What you thought was going to be overcome years ago is still going on. We have to educate ourselves so that history doesn’t repeat itself in a negative way.
DF: What advice would you give to younger people who have a dream, especially a dream of being in show business?
LU: If you love this business, you just keep going. Don’t let people tell you no. My father used to say to me when I was just beginning, say “yes I can.” That’s always been me. I’m not afraid of jumping off the cliff and seeing where I land.
DF: One place you landed is in Adam Saunders’ new film Dotty & Soul.
LU: That was quite a journey. We were shooting it just before this terrible pandemic happened. We had one more week, and then we had to shut down. We wondered if it would ever be made. I loved this character because it’s so wonderful to see someone who had dreams and then the dreams were taken away from them. Then years later you meet somebody who changes your life, and you change their life. [It shows] at a certain age you’re not too old.
DF: Speaking of never too old, it’s no secret that next year you will be turning 80 years old. When you hear that, what goes through your mind?
LU: I’m like “What! How did that happen?” When I was growing up, if your mother or father were 40, it was like they’re old. We live in a different world today. The fact that I’m still going and having incredible opportunities and working with some wonderful people, is an incredible journey. What are they saying now—80 is the new 40?
DF: If you had the opportunity to meet that Leslie Uggams who won the Tony in 1968 for Hallelujah, Baby!, what would you say to her today?
LU: That really meant something. There is something about doing theater. I really wasn’t aware of how groundbreaking and how important that musical was for me. I would like to have done more in theater, but there really weren’t that many roles back then.
DF: Have the opportunities gotten better?
LU: It seems to be. I would still like more. I’d like to see actors and actresses repeat more often on Broadway. Not just that they’ve done one big show.
DF: Is there a role you’d still love to play?
LU: I haven’t thought about that in a while. I’m always looking for new stuff. I’m just living an incredible life.
Leslie Uggams appears at 54 Below from November 10-12 at 7:00 PM. For tickets and more information, click here.
