CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Soul. Do you have it, and if so, where do you get it? This is the question Colman Domingo asks in his one-man performance piece A Boy and His Soul, a manic, inspired and hilarious tour de force in which he plays every character, often setting his bittersweet, awkward childhood reminisces against a soundtrack of old records by Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder.
Domingo, who starred in the award-winning Broadway music Passing Strange (as well as the Spike Lee adaptation) and who can currently be seen on the Logo Networks The Big Gay Sketch Show, sat down to talk to us about ghetto queens, his working process, and why some audience members are frightened by the show.
Out: What should people know about this show?
Colman Domingo: Its about an inner-city black gay boy from Philadelphia finding his soul through his illustrious collection of soul music while he deals with loss, changes in his neighborhood, his evolving family, and moving away from the home he once knew.
How long were you in Philly?
I grew up there and left when I was 21. I went to San Francisco and thats where I started acting, directing, and writing. I was there for 10 years and moved to New York eight years ago. I love it here. Its home. Its beautiful.
Tell me more about the role music plays in this show.
I use the music in a very unusual ways. Its not a traditional musical. Its not even used like a jukebox, really. Its more like a listening room. I basically sing along to the music, and the lead singer in a song becomes my mother or father or some character in the story. I think a lot of times, the music is underscoring the scenes and I know how the music propels the story. Each song is very specific and well-chosen, I think. I call it a play with soul music.
What are some of the bands featured?
Donnie Hathaway, Gladys Knight, Teddy Pendergrass, Kool and the Gang, The Spinners, The Isaac Brothers, and stuff like that -- Tina Marie. So its not classic soul but soul from the late '70s and early '80s.
What sparked the initial inspiration for writing the play?
I basically started writing the play while my family was going through a lot of changes. My parents were both suffering from illness and my childhood home was being sold. The idea came from this stack of records my parents left in the basement in a storage closet. They rented the house out and it got more and more run down. Whenever my parents needed money, they would think of selling the house and want everything discarded. So there was all this stuff in the basement -- old records, an old Christmas tree. I kept saying, Are you sure you dont want this stuff?" They said no -- they wanted to let go, but I didnt.
Why not?
I had all these attachments. I wanted something to hold onto. I had no home to call my own. I was a struggling artist in New York, and those things were my legacy. Things were slipping out of my hands and then my parents finally both passed away in 2006. So I just started writing about it, listening to a lot of this music on an old stereo. And then I realized I had a theme, a dramatic arc, as I was searching and trying to find my way. I thought, Wow, maybe this is a creative piece. I wasnt using it as a therapeutic piece, but I think I was going forward while I was going backward. I thought that people would be able to relate to the themes: Your parents are aging, and youre next in line.
Youve put this show on several times over the years. How has it continued to evolve?
Well, I started workshopping it and it just kept growing and growing. I gave it a test drive in San Francisco in 2005, and that went really well. When I was finished, I got caught up with Passing Strange for three years. After that was done, this producer in San Francisco asked me to perform the play for two weeks, and so I did it again. Eventually I decided I wanted to bring it home to New York so I set a date for myself at Joes Pub. That was February 2009. The artistic director saw it, but I didnt think anything would come of it. I feel like people were almost afraid of it.
Whats to be afraid of?
I think that what people might find scary is the fact that its a story about an African-American gay male, but it has absolutely nothing to do with bashing or self-hatred. Its about love and acceptance. I think that people just arent used to that. Its not exclusively about being gay. Its about a family, and music, and an era. My coming out is just a small piece in the larger arc of the story. Its not political. The language is quite guttural. In fact, Id say that my sister has become the audiences favorite character. Shes just really, um, harsh. I made my family some truly inner-city, West Philadelphia characters. The theme that joins them all together is the power of love and the power of music. And I play everyone, about 11 characters in total.
Was your real sister upset after she saw your interpretation of her character?
No, she loved it. But she did say, Aw, thats me when I was younger. Now Im not nearly as wild. In the play, shes the ultimate ghetto queen, and my brothers the archetypal heterosexual male, and so how does a young gay boy come to terms with himself? Hes cast under the shadow of a blue-collar stepfather and a sweet, doting, nurturing mother who wants her son to be artistic. This is a family that has absolutely no idea how to raise a gay child. So when I come out in the play, it becomes a story about acceptance, love and understanding.
A Boy and His Soul runs through October 18 at the Vineyard Theatre in New York City.
Send a letter to the editor about this article.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
38 Male Celebs Who Did Full Frontal Scenes
November 17 2023 5:18 PM
These are all the celebrities Who came out as LGBTQ+ in 2023
December 31 2023 12:19 PM
These Pics Prove Maluma Has Always Been a Certified Daddy
October 20 2023 1:13 PM
32 LGBTQ+ Celebs You Can Follow on OnlyFans
October 25 2023 3:15 PM
26 actors who showed bare ass in movies & TV shows
February 28 2024 1:50 PM
16 Times Celebrity Men Had to Say They Weren't Gay
February 29 2024 1:19 PM
15 Unforgettable Gay Kissing Scenes From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:20 AM
13 Queens Who Quit or Retired From Drag After 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
November 24 2023 10:11 AM
40 steamy celebrity Calvin Klein ads we'll always be thirsty for
January 04 2024 10:54 AM
The 15 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of 2023
December 04 2023 10:32 AM
Watch Now: Advocate Channel
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Latest Stories
Dan Levy & Aubrey Plaza teach us how to properly spell & pronounce Loewe
March 28 2024 10:45 AM
Kristen Stewart turns Seth Meyers into a 'lesbian icon' in this hilarious video
March 28 2024 10:41 AM
Meet the reality TV baddies competing on 'House of Villains' season 2
March 27 2024 3:48 PM
Meet Kristen Kish, the new out host of 'Top Chef'
March 27 2024 3:36 PM
24 albums that turn 10 years old in 2024
March 27 2024 2:43 PM
Breaking boundaries in gender-free fashion with Stuzo Clothing
March 27 2024 2:15 PM
Meet Phillip Davis, Johnny Sibilly's new BF who he just hard-launched
March 27 2024 12:49 PM
Meet Ricky & Cesar, 'Amazing Race 36's loveable gay underdog couple
March 27 2024 12:09 PM
March 27, 2024
March 27 2024 12:07 PM
Yvonne & Melissa weren't 'U-Haul lesbians' before 'Amazing Race 36'
March 27 2024 11:38 AM