The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University will present the musical, “Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah” as a special tribute to the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jan. 15-16. The show, a jazz-gospel adaptation of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah,” features an all-Chicago cast of soloists—Tenor Rodrick Dixon, of the popular Three Mo’ Tenors, Soprano Alfreda Burke and newcomer Alto Karen Marie Richardson.
Richardson,
who has been singing professionally for 11 years, has been apart of the cast
for two years, taking the place of Victor Trent Cook last year. She said that
she knew she had some “big shoes to fill” coming onto the production and that
the initial thought of the work had somewhat made her nervous.
“Then I
made a pact with myself to trust that I knew the music and that I would understand
it wasn’t necessarily about my performance, but as Rodrick puts it, the
conversation that I have with the audience about God,” she said. “And once I
could put the riff-raff of dresses, makeup and shoes behind me and realized
that what I had to say was concrete and as important as everyone else on that
stage, it became a stronger work for me.”
When she
was younger, Richardson said that although she secretly wanted to be a singer,
she'd also had dreams of making a career as a comedian. It wasn't until later
in high school that she had even considered making musical theater her
occupation of choice.
"I
actually got involved with theater somewhat by accident," she explained.
"A friend and I were sitting in the foyer area of the school theater being
silly and I talked about how bored I was." After watching Richardson's
theatrics displaying her boredom, she said the director of the school's productions said she should
audition for the next show because she was funny. And although she didn't
receive a part, her interest in theater had started to flourish.
"I
was going to be a teacher, but I decided to change at the last minute; one of
my teachers said you can’t use teaching as a backup plan," she said.
"So I made a leap of faith and went to college to study musical
theater." She obtained her bachelor's degree in musical theatre from
Millikin University.
Richardson
said that her dream has always been to sing live in front of a band or
orchestra and to do that for the rest of her life, and she is embarking upon
that dream now. She has been featured in such musicals as "Ain't
Misbehavin'," "Respect: A Musical Journey of Women," "The
Mistress Cycle," and "Hairspray," which she cites as one of her favorite
productions, in addition to "Too Hot."
And although
"Too Hot" is on her list of favorites, Richardson said that it wass
also one of her most challenging.
"'Too
Hot' has been one of the biggest challenges to me ever in my career because it
forced me to revisit my roots, my classic roots," she explained. "I
also had to change my eating regimen because you can’t eat junk all the time
and sing all this music because it’s vocally demanding. It also asked me to put
on the shoes of a gospel singer. I’m not traditionally a gospel singer, and a
lot of times people ask me to sing in a style of gospel and I do, but my
background is soul or primarily jazz/pop."
Richardson
has been working on a solo project that she hopes to release soon--one that
will fuse those three genres: jazz, soul and pop.
"I basically use my harmonies and a lot of my melodies and lyrics to describe situations I've been through," she said. "It’s kind of like an autobiography, almost like a musical memoir. But it’s not really just to tell you who I am, it’s also just to reach the people. It’s to tell you how cohesive you and I are as strangers. That's really my focus--to reach the masses and let everyone know we are all the same."
In the
not so distant future, Richardson said that she would like to move to New York
to pursue other theatrical opportunities. All in all, though, she wants to do a
little of everything--film, TV, songwriting and collaborations.
"My belief is that anybody can do anything," she said. "It’s true, and if we actually believe that to our souls, then we would get exactly what it is we want."
Copyright
2010 Chicago Defender
