One of biggest stage stars to emerge from Manatee-Sarasota will make her highly anticipated return this week.
Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe is bringing back founding company member Teresa Stanley to join the cast in its season opening show, “Love, Sung in the Key of Aretha.”
“There’s so much truth in this show,” Stanley said between rehearsals. “The audience is going to leave with a wellspring of emotions.”
The 29-year-old has been beloved by local theatergoers since she became known to them as a precocious teen through WBTT.
Then, four years ago, Stanley realized her lifelong dream of reaching Broadway in the blockbuster musical “The Color Purple.”
She has since been in the national tours of the “30th Anniversary of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and the smash “Rock of Ages,” in which she played Justice/Mother.
Stanley hasn’t performed in a WBTT production since leaving the area for New York. “I’m so happy to be back,” she said. “There have been tears and crying and laughing.”
Stanley was discovered by WBTT founder and artistic director Nate Jacobs when she was 14. Her first local musical was WBTT’s production of “Purlie,” playing the role of Luttibelle Gussiemae Jenkins.
She went on to play roles in productions such as “Showboat,” “Eubie,” “All Night Strut,” “Sophisticated Ladies,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” She landed starring roles as Dorothy in “The Wiz” and Effie White in “Dreamgirls.”
Then came Broadway in June 2007 when she was cast in “The Color Purple,” playing numerous roles before ending the run as Church Lady Darlene.
“It’s actually what I’ve been waiting for all my life,” Stanley told the Herald when she phoned from New York City a day before her first Broadway appearance. “It was strange for me because I knew I would be here.”
“Love, Sung in the Key of Aretha” is an original production, conceived and written by Jacobs. Set in the tumultuous summer of 1968, it follows the lives of four African-American women. Troupe members Ariel Blue, Tsadok Porter, Alyssa White, Santoy Campbell and Mikeyy Mendez will be joining Stanley. Steve Cannon, Damienne Flagler and Chakara Rosa are making their WBTT debut.
“It’s about four women who bond to support each other,” Jacobs said. “And they tell their stories of love won and lost through the music of Aretha Franklin.”
The two-act show features at least snippets of 40 songs made famous by The Queen of Soul. The selection ranges from the romantic “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” and “Natural Woman” to “Young, Gifted and Black” and “People Get Ready.”
“The spirit of her music, that soul, the attitude, the reality of the storytelling, the singing, we both were raised in the church, I can really relate to her music,” Stanley said. “She sang in such a way that you can feel every emotion, and I just hope I can come close and pay homage to her lovely gift.”
Wade Tatangelo, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-745-7057. Visit heraldbuzzworthy.blogspot.com.
