Tony and Emmy winner André De Shields chatted about starring in “Uncoupled” on Netflix, as well as “Hadestown” and “Death of a Salesman” on Broadway.
‘Uncoupled’ on Netflix
He starred as Jack in the hit Netflix series “Uncoupled.” “It was an exciting opportunity to do some comedy on television although my character comic responses to what is going on in the relationships,” he said.
‘Hadestown’
In a career spanning over 50 years, De Shields has acquired a number of sobriquets, among them, “Broadway Diety,” “Professional Charmer,” and “Papa Dré.” De Shields was the triple crown winner of the 2019 awards season, garnering Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Grammy Awards for “Best Featured Actor in a Musical” for his universally praised role as Hermes, the messenger to the Gods, in “Hadestown.” “‘Hadestown’ is the pinnacle of my career,” he said. “Hermes is a mythological character who is a messenger to the Gods. In the mythology of Hermes, you learn that he created language so it is absolutely correct that he would be the narrator of the piece.”
“Throughout my career, I have always been the ‘magical negro’ and I have no regrets about that. Hadestown calls on my literacy and that’s what got me the Tony Award and it got me the attention of the industry. This role helped me establish myself as a force to be reckoned with,” he said.
The Actors’ Equity Foundation followed suit with the Richard Seff Award, honoring veteran stage actors’ best supporting performances of the year.
On the title of the current chapter of his life, De Shields said, “My mission statement: ‘I want to feel intimate spaces with enormous art.’ A space can be a theater, which is where we practice our art. The intimate spaces are people’s hearts. Artists do that better than any other profession. People’s hearts need to be touched right now.”
De Shields has also distinguished himself as a director, philanthropist, and educator. His defining theatrical performances include roles in the original Broadway productions of The Full Monty (Tony Award Nomination), Play On! (Tony Award nomination), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Emmy Award), and the titular role in The Wiz.
De Shields is experiencing growing pains as he prepares for his next adventure as Actor/Activist, eradicating the inauthentic while elevating the inexplicable. De Shields embraced cabaret early on.
Beginning in the ’70s, he created a string of original shows that performed at such landmark New York clubs as Gypsy’s, the Grand Finale, Reno Sweeney, Les Mouches, the Club at La MaMa, the Horn of Plenty, Greene Street, as well as in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London.
In 1984, he co-wrote, choreographed, co-directed, and starred in the Broadway musical revue André De Shields’ Haarlem Nocturne. More recent cabaret appearances have included Feinstein’s/54 Below, The Cabaret, Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series, Joe’s Pub, Laurie Beechman Theatre in New York, Old School Square’s Crest Theatre in Delray Beach, Fl. and Aventura Arts & Cultural Center. He is a recipient of the 2018 Bob Harrington Life Achievement Bistro Award.
In 2022, De Shields received the 2021 Broadwayworld Cabaret Award for Best Show, Celebrity. He received the 2022 NYU Distinguished Alumni Award on April 1.
In 2021, New York Senator Brad Hoylman presented De Shields with a Senate Proclamation on April 8th, 2021 proclaiming the day “André De Shields Appreciation Day.”
The surprise proclamation was arranged by producer Tom D’Angora to honor André’s extensive charity work and activism, along with the public appearances. André starred in the title role of St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s King Lear in June of 2021. On opening night, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones issued a Mayoral Proclamation naming June 4, 2021, as “King Lear/André De Shields Day”.
De Shields received the 2021 John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, the 2021 Sarah Siddons Society of Chicago’s Actor of the Year Award, and the 2021 Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club Human Rights Award.
In 2020, De Shields received the 2020 Grammy Award for Musical Theater Album for Hadestown, an Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, the 2020 AUDELCO for Lifetime Achievement, and the 2020 Red Bull Theater Matador Award for Excellence in Classical Theater.
2019 honors include The Actors’ Equity Foundation Richard Seff Award, which honors veteran stage actors’ best supporting performances of the year, the Project1Voice Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2019 SAGE Joyce Warshow Lifetime Achievement Award, and The York Theatre Company’s 2019 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre, among others.
He was also inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. He received the Key to the City of Baltimore from Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young in August of 2019.
Other accolades include the 8th Annual Off Broadway Alliance Legend Award, the 33rd Annual Bob Harrington Life Achievement Bistro Award, the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival’s Living Legend Award, and the 2007 Village Voice Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance.
‘Death of a Salesman’
Presently, he is starring in “Death of a Salesman” on Broadway, which is “coming along nicely.” “We are in our second week of previews,” he said.
“This is the first time in a commercial production where the Loman family is black,” he said. “With the Loman family being black, you finally get the perspective of the accessibility of the American dream from the point of view of those people for whom it is not accessible. Our audience has been strong and enjoying the piece. Ultimately, we will be remembered for having made theater history. I did this show because it is necessary right now.”
“It is important to hear from those people whose voices have been silenced for so long,” he added.
If he were to have any superpower, he responded, “Being a black, Afro-queen man whose specialty is majesty, elegance, literacy, and intelligence.” “All of us in this industry are talented, it is saturated with talent,” he said. “I am representing the ‘welderly,’ which are elderly people that are still kicking a**. That’s what keeps me working and it keeps me vital and looking toward the future.”
De Shields defined the word success as “being in a dark place, absolutely by himself, and not suffering from loneliness.”
To learn more about Tony and Emmy winner André De Shields, visit his official website.
