Felicia P. Fields_______
Though our town has been green the past couple of years with Wicked, there is a new color in town and it is purple, as in The Color Purple. And with Oprah Winfrey attached, I expect it's going to be box office gold. Of the 11 Tony Award nominations for the musical, one was for my friend Chicagoan, Felicia P. Fields. Audiences know her from such theater companies as Northlight and Chicago Shakespeare, playing everything from Ma Rainey's Black Bottom to Dreamgirls to Ain't Misbehavin'. Fields headlines the Chicago cast in Purple, reprising her award-winning Broadway role as Sofia. We sat down to catch up between rehearsals for this groundbreaking new show.
Amy Matheny: Welcome home, girl.
Felicia Fields: What's goin on, Miss Amy?! It is great to see you [ again ] ! I mean I saw you in New York.
AM: You did! I flew to New York specifically to see you on Broadway.
FF: I was so homesick. Every time someone from Chicago [ came ] through the backstage door, I'd go 'Yes! Thank you, God.'
AM: So, I know that you loved being the big Broadway star, but you must be so happy to be home.
FF: Oh my God, I don't think I can find words to describe how excited I am to be at home. My mother's always told me, 'You never miss your water until your well runs dry.' And so, you go away from home, and then you go to another city but there is no place like Chicago.
AM: What is the difference working in theater every night in New York City… [ versus ] Chicago?
FF: You get people from all over the world that come to see shows on Broadway. That's mainly what separates the two. New York audiences are extremely theater-savvy, because that's what they do. They make a special trip from wherever just to see three or four or five shows. [ Also, New York ] is expensive—unbelievably expensive. My first night there I went around the corner to get a sandwich, and he said 20 dollars and something, and I went 'You're sending a cow over, right?' It was a 20-dollar pastrami sandwich. Then I went to the bodega and the water was three dollars. I'm like 'Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me.' I put my hands up. I said, 'I'm not stickin' you up, you stickin' me up.'
AM: How did you get cast in this role? It happened through Gary Griffin, the director you've worked with over the years.
FF: Yeah, 14 [ or ] 15 years now.
AM: He made some statement that almost prophesized that this would happen.
FF: Exactly. That's how you look back and you know you're meant to do something. I was working at the Marriott in Carousel and I looked like Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple. And you know it's [ theater- ] in-the-round Amy, so I started limping down the aisle goin', 'You told Harpo to beat me.' And Gary hollers out, 'Well if I ever do the musical The Color Purple, I already have my Sofia.' And, my God, if he did not call me a couple months later talking about 'You are not going to believe this, I have been commissioned to direct The Color Purple.' We did a [ first ] reading here with all Chicago talent. The first time I heard the music, I was at Chicago Shakespeare, and I think [ you and I ] may have been working together…
AM: I think we were. I remember you coming in with your cassette player of songs from the show.
FF: That music was off the chain. It's unbelievable, because [ it was ] not your typical musical theater music.
AM: Your character, Sofia, is the part that Oprah Winfrey performed in the film. Through music, they've really shown the journey of this woman. In your number that literally brings down the house 'Hell No' you tell Celie…
FF: Don't stay here, girl. If a man hits you, get the heck out of there. And don't take it. The thing about Hell No … is, it is such a strong acting song … like spoken word put to music because it is telling her so many things. It's information about how Sofia's life has been, and how she looks back on the men in her life and what she's taken from them. She is giving advice, 'If a man raise his hand, Hell No.' She ain't even talking about getting hit. She's talking about, just let him lift his hand, and you are out of here buddy, ok?
AM: Sofia is really that first strong influence [ on Celie ] saying, 'You have a choice of how you are treated.'
FF: Right, and that's the difference between the two women that come into her life. One is motivated by sexual and emotional intimacy, Shug Avery, and then [ there's ] Sofia, who is strong-willed, feisty, no nonsense [ and ] very opinionated.
AM: A mother type of role because she has no mother figure.
FF: Yes, because she's had to learn how to take care of herself.
AM: When did you meet Oprah?
FF: Oh man, she came to one of our last rehearsals in New York. Rehearsals can be tedious. We were going through, Africa…
AM: The beginning of act two…
FF: And you know that thing has some dancing in it.
AM: I also know you're not dancing in it.
FF: You got that right! [ Laughs ] They don't want that, they're not ready for that, Amy, OK? But when we rehearse Africa what happens is, they stop, they start, they stop, they start, they stop, they start. And my entrance is way into the dance. So I was lying on a fake bed in the back. They had already told us that another producer was coming to be introduced to us today, and we were at a point where we're like, 'We have to really start getting balanced on some of this stuff.' And so every time you get somebody that comes in, it interrupts the flow of what's going on. So we were like, 'OK, fine.' Now. I always got makeup on, I mean, you know me…
AM: I know! You are put together for this interview.
FF: Well… This day I have no makeup on. I have a baseball cap on my head, a black pair of sweatpants and a top. They had taken newspaper and put it over the window on the door. So I kind of looked at it and I went 'Wow, what is that about?' But I didn't think about it anymore. The next thing you know, Scott Sanders [ the main producer ] makes this announcement and says, 'So here is your next producer.' And here she comes, rollin' through that door with cameras and I am on the back cot, asleep. But when I saw what was going on, I was like 'Oh, my God!'
AM: So what did she think of your performance?
FF: Amy, everyone was jumpin' up and down. I was like, 'I am the only person in here that she's done the role.' So I got myself together, cause we were going right into my scene.
AM: Intimidating?
FF: Oh my God! It's like you're thinking in your head, 'Oh, man!'
AM: But she doesn't sing, so you got that!
FF: As soon as I sang Hell No, she jumped up.
AM: How do you think The Color Purple is changing things for the African-American community? With many Black audience members coming to see the show and the amount of roles that it's providing for Black performers?
FF: I certainly know that it has changed the stats on Broadway. African Americans are not people who attend theater frequently. I work in theater here in Chicago and 95 percent of the house is Caucasian. So it has really been a flip-over, and the fact that they already are informed of what this show is because of the movie, they are all very anxious to come to the show.
AM: Two Chicago gals had their dreams come true and both struck gold this year—you and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. I know you go way back with her. You were in the Marriott production of Big River with Jennifer. What advice did you give her at that time and what do you think about what's going on for her career right now?
FF: Well, I always told her to be honest—to try to keep everything that you do on stage honest—because what comes from the heart reaches the heart, and to try to study and take in everything she can take in. It doesn't matter if you're onstage, [ and ] if it's not your part. You look and listen, and sooner or later that information will benefit you as to whether or not you should do that. You learn what to do and what not to do.
AM: So have you talked to her in the past year?
FF: Yeah. When she was in New York I went to the premiere [ of Dreamgirls ] and we were there together. I cried because it was amazing. But who knew that she would go all the way to the Oscars and take it? It's just unbelievable.
Don't miss The Color Purple playing now at the Cadillac Palace Theatre downtown. For tickets visit broadwayinchicago.com . To listen to this interview in its entirety, visit www.windycityqueercast.com .
