Television and stage actress Nell Carter brings her show Blues in the Night to Philadelphia May 13 through 20.
By: Sally Friedman
Rather than talking about her phenomenal show business career, her current projects and her Beverly Hills life, Nell Carter wants to talk about her adopted sons.
Joshua, 11, the older boy by two months, has just done well at a track meet, Ms. Carter says with pride during a recent phone interview. Daniel, the charmer with the great singing voice, is fluent in German. And both are voracious readers.
"Hey, they’re wonderful they’re my life!" says the Tony Award-winning star of the Fats Waller musical Ain’t Misbehavin’. "They’re my most important work of all."
Once she’s finished raving about her boys, Ms. Carter, a twice-divorced single mom, is ready to talk about her own past, present and future, which includes several shows at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, May 13 to 20.
The woman who was born poor in Birmingham, Ala., has horrifying childhood memories of playmates killed in an infamous anti-black church bombing in her town. Ms. Carter has never gotten over that episode, yet this internationally known artist makes it clear she teaches her own sons to have reverence for authority.
"What I always tell them is that even if you don’t get who you want, you should still have respect for who’s in office," she says.
Her phenomenal voice was first used in church, then in coffeehouses around Birmingham. Ms. Carter took off for New York, where she studied acting while performing at nightclubs, making her way to some of the most celebrated venues like Dangerfield’s, the Village Gate and the Rainbow Room.
Ultimately, it was the bright lights of Broadway that flashed Ms. Carter’s name. Her credits read like a who’s who of hits: Hello, Dolly; Jesus Christ, Superstar; Bubbling Brown Sugar; Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope; and Ain’t Misbehavin’, her most celebrated show. Gimme’ A Break gave Ms. Carter a six-year TV run, earning two Emmy nominations. There have been numerous other TV credits, from Evening at the Pops and Baryshnikov on Broadway to Kathie Lee Gifford’s Celebration of Motherhood.
"I loved everything I did, and I still do," says this energetic star who is readying for her latest concert, Blues in the Night. The show will include works by Duke Ellington, numbers from Ain’t Misbehavin’ and, in Ms. Carter’s words, "anything else I think audience need to hear." "Moonglow," "Stormy Weather" and "Eat at Joe’s" will almost definitely be in the set.
"I can read an audience, so if I sense that they don’t like what I’m doing, I always bring extra music," she says. "I’m ready to shift gears. My only rule: I have to like what I’m singing."
Ms. Carter loves the idea that often, she gets people out of their seats and, almost literally, dancing in the aisles.
Working with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops has been a long-held dream.
"I love his work, and I think we’re going to have a very, very fine time," she says. "The man is good."
Somehow, Nell Carter hopes her audiences get this message from her:
"I want them to leave feeling like they’ve had fun, that we all let our hair down for one night and had ourselves a blast," she says. "Then I hope they go home and hug their kids because there’s nothing more important than that in this world."
Nell Carter’s Blues in the Night with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops will be on stage at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust streets, Philadelphia, May 13, 3 p.m.; May 14, 8 p.m.; May 16, 8 p.m.; and May 20, 3 p.m. Tickets cost $15-$52. For information, call PhilaCharge at (215) 893-1999. On the Web: www.phillypops.com