An Interview with Tina Fabrique

Tina Fabrique as Ella. Photo byTim Fuller.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park will be the twelfth theatre at which you’ve starred in Ella. How do you keep your performance fresh and exciting? Has the role evolved and changed over time?

I think anything you do has to evolve. In general, I think I’m responsible as the person telling her story to keep it as fresh as I can because it’s a journey that she went on, and I’m responsible for taking the audience. So in each new audience and each new performance, my attitude is ‘Come along with me, guys. You’ve never been on this journey before.’ I visualize her at all times in my mind’s eye. She’s very real to me. And because it’s an honor to portray her, I think visualization like that keeps her story fresh.

How did the opportunity come about for you to portray her?

I was doing a show at Hartford Stage — a show called Crowns — and Rob Ruggiero, associate artistic director of TheatreWorks and director of the piece, was looking for an Ella. He’d already put Ella on his season and so he was out seeing different projects and looking for the person that he wanted to play Ella. And it seemed like it was just something that I was supposed to do because I never thought about playing someone as famous and as perfect in her artistry as she was. I never thought about playing someone like that — a musical icon — a one of a kind.

I did get the opportunity to work with the Ellington Orchestra for several years, and I did a lot of her material. Mercer Ellington would pick stuff for me to do and it was always in her keys, and I got familiar with her phrasing. So I was very comfortable with the music, and when we met, people had told him about me as an actress. But, also, one of the big important things was that I could scat. I’ve been scatting my entire career because I’m a jazz singer first and foremost. So all of those factors kind of came together and the whole thing just fell in my lap.

How do you prepare to take on the task of portraying Ella Fitzgerald?

First of all, I really approach the role more trying to capture the spirit of the woman — why she
performed, what the joy was like when she performed because a lot of her stuff happened in the moment. I don’t imitate her; what I do is try to give you a musical impression of her style. That is much more realistic because she’s one of a kind. And so am I.

One of the ways I really prepare, which is a constant thing [is] I’m always listening to horn players, which is what she listened to. She emulated horns. She was an instrument and, in her mind, I believe she thought she was a horn that could vocalize and sing words. So I listen to a lot of the horn players. I do a lot of scale singing. I do a vocalization that warms up every part of my voice because I need every part of it to do the job. I’m always doing something to keep my body and my voice loose so I can be an instrument so that when I sing things don’t sound staid and rehearsed to death. Because jazz has to have a feeling of just being in the moment.

Do you have a favorite moment in the show?

Without giving it all away, I enjoy a section of the second act where she really comes unglued, so to speak, emotionally. One way that she knows how to express herself [is] not always saying the right things, but she can sing what she feels. That’s the moment in the show that’s the favorite for me.

What have been your biggest challenges in taking on this role?

She [Ella] was like a trumpet. Naturally, vocally, I’m more like a saxophone, and so I had to learn early on to do vocal exercises that keep my voice buoyant, which means light and able to move on air and have a very air-supported delivery to it. In my own world as a vocalist, I’m a driven vocalist. The air is not used the same way. Her [tones] are much more floating and beautiful in the way they sit in the chord structures. Even when she swings, it is swing with a beautiful buoyant approach. So I had to lighten my sound and you do that with the right vocal exercises.

Has this role had a permanent effect on you as a vocalist?

You’re never quite the same when you’ve played a particular role. You take some of that with you to the next thing that you do. So vocally I would say that [this role] has allowed me to expand. Even if I want to go back totally to what I did as a jazz singer before I did Ella, I can do that, but I have the choice of always expanding on what I had the pleasure of feeling and doing with my voice during the Ella months.

What response have you received from young audience members?

One of the things that was surprising to me (during the run in Washington D.C.) was that there were at least seven busloads of middle school kids that came to see the show at a noon sold-out performance. Their response to the music and to the story was very similar to the adult audiences the previous night. If you’re performing for them honestly, they open up to it and they usually will accept it. They were very excited — their applause was thunderous, they jumped up at the end of the show and gave us a standing ovation. And we’re talking about seven busloads of middle school kids.

Do you have a message for the Playhouse in the Park audiences?

I’m very impressed with Ella Fitzgerald as an inspiration and … I hope that when people leave the
theatre they’re inspired by a woman who, against all odds with a very humble beginning, went on to become the most famous, the most successful popular singer of her time. She was a victorious character, a person who can serve as a very wonderful encouragement and inspiration to us all.