“Your sword could be a sermon, or the power of the pen,” sang legendary actor and activist Brian Stokes Mitchell during his Tony-nominated run as Coalhouse Walker in the original Broadway production of “Ragtime.” As for Mitchell himself (or “Stokes,” as he endearingly prefers to be called), his sword has always been the stage.
On the heels of his sold-out Lincoln Center concert series, Stokes is getting — (nope, not saying saying it) — geared up to “tell our story” in a poignant and uplifting musical concert on September 11 at 8 PM at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, marking his third show at WHBPAC.
“I love that theatre, I love that audience,” he enthusiastically exclaimed. “It’s an arts-loving audience in such close proximity to New York City, so the audience is very savvy and appreciative. Also, it’s an intimate house, and I love that feeling of ‘performing in my living room’ when I do it. Having a smaller house makes for a really great, intimate way to share music with people.”
And Mitchell knows a thing or two about performing in his living room.
“Even a pandemic can’t keep artists down! When you can’t sing on Broadway, sing over Broadway!” he said, referring to his notable nightly tributes to NYC health workers, during which he would sing “The Impossible Dream” from “The Man of La Mancha” (Don Quixote is another character Mitchell quite notably donned) from his home balcony to appreciative passersby below.
“It was very bittersweet knowing that I was singing ‘on Broadway,’ the avenue, every night during this pandemic, while thousands of people were unemployed and unable to sing on Broadway — including me!”
Mitchell and his wife, Alyson Tucker, were four days from opening a show at City Center’s Encores! when Broadway suddenly shuttered; the release of his new album, cleverly titled “Plays with Music,” was delayed, and the TV show on which Mitchell was recurring, the movie he was preparing to shoot, and all of the many concerts he’d been planning got shut down too.
“I’m not saying this because ‘poor me,’” the leading man said of his cancelled concerts. “I’m saying it as a way to illustrate that when a concert gets cancelled — for instance, I could be doing a concert with an entire orchestra — well, that’s an entire orchestra that’s not working. And the backstage crew, the design team, all the people that work in that theatre. Even when somebody thinks they’re seeing a ‘one man show,’ there’s a host of other people involved; and all of them were suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed as well.”
But after many months of Zoom and balcony concerts, Stokes is cautiously yet confidently making his return to the stage — or, parking lot?
“I got to do two socially-distanced concerts during the pandemic: one was in Michigan in a 600-seat theater for 45 people in the audience; and the other was in the Berkshires, where the Colonial Theatre’s production of ‘Godspell’ (which was brilliant) had been moved into the back parking lot and had set up 50 seats for 50 lucky audience members, and I got to do my concert there in the same lot.”
Most recently, Mitchell performed six evenings of a free outdoor concert hosted by Lincoln Center for an audience of 1000 — all for whom COVID-19 vaccination was an attendance requirement.
“New York is largely vaccinated,” Mitchell stated proudly, “and especially the arts-lovers and theatre-goers. For them, being vaccinated is not an impediment; it’s like a golden ticket to get back into life. Frankly,” he added, “I wish the rest of the world would see it that way too.”
As to whether his concert may be taking a more political turn, Mitchell mused, “Well, that depends on what people consider political. Everything seems to be political nowadays. You can’t talk about clothes without it being political somehow! So in a sense it is, but not purposefully so.”
More intentionally, Mitchell’s latest concerts have been crafted and customized to reflect the shared journey we’ve taken together through these trying times.
“I can’t do a concert and not acknowledge that; it’s the elephant in the room,” he said. “But, more importantly, I want it to be a celebration of life, and of how we’re almost out of the woods — not quite yet, but we can see the edge of the woods at this point — while still acknowledging how difficult it’s been to get here, and the collective loss that’s been felt. So I’m using some songs that I’ve been doing already, so people will hear the things they hope to when they come to a concert, but I’ve also introduced some new songs to help tell that story of what we’ve been through and where we’re going,” he said.
“And I wanted to do it with humor and excitement and delight — a few moments are reflective, but I didn’t want to bring people down. We’ve been down; this is a time to celebrate!”
A Star-Studded New (Big) Deal: Black Theatre United
With Broadway beginning to re-open, Mitchell is celebrating alongside the rest of New York — “I would love to be at every opening and re-opening night on Broadway,” he exclaimed — while also working hard to instigate positive changes within the theatre community. Quoting his friend, actor Daniel J. Watts — one of the first guests on the Stellar Original series Crossovers Live!, the new monthly live streaming talk show Mitchell is hosting, in which he prompts candid and often comical conversations with celebrities who’ve dabbled in multiple performance mediums — Mitchell shared the statement, “Broadway can’t come back; it has to come forward.”
It is a profound sentiment supported by Black Theatre United, an advocacy group that Mitchell co-founded which includes Audra Macdonald, Billy Porter, Norm Lewis, and many other iconic black theatre artists. In fact, just on August 23, Black Theatre United unveiled their proposal, “A New Deal for Broadway,” which calls for actionable inclusivity in what has previously been a primarily white-dominated industry; already, it has been signed and agreed to, with landmark unanimity, by the owners and operators of every single Broadway theatre.
“Since the tragedy of George Floyd’s death, people have been having an awakening like the one that happens to the character of Mother’s Younger Brother in ‘Ragtime,’ when he goes down and listens to Emma Goldman speak, and sees the people, and hears the problems firsthand. That self-education is so important. There are lots of incredible books, many of which have been around for years, about what race means in this country, and what exactly white privilege means; and now suddenly people are reading these with a new curiosity, because their hearts and minds are opening up in a way that they weren’t before.”
These transformative moments of epiphany, Mitchell posits, are one of the many gifts that live theatre has to offer.
“When you see people onstage that are going through the same things that you’re going through, or to be sitting in an audience and feeling and experiencing others responding, reacting to that story that is going on on that stage in the same way that you are. It brings people together and makes people feel less alone. It gives people greater empathy.”
Mitchell took the time to share one such pivotal moment in his own career:
“When I was doing ‘Ragtime’ — and this fits right in to what we’re going through now, and what we have been going through for hundreds of years — there was an African-American gentleman in Texas named James Byrd Jr., who was dragged behind the truck of two white supremacists until his body disintegrated. It was a shocking thing that happened to the country. I remember recalling this in front of the ‘Ragtime’ company; we would often discuss things before we did a show that would kind of put into perspective why we were doing the show we were doing,” he recalled.
“Well, just a few days before this conversation — in fact, Byrd might have been being dragged while this was happening — were the Tony Awards. And we did not win Best Show, and I did not win Best Actor; and as much as you are trying not to be disappointed in a situation where you didn’t win, it’s hard not to be. But a few days days after the Tony Awards, during our curtain call on the same night we’d heard about and discussed this story of James Byrd, I remember feeling deeply ashamed that I was feeling bad that we didn’t win, because that suddenly seemed so trivial in comparison to what the show was saying about America, about racism,” he continued.
“Now, the coda of that story is that about two weeks after that, I received the most incredible letter I have ever received in my life — it must have been seven or eight pages, hand written, from this young man who I believe lived in Florida. He wrote, ‘I’m 20 years old and I’m Caucasian’ — and then he proceeded to tell me about this ordinary life he was living, and I’m thinking, ‘Okay, where’s he going with this?’ — and then I get to the last paragraph of the letter, which said, ‘The reason I’m writing you this letter is because a couple of weeks ago, I came to see your performance in ‘Ragtime;’ and when I left the theatre, I realized I’ve been a racist all my life and didn’t even know it.’”
A New York State Of Mind
In further recognition of the power of art, empathy, and the city that (almost) never sleeps, Mitchell’s voice and joyful spirit soars amidst the impeccable, star-studded ensemble of the new music video cover of Billy Joel’s iconic “New York State of Mind.” The powerful tribute was shot in every borough of New York, and showcases real New Yorkers dancing in the streets and celebrating together.
“That’s what I love most about New York,” Mitchell shared. “It demonstrates the possibility of ‘What happens when you put all of these very different people together in one very small space?’ Well, New York City happens! When you’re essentially forced to live so closely with all different types of people, you start discovering the delights of eating food from different countries, and the nuances of different languages, and the different ways people dress, and maybe you adopt some of that; maybe it inspires the way you view the world around you. You get this wonderful mixed salad — not a melting pot, where everything all blends together; a salad, because there are still very different identities here, and everyone gets to be independently exactly who they are. And we’re creating together, challenging each other, listening to each other. If everyone everywhere would try to educate themselves, listen to others, and enter into this important conversation with humility and grace, we’d solve so many problems.”
Would that we may all soon ride on the wheels of that not-so-impossible dream.
For tickets to Brian Stokes Mitchell’s upcoming WHBPAC concert on 9/11 at 8pm, visit WHBPAC.org or call 631-288-1500. For more info on Stokes, Crossovers Live, “Plays with Music,” and Black Theatre United, head to BrianStokes.com.