She started singing in her father’s church choir in Trinidad, and the understanding she developed there — that a voice carries something beyond notes, something closer to testimony — has shaped everything Heather Headley has done since. A Tony Award, a Grammy, Broadway roles and West End runs, an R&B catalog alongside gospel recordings: she does not separate these things because they were never separate to begin with. On Friday, July 31, she brings all of it to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, in a piano-accompanied evening that moves freely between Broadway, R&B, and gospel without treating any of them as a detour.
About the Show
Headley grew up in Trinidad and relocated to Fort Wayne, Indiana as a teenager, then studied communications and musical theater at Northwestern University before her Broadway career took over. She originated the role of Nala in The Lion King and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical at 25, playing the title character in Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, a performance that also earned her the Drama Desk and Drama League Awards. Her recording career spans four albums: This Is Who I Am (2002), In My Mind (2006), Audience of One (2009), and Only One in the World (2012). Audience of One won the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album, where gospel and R&B exist in full conversation rather than separate careers. She has played Shug Avery in The Color Purple on Broadway, headlined The Bodyguard in London’s West End, appeared in the film Respect alongside Jennifer Hudson, and currently stars as a series regular on Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias.
The Mahaiwe concert draws from across that catalog: Broadway selections, R&B originals including “He Is” and “Only One in the World,” and classic standards, all accompanied by piano. Earlier this year she performed this format at Carnegie Hall. The show runs approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. Billboard Magazine described her as “among the top singers with a vocal that absolutely astounds with its intensity” and “one of the great entertainers of the day.”
Venue & Logistics
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is a 681-seat theater on Castle Street in Great Barrington, part of the capital region arts scene. A room that size suits this format well — close enough to the stage that nothing between the voice and the audience is left to the rafters. The show begins at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets range from $55 (Limited Upper Balcony) to $95 (Premium). Members receive $5 off; attendees 30 and under pay $15. Buy tickets