Variety: Lights Out: Live Entertainment Business Struggles to Find a Way Forward Amid Pandemic
July 15, 2020
André De Shields, the Tony Award winning star of Hadestown has been appearing on Broadway since 1973. He calls himself “radically optimistic” that a new theater industry will re-emerge from these plague times, one fueled by activism and a commitment to a more equitable future.
“This pandemic has provided us with an opportunity to consider what we have done to this point and to consider what we do hereafter,” he says. “We have the privilege of deciding what kind of new Earth we’re going to create.”
When De Shields first found himself out of work and grappling with the changes wrought by COVID-19, a song by the Supremes kept coming back to him. He came to see it as a philosophical touchstone.
“Stop in the name of love before you break my heart,” De Shields sings, his voice rising with emotion, before falling into a lower register, for the final part of the refrain. “Think it over.” #hadestown
André De Shields, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jim Belushi, Keegan-Michael Key, Jeff Perry, George Wendt, Joe Mantegna, Jessie Mueller, E. Faye Butler, Ramsey Lewis, Sandra Delgado, Jim Peterik, Lecy Goranson, Kurt Elling, Twista, Chef Rick Bayless, and More Sing 'Sweet Home Chicago' to Benefit the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund.
July 09, 2020
Video: Hadestown Teams Up with the MLB for 'Wait For Me' and 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'
July 02, 2020
Anais Mitchell, Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, Kay Trinidad Karns, Pittsburgh Pirates, Steven Brault, Josh Bell, Ozzie Smith, Bernie Williams, Nick Swisher, Sharon Robinson #baseball #hadestown #mlb #broadway
The Public Presents Hamlet's eternal "To Be or Not To Be" speech and performed by a stellar group of 30 African American actors
June 19, 2020
In honor of Juneteenth, The Public has just released Girl From the North Country cast member Kimber Elayne Sprawl's collaborative interpretation of Hamlet's eternal "To Be or Not To Be" speech and performed by a stellar group of 30 African American actors including Toree Alexander, Jelani Alladin, Denée Benton, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Sterling K. Brown, Jonathan Burke, Ato Blankson-Wood, Gerald Caesar, Don Cheadle, Grantham Coleman, Khris Davis, Ellis Dawson, André De Shields, Alysha Deslorieux, Alexandra Grey, Renée Elise Goldsberry, William Jackson Harper, Nikki M. James, Wonza Johnson, Blaine Krauss, Audra McDonald, Jevon McFerrin, Patina Miller, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Adrienne C. Moore, Joe Morton, Jordin Sparks, Kimber Elayne Sprawl, Alexandria Wailes, and Nik Walker.
Dallas Theater Center, William Shakespeare's "The Tempest." André De Shields is Prospero. Photo by Elizabeth Mikel.
Photo by Lia Chang
Photo by Lia Chang