André De Shields celebrates 5 decades as a theater artist this year and at the age of 73 he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for his role as Hermes in Anais Mitchell's HADESTOWN, currently playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
On January 29, 2020, André returns to his cabaret roots in "Old Dawgs New Tricks" in Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series at 8:30pm. Click here for tickets.
The Baltimore native recently received a Key to the City and a Mayoral Salute from Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young in the Rotunda at Baltimore City Hall, two months after taking home his first Tony Award.
André shared his 3 cardinal rules for sustainability and longevity in the arts during his acceptance speech:
1. Surround yourself with people whose eyes light up when they see you coming.
2. Slowly is the fastest way to get to where you want to be.
3. The top of one mountain is the bottom of the next, so keep climbing.
The show won in 8 categories including Best Musical, Best Director, Best Score, Best Orchestrations, Sound Design, Lighting Design, Set Design. This is his 3rd nomination. He was previously nominated for PLAY ON and THE FULL MONTY.
André received the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical and the Actors' Equity Foundation's 2019 Richard Seff Award. Other recent accolades include inaugural Harlem Week Pride 50 Award, a Certificate of Recognition from the New York City Mayor's Office, the 2019 Project1Voice Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2019 Joyce Worshow Lifetime Achievement Award from SAGE, the 2019 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre and was recently inducted in the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Dallas Theater Center, William Shakespeare's "The Tempest." André De Shields is Prospero. Photo by Elizabeth Mikel.
André De Shields as Principal Soloist of HADESTOWN Wins 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album; Set to Perform Old Dawg; New Tricks in Appel Room on January 29
January 26, 2020
The original Broadway cast recording of HADESTOWN won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards for Principal Soloists- Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada, Patrick Page; producers Mara Isaacs, David Lai, Todd Sickafoose and Anais Mitchell (composer & lyricist). Click here to read more at Grammy.com.
Bebe Neuwirth, Arielle Jacobs, Dawnn Lewis and David Jennings Attend HADESTOWN Benefit Performance for The Actors Fund
January 12, 2020
WBLS 107.5: André De Shields Talks What it Was Like to Play Original Wizard in 'The Wiz' + New Role in Hadestown
December 06, 2019
New York Amsterdam News and Linda Armstrong. Black Theater Year In Review, Part 1
December 26, 2019
2019 was truly a year of Splendor for Black Theater! It was a year where the great, superbly talented, André De Shields, “FINALLY” received his first TONY Award! After 50 years in the business De Shields won his First Tony Award for his role as Hermes in the brand new, very original, Broadway musical Hadestown. This is a man, who for five decades has been a consummate professional, completely dedicated to and focused on his craft, and he has finally received his due!
Broadway saw the return of Andre De Shields during his 50th year in the business as Hermes in “Hadestown,” which as I mentioned in the beginning earned him a much-deserved Tony Award and also a Drama Desk Award. “Hadestown” is a musical like no other seen on Broadway, it is musical perfection as it tells the story of the Greek gods and Orpheus and Eurydice. What I particularly could appreciate about it is it utilizes many people of color in prominent roles and in featured roles, including Amber Renae Gray, Patrick Page, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Kay Trinidad Karns, Afra Hines, Timothy Hughes, John Krause, Kimberly Marable and Ahmad Simmons. The musical has thrilling direction by Rachel Chavkin.
Skystatement.com: Behind the Music of John Mulaney’s Netflix Kids’ Special The Sack Lunch Bunch
December 28, 2019
In a few cases, the premise of the song meant it had to take the form of a very specific genre. André De Shields, a recent Tony-winner for Hadestown, performs a song about algebra (and losing his eye) that sounds like a New Orleans jazz piece that would fit right into that musical. “When I started writing it, I hadn’t seen Hadestown yet, so I listened to a couple of André’s songs from that,” Bolin said, “Then I purposefully didn’t listen to anymore Hadestown, because I didn’t want to be copying specific songs from it. I wanted to get a sense of the flavor of that show was before writing a song, without spending too much time with the music from it.” Bolin did eventually see the show in full, which he “really loved,” when he met De Shields backstage to go over his Sack Lunch song.
Bustle.com: 'John Mulaney & The #SackLunchBunch' Guest Stars Provide A Delightful Snack Of Entertainment
December 24, 2019
André De Shields can teach the Sack Lunch Bunch a thing or two about stage performing since he recently won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the Best Musical of the year, Hadestown. He has also appeared on television and won an Emmy for his performance in Ain't Misbehavin' on NBC. He's also currently nominated for the Best Musical Theater Album Grammy for Hadestown. So if he wins that, De Shields will be just an Oscar away from an EGOT.
The Hollywood Reporter: 'John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch': TV Review
December 23, 2019
Mulaney's well-documented adoration of Broadway is evident in show-stopping guest appearances by the likes of Annaleigh Ashford and the great Andre De Shields, who sings and dances his way through a Hadestown-esque ditty about the importance of algebra.
dctheatrescene.com: 18 greatest moments on New York stages in 2019
December 23, 2019
Hadestown
André De Shields commands the stage in Hadestown from the get-go. The show begins in complete silence as the rest of the cast watches Hermes, in his elegant, grey silk suit, slide across the stage, pause, and open a button to show a loud and splendid vest, before trombone player Brian Drye lets out a blast from jazz heaven and De Shields launches into the get-down “Road to Hell.” It’s the quietest, and most mesmerizing, opening of any show on Broadway.
André De Shields, David Byrne, Annaleigh Ashford and More Attend "John Mulaney and The Sack Lunch Bunch" NY Premiere; Launches on Netflix on December 24
December 21, 2019
2019 Wrap-Up: Broadway.com Picks the Best Performances of the Year
December 22, 2019
(Photo by Emilio Madrid for Broadway.com)
5. André De Shields in Hadestown
After a decade away from Broadway, André De Shields has returned in better-than-ever form as the god Hermes in Hadestown. With every abrupt finger snap, vibrant horn toot or purposeful stride across the stage, he gleams with an otherworldly radiance in Anais Mitchell’s musical. De Shields justly won a Tony for his performance, and we would follow him on the road to hell anytime.
Baltimore magazine: The Top Baltimore Music Moments of 2019
December 20, 2019
André De Shields wins his first Tony.
As a cherry on top of a 50-year acting career, 73-year-old Charm City native André De Shields took home his first Tony Award in June, winning best featured actor in a musical for his performance of the god Hermes in Hadestown De Shields grew up in West Baltimore, one of 11 children, and graduated from City College before moving from regional theater to Broadway. He would go on to gain renown for his roles in shows like The Wiz and The Full Monty. A few weeks after the Tonys, he was also presented with a mayoral salute and key to the city by Mayor Jack Young. “This is what you get when you blow them out of the water,” he said during his acceptance speech, showing the crowd his Tony. “I did it the only way you could—the Baltimore way.” #hadestown
Thespool.net: Review: Hang Out With “John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch”
December 19, 2019
On the other hand, I never wanted the number in which Broadway legend Andre De Shields plays a math tutor whose failure to grasp algebra caused him to lose an eye to end.
Slashfilm.com: ‘John Mulaney and The Sack Lunch Bunch’ Review: A Hilarious Musical Kids Show (About Death and Fear)
December 19, 2019
The best of the songs comes during a segment with an algebra tutor played to perfection by singer and actor André De Shields. Wearing a glittery red suit and a conspicuous eye patch, De Shields’ tutor character promises to sing a song about how algebra could’ve helped save his eye, and then proceeds to launch into a number that does nothing of the sort. It gets so utterly ridiculous that the song makes sure to include a moment where De Shields croons, “My song makes sense!” It all comes to a showstopping moment where De Shields belts out, “Algebra song!”, holding the last note as long as possible. I lost my breath from laughing so damn hard, and continued laughing when De Shields delivers the final punchline: he actually lost his eye while rehearsing the musical number.
Madison.com: 40 notable people who attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison
December 16, 2019
André De Shields got his start in theater at UW-Madison and went on to a stellar Broadway career after graduating in 1970. He played the title role in The Wiz, earned Tony Award nominations Play On! and The Full Monty, and won a 2019 Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Hadestown.
Hollywood Reporter: The Best New York Theater of 2019
December 13, 2019
4.'Hadestown'
Director Rachel Chavkin and a devilish design team spin singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell's 2010 concept album into a beguilingly atmospheric retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, with furnace-like blasts of creativity and an intoxicating score that mixes ethereal folk balladry with invigorating bursts of New Orleans-style jazz, blues and gospel. The show also confirmed spry septuagenarian Andre De Shields as the wiliest charmer on Broadway.
Towleroad’s Top 10 Plays and Musicals of 2019
December 12, 2019
5. Hadestown
There’s a reason myths are so often timeless. But this modern musical retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice speaks so directly to the present moment, it makes the hairs on your neck stand at attention. Birthed from a concept album by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and ingeniously imagined for the stage by director Rachel Chavin, Hadestown is a story about greed and despair and lost love — and hope despite it all. The Best Musical winner also features two of the year’s most magnetic performances, from André De Shields (who won a Tony for his) and Amber Gray.
Los Angeles Times: Charles McNulty’s best theater of 2019
December 11, 2019
Winner of the Tony Award for best new musical, this modern retelling of the Orpheus-Eurydice myth combines the hypnotic talent of composer-librettist Anaïs Mitchell with the theatrical poetry of director Rachel Chavkin in a folk opera that made full use of actor André De Shields’ leonine jazz style.
Post-gazette: 2019 Theater Hall of Fame class welcomes De Shields, Reinking
December 15, 2019
Mr. Grey introduced John Doyle, the transplanted English director whose 2005 small-cast version of “Sweeney Todd” with the actors doubling as the onstage orchestra led to other such exciting revivals. Mr. Doyle began by saying, “if anyone told me when I left England that I’d ever be hugging Joel Grey, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
The director was there to present inductee Andre De Shields, famous for musical roles in the original casts of “The Wiz,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” and “The Full Monty,” and a long overdue Tony-winner for the current “Hadestown.” They met when Mr. Doyle was casting a Shakespeare play and arranged to meet Mr. De Shields for tea at the Algonquin. Mr. Doyle was won over, and he returned the favor with an induction speech of such grace, that it would be a pity to plunder it for quotes. Instead, he has permitted it to be reprinted whole: click here.
Mr. De Shields also referred to receiving “one of the most deliciously surprising letters in my life.” He was one of 11 children of parents who had dreamed of being a chorus girl and a singer. But his mother’s parents “wouldn’t let her shuffle her way through life as they had shuffled their way off the plantation.”
In inheriting their combined dreams, Mr. De Shields feels he has achieved a “karmic completion.” He said he learned from Geoffrey Holder that “artists do not die, they simply go on tour.”
“My ambition now,” the 73 year-old concluded, “is to live as long as Methuselah.”
Chicago Tribune: Best of Broadway in 2019: A year of dystopia, warnings and counterattacks
December 10, 2019
1. Hadestown: Stylish, audacious and thoroughly original, “Hadestown” was the perfect dystopian musical for a year in which America seemed to be going to hell. An eye-popping fusion of André De Shields, “Westworld” and Bourbon Street anarchy, “Hadestown" avoided the trap of literality in its interpretation of the music of Anais Mitchell, allowing the politics to seep out like steam from a punk. Director Rachel Chavkin’s production was ferocious all right, but never shrill nor in lockstep with the musical down the street. Here was a show that asked where trust ends and caretaking begins, and that did not claim to know the answer. And unlike so many musicals these days, this show did not run scared from the transformative power of romantic love, a human entanglement so deep in the Broadway DNA that it hurts.
Broadwayworld: Photos: Annaleigh Ashford, André De Shields, John Mulaney & More at the Premiere of JOHN MULANEY & THE SACK LUNCH BUNCH
December 17, 2019
BroadwayWorld: André De Shields, Eva Noblezada, Beth Leavel, and More Will Perform at The Cabaret in Indianapolis
December 17, 2019
Backstage Pass with Lia Chang: Hadestown Celebrates Release of #Grammy Award-Nominated Cast Album with a Signing Event on the Walter Kerr Stage
December 14, 2019
Time.com: The 10 Best Theater Performances of 2019
December 01, 2019
4. HADESTOWN
It’s hard to believe that work on this musical began more than a decade ago, since one of its most memorable songs is about a wall and whom it keeps out. An intertwined retelling of two Greek myths, Hadestown ran the table at the 2019 Tony Awards with 14 nominations; it ultimately won eight, including best musical, best original score, and best featured actor in a musical for standout star André De Shields. It also won a Tony for its steampunk scenic design of a most stylish Hades. But it’s this show’s prescience that will stick with you, as summed up in its lyrics: “We build the wall to keep us free … The wall keeps out the enemy … The enemy is poverty.”
Photo by Matthew Murphy
New York Theater: Top 10 New York Theater of the Decade to Be Grateful For
November 26, 2019
2019 Hadestown
What made Hadestown most thrilling when it opened Off-Broadway in 2016 remained when it opened on Broadway this year – the delightful score, which mixes sweet and sexy folk, rocking jazz, and exquisite blues. And there are some improvements, most notably the expansion of the role of Hermes as narrator, performed to perfection by the great André De Shields, who commands the stage from the get-go
HADESTOWN Celebrates 2020 Grammy Award Nomination and 250th Performance on Broadway; Will Perform in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade®
November 24, 2019
theundefeated.com: André De Shields of ‘Hadestown’ knows you’re never too old to reach for an EGOT
November 20, 2019
American Theatre: André De Shields, Theatre God
November 19, 2019
THe Broadway veteran, still kicking in ‘Hadestown,’ has blazed a path so that others may follow.
Photos by Chad Griffith
On Wisconsin: The One and Only André De Shields
November 05, 2019
The Tony–winning Broadway star forged his artistic identity at UW–Madison.
Emmy and Tony Award Winning Hadestown Star André De Shields Performs "Old Dawg; New Tricks" in Lincoln Center's AMERICAN SONGBOOK Series on the Appel Stage on January 29
October 30, 2019
Hadestown star André De Shields, Leslie Jordan and Stacey Friedman Honored at SAGE Awards and Gala; Event Raised $1.5 Million Dollars for #LGBTElders
October 25, 2019
Playbill: SAGE Gala, Honoring André De Shields, Raises $1.5 Million for LGBTQ+ Elders
October 22, 2019
Multimedia: Hadestown Star André De Shields Receives 2019 Project1voice Lifetime Achievement Award at The Theatermakers Black Theater Preview at the Schomburg
October 09, 2019
