Broadway legend André De Shields doesn't walk, he floats
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The last time Antonio Mays Sr. heard from his son, it was in a note the 16-year-old left in the family's garage. He told me he was going to make me proud. Antonio Jr. left home to join a protest in Seattle. A week later, he was shot and killed there. I need some arrest made, justice for my son. Listen to We Keep Us Safe on the Embedded podcast from NPR.
This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. When Andre De Shields' name is mentioned, it's often preceded by the words Broadway Legend or The Great. He won a Tony for his performance in the musical Hadestown in 2019, and the show won seven other Tonys, including Best Musical. Stars of the original Broadway cast, including De Shields, reunited for a revival of the show last year in London. That production was filmed and will be released in theaters on Friday. Right now, DeShields is one of the stars of Cats the Jellicle Ball, which won three Tonys last month. It uses the same songs as Cats, but with different beats, and is set in the queer underground ballroom culture of the 80s. That show is closing August 8th.
DeShields is especially remarkable considering he's 80 and has been HIV positive since 1991. He grew up in Baltimore in what he describes as the innermost part of Baltimore's inner city and figured getting an education would be key to getting out. He earned his B.A. in English Literature at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and an M.A. in African American Studies from NYU. He started his career in experimental theater in Chicago. When his theater group performed in New York, he decided to stay. He soon got cast as The Wizard in the 1975 original Broadway cast of The Wiz, which was produced a few years before the movie. He was nominated for a Tony for his performance in the show Ain't Misbehavin', which was built around music associated with Fats Waller, and he won an Emmy when it was produced for a 1982 NBC broadcast.
He was nominated for another Tony for his performance in The Full Monty. He's performed in a wide range of dramas, including King Lear, Waiting for Godot, and Death of a Salesman. Let's start with Andre De Shields singing the opening number of Hadestown, in which he sets up the story and introduces the characters. The show tells a version of the Greek myths about Hades, Hermes, Orpheus, and Eurydice. DeShields plays Hermes, the god who escorts the souls of the dead to the underworld, which is ruled by Hades. Here's DeShields from the original Broadway cast recording. Once upon a time there was a railroad line
Don't I swear, brother, don't I swear It was the road to hell It was hard times It was a world of gods And men It's an old song It's an old tale from way back when It's an old song It's an old song
Andre DeShields, welcome to Fresh Air. Congratulations on all the things that you're doing now. I just think it's great. Did you ever believe that despite having been diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and believing that you had it considerably before that, but you just didn't have the diagnosis, that you'd not only live to see age 80, but that you'd be in a new film version of a musical you'd won a Tony for, and at the same time you'd be on Broadway as one of the stars of Cats the Jellicle Ball?
The answer to that question is yes.
And my answer to that is no.
I believed from my very first conscious thought that my destiny would rise up and meet me. So when my mother shared with me that her lifelong dream had been to be a chorus girl, and that was the term she used. She didn't say dancer, she said chorus girl. And my father shared with me that he had always wanted to be a singer. He had a beautiful tenor voice, but the closest he got to that dream coming true was to sing in the church choir. Those two bits of knowledge only reaffirmed what I had been dreaming about since the day I was born. I wanted to sing. I wanted to dance. Now I can look at it and understand, oh, wow, it's been bequeathed to me by those X and Y chromosomes that was responsible for my conception.
HIV, when you had it in 91, it was a death sentence.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–10:43
2
How did André De Shields' Broadway career begin and what were his early milestones?
10:43–14:08
3
What made André De Shields' performance in Hadestown award‑winning?
14:08–25:06
4
How did De Shields describe his HIV diagnosis and survival journey?
25:06–41:16
5
How did Hadestown and Greek myths influence De Shields' view of life and death?
41:16–50:06
Speakers
9 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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