The nineteenth episode of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, executive produced and hosted by Lia, airs on January 15, 2023 at 6:30 pm (EST) on FIOS 34, RCN 83, and Spectrum 56/1996, and streams on MNN2. If you miss the episode, it is archived on my youtube channel.
On this edition of Backstage Pass with Lia Chang, Morgan James was in concert at The Glade on Little Island on July 31, 2022, and was joined by four cast members from her all-female JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR studio cast recording: Tamika Lawrence, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Orfeh and Pearl Sun for her EVERYBODY SAYS DON’T Concert, interpreting lyrics assigned to other male characters in musicals, and makes a compelling case for nontraditional casting as it relates to gender. Watch below:
Helmed by Richard Amelius, the concert features musical direction by Geraldine Anello on keys, Paul Adamy on bass, and Sarah Gooch on drums.
The episode includes:
“Lily’s Eyes” (from The Secret Garden) – Pearl Sun, Morgan James
“Lost in the Wilderness” (from Children of Eden) – Tamika Lawrence
Tamika Lawrence. Photo by Lia ChangTamika Lawrence. Photo by Lia Chang
“Being Alive” (from Company) – Morgan James
Morgan James. Photo by Lia Chang
“Mister Cellophane” (from Chicago) – Pearl Sun
Geraldine Anello, Paul Adamy, Pearl Sun, Sarah Gooch. Photo by Lia ChangGeraldine Anello, Paul Adamy, Pearl Sun, Sarah Gooch. Photo by Lia ChangGeraldine Anello, Paul Adamy, Pearl Sun, Sarah Gooch. Photo by Lia Chang
“I Who Have Nothing” (from Smokey Joe’s Café) – Tamika Lawrence
Tamika Lawrence. Photo by Lia Chang
“I Believe” (from The Book of Mormon) – Ellyn Marie Marsh
Geraldine Anello, Paul Adamy, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Sarah Gooch. Photo by Lia ChangEllyn Marie Marsh. Photo by Lia ChangEllyn Marie Marsh. Photo by Lia Chang
“Pilate’s Dream” (from Jesus Christ Superstar) – Orfeh
Orfeh. Photo by Lia Chang
“Gethsemane” (from Jesus Christ Superstar) – Morgan James
Geraldine Anello, Paul Adamy, Morgan James, Sarah Gooch. Photo by Lia Chang
“Beautiful City” (from Godspell) – Morgan James
Morgan James. Photo by Lia ChangOrfeh and Pearl Sun. Photo by Lia Chang
TALKBACK
Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James, Pearl Sun, Richard Amelius, Torya Beard. Photo by Lia ChangOrfeh, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James, Pearl Sun. Photo by Lia ChangTamika Lawrence, Orfeh, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James, Pearl Sun, Richard Amelius, Torya Beard. Photo by Lia ChangTamika Lawrence, Orfeh, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James, Pearl Sun, Richard Amelius. Photo by Lia ChangOrfeh, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James, Pearl Sun, Richard Amelius, Torya Beard. Photo by Lia ChangTamika Lawrence, Orfeh, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James, Pearl Sun, Richard Amelius. Photo by Lia ChangTamika Lawrence, Orfeh. Photo by Lia ChangOrfeh, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James, Pearl Sun, Richard Amelius. Photo by Lia ChangTamika Lawrence, Orfeh, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James, Pearl Sun, Richard Amelius. Photo by Lia ChangMorgan James, Pearl Sun, Richard Amelius. Photo by Lia ChangTamika Lawrence, Orfeh, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Morgan James and Pearl Sun. Photo by Lia Chang
The concert also included “Everybody Says Don’t” (from Anyone Can Whistle) sung by Morgan James; “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story) sung by Pearl Sun; “Fight From the Heart” from Rocky sung by Orfeh; and “Hold Me in Your Heart” from Kinky Boots sung by Ellyn Marie Marsh.
Lia Chang at the Museum of Broadway with the display of Winter Wonderland Gingerbread Houses currently on view through December 31, 2022. Photo by Erich McMillan-McCall.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist, documentarian, corporate photographer and an Award winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Lia is also the host and Executive Producer of BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG, an Arts and Entertainment and Lifestyle program that airs on Sundays at 6:30pm on FIOS 34, RCN 83, Spectrum 56/1996, and streams on MNN2.
Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. Her short film, When the World Was Young garnered a 2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She stars in and served as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness and When the World was Young. She is also the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Lia is the recipient of the 2022 Prospect Muse Award, 2000 OCA Chinese American Journalist Award, the 2001 AAJA National Award for New Media. Lia is an AAJA Executive Leadership Graduate (2000), a Western Knight Fellow at USC’s Annenberg College of Communications for Specialized Journalism on Entertainment Journalism in the Digital Age (2000), a National Press Photographers Association Visual Edge/Visual Journalism Fellow at the Poynter Institute for New Media (2001), a Scripps Howard New Media Fellow at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism (2002), and a National Tropical Botanical Garden Environmental Journalism Fellow (2003).
Lia Chang, co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, has launched her latest venture, BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, an Arts and Entertainment program produced weekly at the studios of MNN.org.
Lia Chang and André De Shields
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a photo activist and documentarian, who lifts up and amplifies BIPOC communities and artists and the institutions that support them. Bev’s Girl Films collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Updated: 1/5/23
The seventeenth episode of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang, executive produced and hosted by Lia, aired on January 1 at 6:30 pm (EST) on FIOS 34, RCN 83, and Spectrum 56/1996, and streams on MNN2. If you miss the episode, it is archived on my youtube channel.
André De Shields, LaChanze and Alex Lacamoire receive 2022 BIV Awards at BIV’s BETTER DAYS: Fundraising Cocktail Party and Award Ceremony in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre’s Penthouse Lobby in New York on October 24, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
This edition of BACKSTAGE PASS with Lia Chang celebrates Tony, Grammy and Emmy winning Death of A Salesman Star André De Shields and Tony, Obie and Emmy Award winning Hadestown star Lillias White.
Last October, Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV) honored Tony André De Shields (Death of a Salesman, Becoming Lincoln, Hadestown), Tony Award winner LaChanze (The Color Purple, Producer: TopDog/Underdog, Kimberly Akimbo), and three-time Tony Award winner Alex Lacamoire (VIVO, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton) for being true agents of INSPIRATION using the arts as a conduit for social change, at their BETTER DAYS: Fundraising Cocktail Party and Award Ceremony in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre’s Penthouse Lobby. Lillias White presented the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award to André.
2022 BIV Inspiration Award Honoree André De Shields and Lillias White. Photo by Lia Chang
On December 2, Lillias, who plays Mrs. Hermes in Hadestown, was honored with a Richard Baratz caricature, presented by Sardi’s owner Max Klimavicius at Sardi’s.
André De Shields and Lillias White pose with Lillias’ caricature at Sardi’s in New York on December 2, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
On Nov. 28, Lillias received a 2022 AUDELCO for Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in the New Group’s off-Broadway production of Tariq Trotter’s Black No More, which opened in January 2022. Lillias White’s performance in Cy Coleman’s Broadway musical, The Life, won her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She was nominated for a second Tony Award for her brilliant work in Fela! Additional Broadway credits include Barnum, Dreamgirls, Cats, Carrie, Once on This Island, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Chicago. Other Off-Broadway and regional credits include The Public Theater’s Romance in Hard Times, for which she won the Obie® Award, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (directed by Phylicia Rashad), for which she won the NAACP Award, and the Carnegie Hall Concert version of South Pacific, starring Reba McEntire, which was also broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances. In addition to receiving Broadway acclaim, White is internationally recognized for her TV and film work. She received the Daytime Emmy Award for her role as Lillian Edwards for Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series on Sesame Street in 1992 and is beloved by audiences around the world for voicing the lead muse Calliope in Disney’s animated feature Hercules. Film credits include Pieces of April (starring Katie Holmes) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (starring Jim Carrey). TV credits include the Baz Luhrmann-directed Netflix series “The Get Down,” as well as “Russian Doll” and “Search Party.” She has appeared in cabarets and concert halls around the world, including The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Sydney Opera House. She can be heard on several Broadway cast albums, in addition to her critically acclaimed albums Get Yourself Some Happy! and From Brooklyn to Broadway. She starred on Broadway in the musical, CHICAGO, as Matron “Mama” Morton and off-Broadway in Tariq Trotter’s Black No More, which opened in January 2022.
Lillias White with her guests after the unveiling of Lillias’ caricature at Sardi’s in New York on December 2, 2022. Photo by Lia Chang
HIGHLIGHTS OF BETTER DAYS: Fundraising Cocktail Party and Award Ceremony in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre’s Penthouse Lobby. (Full coverage will be featured in an upcoming article)
McKinley Belcher III, André De Shields and Sharon D Clarke. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields, Allyson Tucker-Mitchell and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Photo by Lia ChangAllyson Tucker-Mitchell and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangCassondra James, Grace Stockdale, Daniel J. Watts, Oneika Phillips and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangGrace Stockdale, Lillias White, Daniel J. Watts, Oneika Phillips and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangJohn Eric Parker and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLaChanze and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLaChanze and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAlex Lacamoire, LaChanze and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAllen René Louis, Alex Lacamoire, LaChanze, André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAdriane Lenox, André De Shields and Angela Robinson. Photo by Lia ChangZane Mark and André De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang
Lillias White presented the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award to André De Shields.
Lillias White. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangLillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields receives the 2022 BIV Inspiration Award. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields, Celia Rose Gooding, LaChanze, Ileana Ferreras and Alex Lacamoire. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields, Celia Rose Gooding, LaChanze, Ileana Ferreras and Alex Lacamoire. Photo by Lia Chang
Broadway Inspirational Voices (BIV) is a diverse community choir of Broadway professionals united to change lives through the power of music and service. BIV is committed to supporting and strengthening communities in need.
Broadway Inspirational Voices. Photo by Lia ChangAndré De Shields. Photo by Lia ChangAngela Grovey, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Allyson Tucker-Mitchell, Lillias White, André De Shields, Sharon D Charle and McKinley Belcher III. Photo by Lia ChangMcKinley Belcher III, Sharon D Clarke, LaChanze, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lillias White and André De Shields. Photo by Lia Chang
For more information – and for ways to DONATE – go to www.BIVoices.org. You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at handle @BIVoices.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist, documentarian and an Award winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Lia is also the host and Executive Producer of BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG, an Arts and Entertainment and Lifestyle program that airs on Sundays at 6:30pm on FIOS 34, RCN 83, Spectrum 56/1996, and streams at MNN2.
Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. Her short film, When the World Was Young garnered a 2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She stars in and served as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness and When the World was Young. She is also the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations.
Lia is the recipient of the 2022 Prospect Muse Award, 2000 OCA Chinese American Journalist Award, the 2001 AAJA National Award for New Media. Lia is an AAJA Executive Leadership Graduate (2000), a Western Knight Fellow at USC’s Annenberg College of Communications for Specialized Journalism on Entertainment Journalism in the Digital Age (2000), a National Press Photographers Association Visual Edge/Visual Journalism Fellow at the Poynter Institute for New Media (2001), a Scripps Howard New Media Fellow at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism (2002), and a National Tropical Botanical Garden Environmental Journalism Fellow (2003).
On this edition of Backstage Pass with Lia Chang, Morgan James was in concert at The Glade on Little Island on July 31, 2022, and was joined by four cast members from her all-female JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR studio cast recording: Tamika Lawrence, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Orfeh and Pearl Sun for her EVERYBODY SAYS DON’T Concert, interpreting lyrics assigned to other male characters in musicals, and makes a compelling case for nontraditional casting as it relates to gender. Watch below:
Bev's Girl Films 