Photo Source: Lia Chang
"In this industry, even at our best we are employees," he says. "I'm not dissing it, but we are in service to a producer's whim, a playwright's text, a designer's vision. I believe the concept of cabaret was meant for the individual to take the rein and speak from the heart. I also believe an artist has a responsibility. Are you familiar with the word 'griot'? It's borrowed from Francophone West Africa and refers to the individual who is responsible to the family, tribe, community, and nation to keep an immaculate oral history of everything.
"I've taken on the role of the griot," De Shields continues. "I want to say this is how we got here and I do that by sharing my experiences. Cabaret is meant for that. It's up close, it's intimate. And one is not censored by any other entity except your sensibility and good taste, which is another reason I choose to work at 11 p.m. I approach my craft as my ministry. I proselytize and I don't want to compete with people's dinners or their having to rush someplace else."
De Shields has been performing various incarnations of "Black by Popular Demand" since 1982, its evolution reflecting the social, political, and cultural changes. "The current generation knows nothing but cellphones and emails or a world without AIDS," he says. That shift has influenced how and what De Shields performs he explains. Many of the songs in the show remain, but they've taken on a different meaning. "Some songs have been substituted and now we have a spoken word piece, 'Dating in Armageddon.'"
The challenges in pulling together a cabaret are largely mundane, centering on availability of the desired space, collaborators (vocalists Freida Williams and Marlene Danielle, with accompaniment by pianist Larry Spivak), and the finances surrounding self-marketing. But most central, he says, the performer must address the question, "What am I saying that's unique?" De Shields answers his own question. "It's the songbook from the other America. It's R and B. That means rhythm and blues. It also means rough and black."
Steadily employed for 43 years, De Shields has appeared in all genres and mediums, but is perhaps best known for his show stopping turns in the original Broadway productions of "The Full Monty"; "Play On!" "Ain't Misbehavin'" and the title role in "The Wiz." Employing a Duke Ellington phrase, the soft-spoken Baltimore native describes himself as "beyond category," adding he is a "majority of one."
The Difference Between "Of" and "To"
Along the way De Shields boasts several artistic turning points, most pointedly playing Willy Loman in a 1996 production of "Death of Salesman" at the Oasis Theater in Buffalo, N.Y. Before that he was known as only as a singer and dancer. Afterwards, he was also known for his dramatic prowess. When he went on to tackle "Prymate," "King Lear," "Inherit the Wind" and "The Man Who Came to Dinner," his status as serious actor was further enhanced.
But his most career significant revelation occurred in 1981 after he returned from the international tour of "Ain't Misbehavin'". "My dream was to have theater as a way of life," he says. "After I came back from Paris, I realized that theater as a way 'of' life is finite and I had achieved that. What do I do now? The epiphany was and still is theater must be a way 'to' life. The distinction is the preposition. If the preposition 'of' is finite, the preposition 'to' is infinite. The journey then becomes endless with many empowering, life sustaining opportunities."
The Golden Triangle
De Shields majored in English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Later, when he was based in New York and a working actor, he enrolled at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he earned a master's degree in African-American studies with his thesis centering on the 1793 slave insurrection in Haiti, led by Toussaint Louverture.
He is keenly attuned to how opportunities have evolved for African-Americans in theater. "We have made progress, but there is a battle ahead of us," he says. "We have to continue with the doctrines of non-traditional casting, multi-cultural diversity and inclusion. But more to the point Andre De Shields is challenging his African-American brothers and sisters to become more culturally literate and to understand that if we do not tell and produce our stories, if we take what we know is black wealth and buy into the cultural legacy of what we call home, we cannot point the finger of blame at anyone but ourselves."
De Shields is scripting a piece about Ike Turner. "I'm writing it for another actor, not myself," he says. "I'm not the person to channel his energy. As for the traditional musical canon, one role I'd love to essay is the king in 'The King and I.' I bring it up but no one has wrapped his mind around it, at least not yet."
When De Shields is not writing or acting he teaches, attempting to answer young actors question about "having a long and sweet career," he comments. "'It's called 'the golden triangle.' If you can achieve the collaboration among the mind, body, and spirit, then you have the golden triangle. You use the golden triangle to discover your inner athlete. The inner athlete is the opposite of ego. You ego says 'You can't.' Your inner athlete says 'You can. Watch me.' Then you're ready to perform and have a long, sweet career. Anybody can perform. Very few of us last."
De Shields has been in the game for the long haul. After "Black by Popular Demand" completes its run, he's off to participate in the yearly Oz extravaganza in Chittenango, New York, where "Wizard of Oz" author Frank Baum was born. De Shields will be sporting his original Wiz costume. "I can still fit into it." He pauses to add "with a little lubrication."
"Black by Popular Demand" will play May, 4, 11, and 18 at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Downstairs at the West Bank Cafe, 407 W. 42nd St. www.smarttix.com or 212-868-4444
Outtakes
-Dating back to the '70s, De Shields has performed in such popular clubs as Reno Sweeney, The Grand Finale Les Mouches, The Club at La MaMa, among many other venues across the globe.
-Won the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival Living Legend Award, the 2009 AUDELCO Award for outstanding performance by a lead actor in a musical/male ("Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe"), and the 2007 OBIE Award for sustained excellence of performance
-Guest starred on "Recue Me," "Life on Mars," "Cosby," "Sex & the City."
-Recently appeared in Tennessee Williams' "Camino Real" at Chicago's Goodman Theatre and is now performing in a musical-in-progress based on Jonathan Lethem's novel, "The Fortress of Solitude," with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman.
