James Monroe Iglehart, who stars as Louis Armstrong in Broadway’s “A Wonderful World,” believes the revered jazz legend would haven’t any drawback becoming in with present-day rap and hip-hop musicians, regardless of their generational divide.
“This man was hood to his soul, but in the most positive way,” the New York actor stated of Armstrong, who died in 1971 at age 69. “He made no qualms about drinking. He made no qualms about smoking weed. He made no qualms about the ladies he loved ― I mean, how many rappers are like that? At the same time, he looked at life in this amazing, positive way at a time when life was not positive for people of color. This is that dude, and that’s what makes him interesting.”
“A Wonderful World,” which opened at New York’s Studio 54 in November, charts Armstrong’s era-defining rise from trumpet prodigy and nightclub headliner to world-renowned vocalist and big-screen icon.
Audiences anticipating to listen to traditional songs like “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” “Hello, Dolly!” and, in fact, “What a Wonderful World,” received’t be upset, as Iglehart and his castmates ship goosebump-inducing renditions of about 30 Satchmo hits.
However “A Wonderful World” additionally probes a number of the much less palatable points of Armstrong’s non-public life, specifically his 4 marriages to wives Daisy Parker (Dionne Figgins), Lil Hardin (Jennie Harney-Fleming), Alpha Smith (Kim Exum) and, lastly, Lucille Wilson (Darlesia Cearcy). Whereas the musical is instructed chronologically, it’s staged in 4 distinct chapters, every centered on the lady to whom Armstrong was married to and the town during which he lived on the time.
For Iglehart, it’s the distinction between the rosy vibe of Armstrong’s music and the turbulence of his romantic relationships that makes him such a compelling determine.
“What you see on film is not even a quarter of the man,” he stated. “The smiling, happy, older Black man that everybody loves and is so sweet, unassuming and not at all threatening is what America tried to put on a platter, and that’s exactly the opposite of who this man was.”
The present additionally doesn’t draw back from Armstrong’s firsthand experiences with racism all through his life. At one level, the musician calls out President Dwight D. Eisenhower for not taking a stronger stance on the Civil Rights Motion of the Fifties and ’60s, solely to search out himself “blacklisted” by Hollywood.
A 2014 Tony winner for his portrayal of the Genie within the stage adaptation of Disney’s “Aladdin,” Iglehart grew to become all for bringing Armstrong’s life to Broadway after binge-watching Ken Burns’ documentary sequence “Jazz” through the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After listening to “A Wonderful World” was in improvement at Florida’s Miami New Drama theater firm, he contacted his agent.
But the actor, whose credit additionally embrace “Hamilton” and “Spamalot,” insists he didn’t have his sights set on starring in “A Wonderful World” at first, pondering he may co-produce the musical as an alternative. Nonetheless, he famous, “I was in the bathroom when no one was looking, trying to practice the voice and see if I could do it without hurting myself.”
In what Iglehart now describes as “manifest destiny,” he obtained a telephone name from director Christopher Renshaw in early 2023 about starring as Armstrong in “A Wonderful World” because the musical ready for its pre-Broadway stagings in New Orleans and Chicago that yr.
To attain Armstrong’s gravelly baritone, Iglehart sought the recommendation of his “Spamalot” co-star Alex Brightman and started working extensively with vocal coach Deric Rosenblatt. He additionally pored by means of Armstrong’s two memoirs, 1936’s “Swing That Music” and 1954’s “Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans,” in addition to numerous recordings and interviews, to seize the gravitas the efficiency required.
Watch a clip of Iglehart and the solid of “A Wonderful World” carry out on “Good Morning America.”
“Without the doors that he knocked down, I wouldn’t be here. Because of him, I get to do the things in the entertainment field that I get to do,” he defined. “He went through so much crap that I don’t have to. So it was important to me that he was portrayed with dignity and honesty, and to make sure that he looked good, even in decisions that we would call questionable.”
It’s secure to say Iglehart’s dedication to the undertaking has paid off. By the point “A Wonderful World” opened in New York final fall, he and Christina Sajous had been tapped as co-directors of the musical with Renshaw.
That milestone, he stated, is according to his total inventive mission, which is to “do my best to find something new to do” in a theatrical profession that now spans greater than twenty years.
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“We all have those moments where we’re like, ‘Oh, I wish I was doing this,’ but I have to stop myself and go, ‘James, if 17-year-old you could see you now, they would be flipping out because everything that they wanted to do, you’re doing, especially with this role,’” he stated. “Not many people get to do this. We get to make magic every night. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Bruce Glikas through Getty Photos
