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When actress Roz White comes to New Orleans next week as one of the stars of the Broadway National Tour of \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d at the Saenger Theatre, it will be a homecoming.<\/p>\n
She lived in the city between 2002 and 2005 while working as a singer on Bourbon Street. Whenever she comes to New Orleans, one of her first stops is to see the French Quarter musicians she worked with two decades ago. They often call her up on stage to perform with them again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked at the Famous Door, and at Fat Catz Music Club performing Top 40, R&B and jazz numbers,\u201d White said. \u201cAlmost all of the musicians I worked with back then are still there.\u201d<\/p>\n
White plays the role of Miss Liza Jane, the character Ali\u2019s pivotal mentor and teacher. Ali is the Alicia Keys character, as \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d is the 16-time Grammy Award-winning artist\u2019s story of her own rise through the ranks to become a pop icon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
It was a 15-year project for Keys, from writing the musical to its first appearance on Broadway in 2024. While the musical theater production of \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d is still at the Schubert Theatre in New York City, the touring company will visit more than 30 cities in its first year on tour.<\/p>\n
White is now celebrating 40 years as an arts professional and educator, with a bachelor’s degree in musical theater from Howard University and a master\u2019s degree in education. For White, she knew early on that being onstage was her calling, from her childhood days in Washington, D.C.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the age of 12, I saw ‘Dreamgirls’ at the National Theater in Washington, D.C., and knew I wanted to do this professionally,\u201d White said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Then she\u00a0entered the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown at age 14. “In the 11th grade there, I was literally taken out of choir one day by a professional in the industry who had me learn a song, and subsequently put me in a production of ‘Bubbling Brown Sugar’ at the age of 16,” she said. “By 19, I was in my first tour, doing ‘Dreamgirls.'”<\/p>\n
When White was coming up back in the ’80s, there weren\u2019t a lot of roles for young Black girls. And, there wasn\u2019t a lot of hiring against racially stereotypical lines. You would have never seen a Black \u201cCinderella\u201d or a reboot of \u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d with a Black Eliza Doolittle. But times have changed.<\/p>\n