Lillias White

Lillias White is an American actress and singer. She is particularly known for her performances in Broadway musicals. In 1989 she won an Obie Award for her performance in the off-Broadway musical Romance in Hard Times. In 1997, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for portraying Sonja in Cy Coleman's The Life. She was nominated for a Tony Award again in 2010 for her work as Funmilayo in Fela Kuti's Fela!.

White is also known for her roles as Calliope in the Disney film Hercules (1997), and its animated series of the same name; Evette in the film Pieces of April (2003); and as Fat Annie in the Netflix series The Get Down. She has also starred as Bloody Mary in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific on PBS's Great Performances with Reba McEntire, and in the PBS documentary In Performance at the White House. She is an active cabaret singer and has appeared in concert with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and at Carnegie Hall.

Career

Theatre White is a Brooklyn, New York native, who made her Broadway debut in Barnum in 1981. She understudied the role of Effie in the original 1981 production of Dreamgirls, and played the part in the 1987 revival, for which she won the Drama League Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

One of her first professional jobs was playing Dorothy in a national tour of The Wiz. White has also appeared on Broadway as Grizabella in Cats, Asaka in Once on This Island, Miss Jones in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Matron "Mama" Morton in Chicago, as well as appearing in Carrie and Fela!. For her role in Cy Coleman's The Life, she won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her portrayal of a world-weary, no-nonsense, streetwise hooker named Sonja. Off-Broadway White has performed in the Public Theater production of the William Finn musical Romance in Hard Times (1989), for which she won the Obie Award, Dinah Was (1998) at the Gramercy Theatre as singer Dinah Washington, and the Second Stage Theatre production of Regina Taylor's musical Crowns (2002), for which she and the cast won the AUDELCO Award, Outstanding Ensemble Performance. In 2014, White appeared Off-Broadway in the Primary Stages production of the play While I Yet Live by Billy Porter. In 2015, White starred with Scott Wakefield Off-Broadway in the York Theatre Company's World premiere of Alan Govenar's musical Texas in Paris.

White, André De Shields, Stefanie Powers, and Georgia Engel appeared in the new musical Gotta Dance, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, which began performances on December 13, 2015, at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre, and ran through January 17, 2016.

In August 2022, White was announced to be playing the role of Hermes in the Broadway musical Hadestown beginning on September 13, 2022. She was the first woman to play the role. Her final performance was on 17 March 2024. On October 22 of that same year, she returned to the role for a temporary engagement that's set to last until February 2025.

Controversy During a performance of Hadestown on October 12, 2022, White twice reprimanded an audience member from the stage for recording the production. White was unaware that this audience member was not recording, and was in fact using a captioning device because she was disabled and needed it to understand the dialogue of the musical. The theatre and production issued official apologies, affirmed their future commitments to accessibility, and offered a complimentary ticket to the audience member to make up for the incident. White did not comment on the incident herself. The audience member took to social media to urge users to stop harassing White, as the actress's social media profiles had been deluged with ageist and racist insults in response to the incident.

Concerts and cabaret White's concert performances to benefit the Actors' Fund of America include Dreamgirls in 2001, Funny Girl in 2002, and Hair in 2004. She performed in the concert version of South Pacific, which was broadcast by PBS Great Performances in 2006. She performed with the Brooklyn Philharmonic in a concert of works by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, and George and Ira Gershwin celebrating the orchestra's 50th anniversary in July 2003. She also has appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall, in March 2004, singing Harold Arlen songs with the New York Pops. White performed her one-woman show at the Kennedy Center's "Barbara Cook's Spotlight" in November 2007, singing songs by Cy Coleman. At the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, she performed in a concert, Broadway's Future Songbook, in September 2014. She has toured with her one-woman cabaret show From Brooklyn to Broadway, which she first presented in March 2000 at Arci's Place in New York City. She performed the show in San Francisco in 2003 at the Plush Room. Lilias has also performed at the Purple Room in Palm Springs, California.

She is heard on the 1990 Madonna recording "Rescue Me".

Television and film White's television appearances include a regular role on Sesame Street, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and NYPD Blue. Her screen credits include voiceover work in Disney's Hercules and Anastasia and appearances in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Game 6, Pieces of April, and Then She Found Me.

Personal life White was raised Catholic. She has a son named Mwambu and daughter named Jamilah.

Awards and nominations

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1988 Me and Him Dancing Secretary 1994 North Operator Bleeding Hearts Neighbor Woman 1997 Hercules Calliope Voice role Anastasia Ensemble 2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Shopper 2002 Interview with the Assassin Nurse 2003 Pieces of April Evette 2005 Game 6 Toyota Moseby 2007 Then She Found Me Sheila 2015 Nasty Baby Cecilia 2018 Melinda Madam Magda The Chaperone Singer 2021 The Drummer Roberta

Television

Stage + Year Title Role Notes 1981 Barnum Joice Heth (Replacement) St. James Theatre, Broadway Dreamgirls Effie Melody White (Replacement) Imperial Theatre, Broadway 1982 Rock 'N Roll! The First 5,000 Years Performer St. James Theatre, Broadway 1987 Dreamgirls Effie Melody White Ambassador Theatre, Broadway 1988 Carrie Miss Gardener (Standby) Virginia Theatre, Broadway 1989 Golden Boy performer Coconut Grove Playhouse, regional Romance in Hard Times Hennie The Public Theater, Off-Broadway 1990 Once on This Island Asaka (Replacement) Booth Theatre, Broadway 1991 Cats Grizabella (Replacement) Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway 1995 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Miss Jones Richard Rogers Theatre, Broadway 1997 The Life Sonja Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway 1998 Dinah Was Dinah Washington Gramercy Theatre, Off-Broadway 2002 Crowns Velma McCarter Theatre, regional 2005 Purlie Missy Judson New York City Center, Off-Broadway 2006 Chicago Matron 'Mama' Morton (Replacement) Ambassador Theatre, Broadway 2007 Damn Yankees Dory Reprise!, regional 2008 The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea Queen Zanuba San Diego Repertory Theatre, regional 2009 The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman performer Rubicon Theatre, regional 2010 Fela! Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti Eugene O'Neill Theatre, Broadway 2011 The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman performer 59E59, Off-Broadway 2012 Love, Loss, and What I Wore performer Westside Theatre, Off-Broadway Gem of the Ocean Aunt Ester Rubicon Theatre, regional Big Maybelle: Soul of the Blues Big Maybelle Bay Street Theater, regional 2013 Joe Turner’s Come and Gone Bertha Mark Taper Forum, regional 2014 While I Yet Live Gertrude Primary Stages, Off-Broadway 2015 Texas in Paris Osceola Mays York Theatre, Off-Broadway Gotta Dance Bea Bank of America Theatre, regional 2016 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Ma Rainey Mark Taper Forum, regional 2018 Half Time Bea Paper Mill Playhouse, regional 2021 Chicago Matron 'Mama' Morton (Replacement) Ambassador Theatre, Broadway 2022 Black No More Madame Sisseretta Signature Theatre Company, Off-Broadway 2023 Hadestown Hermes (Replacement) Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway 2026 Mother. Daughter. Father. Son. Edna Adirondack Theatre Festival, regional

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