Michelle wrote the show—“Little
Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musi-
cal”—and she will appear in the
title role at the New Brunswick
theater from January 29 through
February 24.
Simone was born Eunice Waymon
in North Carolina in 1933. She was
a child musical prodigy who made
an international career as a singer,
songwriter, arranger, and pianist.
Her repertoire included jazz, blues,
folk, R&B, and pop, and she often
insinuated classical music into her
performances, especially that of
Johann Sebastian Bach.
She released 40 albums, the first
one being “Little Girl Blue.”
In 1964, prompted by the murder
of Medgar Evers and the bombing
of a Baptist Church in Birmingham,
Alabama, she wrote and recorded
“Mississippi Goddam,” a call to ac-
tion for black Americans.
That record was boycotted and
even physically destroyed by radio
stations in the South, and Simone’s
growing participation in the civil-
rights movement eroded her audi-
ence. It wasn’t the last civil-rights
Watch Nina Simone perform “Ain’t Got No, I Got Life”
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 55
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