Interview: Sheryl McCallum of MISS RHYTHM: THE LEGEND OF RUTH BROWN at STAGES HOUSTON

Sheryl McCallum is currently in residence at STAGES HOUSTON until mid-October, starring in MISS RHYTHM: THE LEGEND OF Ruth Brown. The show is a unique experience in which Sheryl relates the story of one of the recording artists who basically built Atlantic Records and was an early queen of Rhythm and Blues. Sheryl herself is an established actress who has appeared on Broadway in THE LION KING and several regional shows all over the United States. This show was co-written by the star and her co-creator David Nehls. This is a brand-new show, and Houston gets the treat of seeing it for the first time with added songs after a run in Colorado. BROADWAY WORLD WRITER Brett Cullum got a chance to sit down with Sheryl and discuss all things Ruth!  

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Brett Cullum: Now, first, tell me quickly who Ruth Brown is because I think a lot of people don't recognize that name right off the bat.

Sheryl McCallum: Oh, gosh, Ruth Brown, she's this woman who started recording music in 1949. She was born back in 1928 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Her family was very religious, but she always wanted to sing, so she was introduced to the Blues while visiting her grandmother in North Carolina. 

She's known for several things. She put Atlantic Records on the map back in the late forties and early fifties. Her career lasted through the early sixties but dropped off the planet for various reasons.

Then had this resurgence when she went to see Red Fox, and he knew about her from years ago. So she made all these wonderful connections. She started a resurgence and was in the original movie of HAIRSPRAY, which a lot of people didn't know. 

She was a woman of resilience and a very strong personality who fought for everything that she had! Then she was in the Broadway production of BLACK AND BLUE and got a Tony Award! She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! She is this woman who just came through a lot but loved her music and loved her family. She was resilient beyond belief and could live to see the flowers given to her. She's a whole lot of woman! This story is just a small part of who she is.

Brett Cullum: What made you and David Nehls want to write a show around her life? I know there was a book originally called MISS RYHTHM. Did you two get together and adapt that?

Sheryl McCallum: We both used to live in New York, and David saw her perform a couple of times. Once, she was at the Blue Note, a jazz bar. 

So David wrote this script about her performing at the bar, kind of like going back through time. So she's at the jazz bar, but then she returns and relives her life story. And it's a wonderful script. I still think he should do it at some point, but when he presented this to me while we were doing a show in Denver, he asked, “Sheryl, do you know Ruth Brown?” And I was like, “Oh, yes, of course I know Ruth Brown.”

He presented the script, and this was actually a woman portraying her. And I said, “I don't look like her. I don't sound like her. I don't sing like her. But let's work on it in a different way, where I can kind of jump in and out of her.” We went back and forth on that, but as far as what the script would look like, I said, “Let's put it in my words. I'll tell her story and jump in and out of who she is; that way, we still get to tell her story. We get a semblance of who she is, and I just bring a little essence of Ruth!”

So that's how it started. And through the years, we developed it. It started as a cabaret show for this theater in Golden Colorado called Miner’s Alley during the pandemic. The pandemic gave us time to fine-tune it a little bit, so Miner’s Alley was trying to keep their audience engaged during the shutdown. So they had something called Quarantine Cabaret, or Cabaret Quarantine. So David and I presented it as an hour long. I have a music stand and a book that I called the Book of Ruth, and he's way across the room in a very sanitized piano. And so that's how we started.

It just grew from that. And some theater saw it and said, If we can, can we develop this a little more? And that's how we brought it here to Stages Houston.

Brett Cullum: Well, it's funny because Stages is known for musicals about artists, and they made their mark with ALWAYS, PATSY CLINE. And they did LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL during the pandemic. 

When I saw your headshot, I thought this woman does not look like Ruth Brown. I got nervous thinking, “Oh, my gosh, you're gonna portray her and imitate her!” because I thought Ruth had a distinctive look and singing voice. You listen to “Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean,” and she has this trademark squeal. It is just crazy, and I'm like, “I can't see anybody trying to do this because it's so rough on your voice.” 

I was so impressed when you came out; you were just Sheryl. You weren't pretending to be Ruth, and it was so smart because I don't know if even Ruth could do Ruth at a certain point in her life! I think it's a very smart approach because it feels like it's a really good friend telling you about someone she admires. It feels so personal. It's so different from watching somebody do an impersonation because sometimes you throw up this wall when they do that.

Sheryl McCallum: That's right. That's exactly why I think this works because no one is trying to be her. We want to keep that feeling. We want to give her essence. We want to, but it's not me trying to be Ruth Brown. It kind of throws a lot of people. It's like she doesn't look like Ruth. She doesn't sound like her. That's good because we're not trying to do that. We want to keep it in the style of her music.

But I'm singing it as Sheryl. I occasionally try to get those little squeals in because that was her signature. I appreciate you saying that because that's what we were going for! 

Brett Cullum: I knew Ruth mainly because of John Waters. She was the original Motormouth Maybel! And John Waters always led me to fifties music because he always used those songs in his soundtrack. So I found Ruth through that, and I was very into all of the fifties stuff, and I so appreciate that you do so much of her fifties catalog. It's so much fun. 

Sheryl McCallum: That's how people started rediscovering who she was! That's when Ruth got this whole new resurgence. That's why she could go strongly against Atlantic Records and start getting her royalties and continue that lawsuit because of HAIRSPRAY. 

And the funny thing about HAIRSPRAY, which I'm sure you know, she didn't sing. John Waters wanted her because of her personality and her appearance! She didn't sing a note. It just gave her a whole new whole new audience.

Brett Cullum: Do you have a favorite song in the show? 

Sheryl McCallum: Oh, gosh! There are so many I love!  

I enjoy “Be Anything (But Be Mine),” and it's just not me alone on that. We have a gorgeous sax solo by Brent Nabors. And so that one is a favorite of mine.

I've come to love “So Long,” and we do it very differently than she does just in the context of the show. Gosh! “Teardrops From My Eyes!”

And I love “Oh, What a Dream!” I just like them all! I like them all.

Brett Cullum: You can tell when you when you perform them. When you did “Cabbage Head!” I was like, “Why isn't everybody singing this song?”

Now, how did the show end up at Stages Houston? I mean, it's kind of amazing that it's here.

Sheryl McCallum: Yes, Kenn McClaughlin, who was the old artistic director, and he and David Nehls go way back! So David already had a wonderful relationship with him. So when Kenn found out we were doing this show. He came down to see it and thought that it would really be good in this space. But this was his last season at Stages. So he came down, saw it, and liked it. He presented it to Stages. Then Eboni Bell Darci came down, she agreed, and so they pushed it. That's how it wound up here at Stages, and we're glad the new artistic director, Derek Charles Livingston, has a connection with Ruth, too. He was working in New York, and he said, “I took a night off, and I went to go see BLACK AND BLUE.” So, he has a connection with Ruth Brown. So we're just glad it's working. But that's how it wound up at Stages Houston! 

Brett Cullum: So what is next for MISS RHYTHM? What do you hope happens from here?

Sheryl McCallum: Well, we just want to keep getting her word out. Not so much about the show. But for her. Because she was such a dynamic woman, and her story needs to be told. A lot of these stories about women of that day and age are missing. I mean, we know about Etta James and Billie Holiday, but we also need to know stories like Ruth Brown’s. Stories that need to be heard. The director, Kenny Moten, talks about it in a “HIDDEN FIGURES” sort of way, where you don't know that you didn't know until you knew.

And then you go back and discover all these wonderful things. So what we hope is that people number one - tell their friends to come out and see it, and we'll keep getting the word out. And then her family, like her son Ronnie Mcfadder and her nephew, Damon Williams, are also so much behind it, and that meant a lot to us to be able to have them on board because we couldn't go through with it without them! So that's that's our hope is that people come out to see it. We'll be running through October 13th! 

Brett Cullum: I loved it, and when I looked up during the show, you had her initials up on the video screens. It's literally R and B.

Sheryl McCallum: That's right.

Brett Cullum: Literally rhythm and blues!

Sheryl McCallum: Right there.

Brett Cullum: MISS RHYTHM: THE LEGEND OF Ruth Brown runs at Stages Houston through October 13th! They have a great website where you can buy tickets, and a secret tip for me is that if you go during the week, it's a little bit discounted! It's great for groups, or you can do it like me and just go solo. It's such a warm, inviting, wonderful experience. And it's definitely something that I'm gonna see again. 

Sheryl McCallum: Another thing, in the lobby when you walk in is that they have all of these beautiful outfits that were inspired from the fifties, and they kind of reference Ruth Brown and what she wore. So there's something in the show for everybody! 

Brett Cullum: It's a very unique experience, and thank you so much for bringing it to us here in Houston and at Stages. And your band! MY GOSH! The band is amazing, and they play live, and it’s some of the tightest stuff I have heard onstage. Just click below on the link to buy tickets! It’s amazing, Ruth Brown is amazing, and YOU, Sheryl McCallum, are amazing!  

Sheryl McCallum: Thank you for having me again, Brett. It's so wonderful to be with you.

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