ETHEL WATERS: His Eye Is On The Sparrow Plays 6/11-6/28 At Loft Theatre

Ethel Waters: His Eye Is On The Sparrow is a one-woman show, but two women with strong musical theatre credentials will be involved in the Human Race Theatre Company production about the life of one of the foremost singing, stage and screen stars of the 20th century.

One of those women is Danielle Lee Greaves, who will portray Waters looking back over her remarkable life, with its rise from abject poverty to fame as a singer and actress and transformation from bitterness to love for all mankind. Greaves, most recently in the Old Globe Theatre of San Diego's production of Stephen Schwartz's Working, has been in the original casts of Hairspray and the Hal Prince Show Boat revival, as well in Rent and Sunset Boulevard on Broadway. Her national and international tour experience includes Rent, The Lion King, Show Boat and Hair. Greaves also has extensive TV experience, including a recurring role in Whoopi on NBC.

The other is director Schele Williams, for whom Sparrow will represent a homecoming. Williams is a Dayton native whose parents still live here - her father is James "Diamond" Williams, percussionist of the Ohio Players. She's a grad of Stivers and Colonel White and a Muse Machine alumna. Williams was one of the directors of the February Defying Inequality: The Broadway Concert. Her Broadway performance credits include Aida and Rent, for which she has been a dance supervisor or choreographer in numerous international productions.

Since Waters remarkable career went from singing the blues in nightclubs and major roles on Broadway and in movies to becoming the lead singer of the Billy Graham Crusades, it's appropriate that both Greaves and Williams have had a long history with Broadway Inspirational Voices, a large gospel group.

Waters' fame was gained as in an entirely different genre, however, and Greaves will be performing the singer's greatest hits, from Frankie and Johnny and Am I Blue to Heat Wave and Stormy Weather, as well as the title gospel song.

Joining Greaves on The Loft Theatre stage will be Cincinnati-based pianist Scot Woolley. Woolley has been involved in numerous Human Race productions, most recently Shenandoah and Harold and Maude: The Musical.

Tamara L. Honesty is the Scenic Designer, Human Race Resident Artist John Rensel the Lighting Designer, Lowell Mathwich the Costume Designer, and Matthew Benjamin the Sound Designer.

Ethel Waters: His Eye Is On The Sparrow is sponsored by First Church, A United Methodist Community; Morris Home Furnishings; 92.1 WROU; Dayton Daily News; Square One Salon and Day Spa; and Bieser, Greer & Landis.

To find out more about the show and The Human Race Theatre, visit www.humanracetheatre.org.

Ethel Waters: His Eye Is On The Sparrow will run June 11-28 at The Loft Theatre at 126 N. Main St. Tickets are available by calling (937) 228-3630 or toll-free (888) 228-3630 or at www.ticketcenterstage.com.

Photos: Danielle Lee Greaves as Ethel Waters

Photo Credit: Scott J. Kimmins

To post a comment, you must register and login.