NEW YORK (AP) – Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter k.d. lang says making her Broadway debut was “a dream come true” and its effects on her music will be “profound”.
Lang took over from Fantasia Barrino as the second star vocalist in After Midnight, a musical celebrating Duke Ellington’s years at the Cotton Club nightclub in Harlem. Her one-month stint ended Sunday.
The alt-country star, on vocal rest after so many eight-show weeks, acknowledged in an email exchange she had to be on the top of her game as she sang I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Stormy Weather, On the Sunny Side of the Street and Zaz Zuh Zaz in front of a 17-piece band picked by Wynton Marsalis.
“Broadway is like a huge ocean that has immense power. It swells up and carries you along. I’m happy to rest a bit,” she wrote. “But I’d love to drop into After Midnight again sometime!”
Lang, 52, has won four Grammys and is perhaps best known for her cover of Roy Orbison’s Crying, her interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and her hit song Constant Craving. The chance to sing with a jazz band was too enticing to give up.
“To sing in front of that band every night literally, was a dream come true, such a gift. The impact on me as a singer is immeasurable. It’s a little early to understand how it will influence me,” she wrote. “But I have no doubt that this entire experience has shifted me in a profound way.”
Lang also helped others during her debut. A supporter of The Actor’s Fund, which helps performers in need, said he would donate $10 000 to the organisation if it could get the singer to perform her rendition of Hallelujah. She did, calling it an amazing organisation.
There’s a line of talent following lang. Toni Braxton and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds have already been tapped to take over on March 18 until March 30. Actress and singer Vanessa Williams will then step in April 1.
Lang wishes them luck and is glad she got a chance to test herself.
“What I’m most proud of,” she wrote, “is tackling something that wasn’t on my radar or in my comfort zone”.
