Interview: John Clarence Stewart's the Jelly in JELLY'S LAST JAM

Next up at The Pasadena Playhouse, the Tony Award-winning Jelly’s Last Jam opening June 2, 2024 (with previews starting May 29th). Kent Gash directs the cast led by John Clarence Stewart as Jelly Roll Morton, Cress Williams, Jasmine Amy Rogers; Wilkie Ferguson III, Karole Foreman, Eric B. Anthony, Doran Butler, Chante Carmel, Cyd Charisse Glover-Hill, Summer Nicole Greer, Janaya Jones, Grasan Kingsberry, Amber Liekhus, Davon Rashawn, Joe Aaron Reid, Naomi C. Walley and Hannah Yosef. I had the chance to chat with John Clarence while he was navigating Los Angeles traffic.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview, John Clarence!

How are rehearsals going?

We haven't really started them yet. It's been more tap-dancing lessons for me.

How familiar were you with Jelly Roll Morton’s music before this project?

I was not familiar, I won't lie. I've heard it. I've heard his music on YouTube and through some friends, family, parents, some like old school jazz. As I listened to his music more after starting this preparation, I realized that I knew some of the songs I didn't know were his. So that has happened as well, but I can't say that I sought him out much before production. Though I was familiar with the Lincoln Center production that they just did.

What new facts did you learn about Jelly in researching your role?

Just what a harrowing story and what a brilliant life but a brilliant light. It's just unfortunate, in my opinion, that sometimes our most brilliant lights are not preserved in memory, they are forgotten. And it made me ache in a certain kind of way. The dilemma that he's in to try to maintain in his mind his legacy. And then realizing that as it goes with anything, the song that we're a part of is… We don't own any song. We come into a song and if we have courage enough, we find our own song while we live.

What famous Jelly Roll Morton songs do you get to sing?

In traffic right now, forgive me trying also not to die.

Please don't.

That's How We Jazz, there's that song in there that comes to mind right now.

What would your three-line pitch for Jelly’s Last Jam be?

Three-line pitch? I would say Jelly’s Last Jam is an epic celebration of the life of a man, the joy, the pain, the legacy and honoring jazz.

What cosmic forces brought you together with this Pasadena Playhouse production?

The cosmic forces that brought me into the space. Well, actually I'm from Atlanta. I actually started acting at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta two years ago now. And Kent, he had a lot of time at the Alliance years ago. And it just so happened that it was a one-man show. That was a workshop of that that I'm writing that was announced. That was gonna be done in Synchronicity in Atlanta, and he knows a brilliant dramaturg and artist named Salise Kalki. He reached out to her. I was like, ‘Hey, what's going on with this?’ Because you put me in touch with and we had a little chat about that completely unrelated to Jellies and then, you know, months and months and months later, he reached out and said, ‘Hey, would you be open? Are you even interested in doing plays or musicals?’ And I asked him what musical, which one? He didn't give me an answer. Then some time went past, and I was actually doing that same workshop in Atlanta, and he reached out, ‘Hey, I'd love you to come in and audition for this role of Jelly.’ By the way, this wasn't an offer. He said I'd love you to come in and read. He didn't say that this role is yours. ‘I'd love for you to come in and audition for me.’ It's honestly been so long since I've been in the room. I was just like, Man, I would love to be in a room and work on this material. I feel I took it for that. I just started prepping the material. I get to play inside of this space, sing this music and step inside this man’s shoes in this epic story for this afternoon in L.A. And then I went in. I did the prep and all of that. And I showed up to the best of my ability and then we had a wonderful time in the room. As I was prepping the role, I realized that there's a very spiritual aspect. I feel like the journey that Jelly goes on, that we all go on, that all the players go on; there’s something really almost like a dirge, that is this process. of reliving and re-experiencing his life. So I felt honored to get a chance to play in it. This is great. And then he said, ‘Hey, we'd love for you to do it.’ And I was like, ‘What? You crazy? It would be an honor.’ Mind you, to be in full transparency, I'm learning how to tap dance. I'm saying some parts of this will be new to me, but I I feel like this production is going to be very special. And in the legacy of Jelly and the legacy of the Jelly that's been done back in the day and even in the legacy of the Jelly that's just been done. It's all the continuation of a song. So yeah!

What period of time of Jelly’s life are you covering? Near the end or the middle or…?

Jelly’s covers the span of his life. It's epic in that way you meet him at the end. And there's the Chimney Man through the recollection and his, the parts of his story that he loves and the parts of his story that he doesn't want to recall and there are forces at play that make him have to recall everything. Which includes his behavior taking responsibility for certain things, just so many different things. It's the span of his life that we get to explore in different chapters and different loves. I think that that's the main thing, the different loves of his life we get to explore. Incredible for what a role this is. I mean, that's pretty good, you know?

Besides Kent, have you worked with any of this cast or creatives before?

The only other person that I've worked with before is a guy named Wilkie Ferguson and he plays Jack the Bear in the musical which is great because he's a dear friend of mine and Jack is Jelly’s dear friend, Wilkie and I met years ago in Atlanta doing a musical called Bull Durham the Musical. We had an incredible cast. We remain in each other's lives, in each other's orbits I’m really just excited to step into this with him. After the casting was announced, I knew of the work of some folks, including the gentleman playing Chimney Man, and he's just an incredible actor. And after the cast was announced, Jasmine, I just so looking forward to the talent and the gifts that they've assembled for this because she is just astounding in her gift, you know. I have such admiration and joy and respect for getting on the boards and playing with these folks.

You made your professional stage debut in 2013 portraying John in The Whipping Man at the Alliance Theatre. What do you remember of the first time you stepped on the stage?

Oh, wow! What do I remember? Probably not much. I'm probably blacked out to be honest with you. I remember just feeling like I was where I was supposed to be. I feel like as an artist and as an actor, as a storyteller, really. We think that the stories we choose, the stories but a lot of times they choose us.

As it was with The Whipping Man, the way that came about had its own miraculous tale to it. I was with a group of people that challenged me. I learned so much from Jeremy Aggers in Atlanta, fantastic actor and actor who's had in New York. Keith Randolph Smith, who's just one of the most incredible actors I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Learned so much from these guys and from that process. I think one of the things I took away from the opening night was an actor in Atlanta. And I was so stressed out about opening night and he said opening night isn't for us. Opening nights are for them. Then after opening it’s for us. I was so confused about it. And after opening. I happen to be celebrating everything and it was for all of us. It was so much for the celebration of getting to this finish line. And then we got really settled into this. Like each new wave of an audience that came in which allow the players… It goes each night is a completely different animal and a completely different wave, which is the joy of it.

You played 54 Below in August 2022. Was that your first full cabaret gig?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. My first one.

What did you take away from that experience?

I learned the process. My vocal coach, his name is Doug Peck. He's just so incredible. He helped me to curate the show and what we were going to do. It's just incredible.

Would you include some Jelly Roll Morton songs in your next act?

I think I would. I think I would. What I learned from it is to trust myself because so many of the songs… Wow! I remember I was driving with my partner. We were going to a friend's wedding in the Midwest. When we decided that I was going to do it and I was like, ‘Oh man, I'm so stressed out. What is this going to be? What is this going to be?’ And then I was, ‘Okay, let me listen to the music. Let me listen to the music that moves me. that makes me feel something. We just went through a list of 60-70 songs, and I just started playing them. And as I played them, it was like they made themselves known. And throughout the process. I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I should make it more like this and more like that.’  But I had support around me. And as support around me was echoing back to me. What do you want this to be? What do you want this to be? Because no one else is telling you what it needs to be. So what do you want to say? And what is in your heart to give? And it became this meditation on a series of almost a series of letters to different people in my life to myself. And it became a very spiritual and special moment and I'm looking for how to do it again. I loved it so much.

You got a football scholarship from George Walton Academy and eventually graduated from Columbus State with a BFA in performance theater. When did you re-focus on starting a career in the arts?

It’s interesting. I went to Columbus, and I thought that I can't say that I didn't have any understanding about a career in the arts. It was after that time, that tenure there that I teacher of mine, her name is Brenda Mae Ito. She put me in touch with Kaiser Permanente. This educational theater program ended up being my first job. First paid job as an actor traveling around to YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs, playing a character named, One Be Healthy. Wearing Crocs or like alligator shoes, khaki shorts and a Hawaiian shirt with a fedora on. I mean, it was something else. But what I learned in being around these actors, when I was working with them and in that community was that it was possible to build a life as an actor. I didn't really see a path to television or to film. I didn't really see a path to the screen in that way because I didn't know anybody from our world. I saw some folks working at Columbus at this great theater called the Springer Opera House, which was wonderful, but I didn't want to live in Columbus, Georgia. So I didn't really know where to go from there and started to work with Kaiser. It put me in contact with folks who were making their lives doing this. And it made it real. I am forever grateful for those folks that specifically, there's a woman, her name is Betty Hart. She took me under her wing at the time. And cracked my rose-colored glasses. Like this is what a career in the arts looks like and what it can be. And that set me on the path of saying yes to being an artist.

If financial compensation were not a factor, which field of entertainment would you concentrate your talents in? Film? Television? Theatre? Cabaret?

If money was not a factor, I would love it. If money was not a factor I'd love to allocate specific amounts of time. I would allocate I would do it and probably like, you know, back in the day, when they used to plant crops and rotate the crops. I would rotate my crops but it'd be like every few years, for three, four years and be like, three, four, if money was not an option, like three, four years theater, and that would be all aspects of theater, directing, writing, performing, just like really diving all the way in like a glutton. And then I would shift, and it would be film. And I would like three or four years of just being a glutton and diving all the way in There’s only so much time in the world, right? But I just think there's so much value. And I learned so much from each of the different fingers. I feel like storytelling is this big hand. And each of these things is like a finger on it. I learned so much from each other and they can all feed into one another.

You self-describe yourself as actor, writer/poet, singer-songwriter, and mentor. If you had to pick just one of these creative professions, which one would you choose?

I would just say storyteller. Storyteller because that incorporates, encapsulates everything.

I have to say that I loved you in Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.

Thank you.

The production numbers were incredible. How much rehearsals did you get for the multiple of numbers in each episode?

Sometimes it was like one, one and a half, two. And sometimes, usually for larger group numbers, we would have to stagger it. So sometimes we only get like one rehearsal with everyone together. But we would touch those a little bit more. When it comes to Zoe's, all of our incredible team, Mandy, Julian, Jeff. Mandy Moore is just a savant at storytelling and in the body and her relationship with Austin. They just they had a way of really cracking the code. And I think in a lot of ways it's being true to the form of musical theater. A song is born from a need, right? It's not just doing it to do it. Like a character is not the same. Like the beginning to the end, the character is not the same, and they really embraced it and I think that's why s people resonated so much with it. Mandy is just brilliant.

What’s next in the near future for John Clarence Stewart?

Well, yes, in the near future, I'm working on a one-man show called Soft As It Began. That is about me. And it's really about me and a love letter to my father and parents. I'm working on that, which I'm really excited about. I am working on some music, which I'm also excited about and also there’s some producing that I'm stepping into which is a newer thing for me, but I have a lot to learn. It's just good to be out of my depth, which is I like to be in that place.

Thank you again, John! I look forward to experiencing your Jelly Roll.

(Laughs) I feel like you knew you were going to say that.

Glad you found it funny.

Yeah buddy, okay.

I'll probably see you on opening night.

It’ll be for you! It’ll be for you! It’ll be for us. Have a good day!

For tickets to the live performances of Jelly’s Last Jam through June 23, 2024; click on the button below:

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