Interview: T.J. Wilkins And Shanice of 44, THE MUSICAL at Kirk Douglas Theatre

44, The unOfficial, unSanctioned Obama Musical, is an award-winning comedy starring T.J. Wilkins and Shanice at the Kirk Douglas Theatre through March 23rd. 

Actor and singer T.J. Wilkins has performed with Stevie Wonder, The Jacksons, John Legend, and Beyoncé, shined on NBC’s The Voice, and been nominated for a Grammy for his song in Disney’s The Lion King.  Shanice performed with Ella Fitzgerald at age 11, has collaborated with Kenny Loggins, Kenny Babyface Edmonds, Justin Timberlake, and Josh Groban, been nominated for Grammys for her bestselling, chart-topping albums, and starred in her own reality show on the Oprah Winfrey Network.  

Press morning at the Kirk Douglas Theatre featured some insanely great show samples with powerhouse, bring-down-the-house vocals from Shanice and T.J. Wilkins.

I was impressed with how warm your voices sounded so early. You sounded amazing.

Shanice: Lots of prayer.

T.J. Wilkins: A lot of prayer, yeah.

Shanice: And I had to drink a lot of water this morning. [laughs]

So tell me, you guys have been doing this show for a little while now, right? How did you get involved? And how has it changed since you started?

T.J. Wilkins: Well, my journey with the show started back in 2019. Yes, 2019, when this was just a concept and Eli [Bauman, composer, writer and director of 44] and Brew [Anthony “Brew’ Brewster], our musical director, they were working on a bunch of the songs for the show. Well, what would be the show. And a really great friend of mine by the name of Dani Moz who I competed on The Voice with years ago, called me one day and she says, hey, my friend Brew is working with this guy. He's looking for a singer to record some demos for a project. And I was like, okay, cool. You know, put me in touch. And I went and met with Eli and Brew.

And one of the first songs that we recorded was How Black Is Too Black.  And he told me, he says, I want like a Marvin Gaye kind of a thing. And I said, all right, cool. And I went in and I'm looking at the lyrics and I'm busting up laughing. I'm messing up just all the takes. And I told him, I said, man, whatever you do with this, I don't know what this is, but this is really funny. And Eli says, well, I wrote a musical. And I'm like, a musical, really? Okay, tell me more. And he says, well, it's just a concept right now, but eventually I'd like to put it on his feet. And I said, well, if you ever need like pit singers or something like that, man, keep my number.

And we fast forward to, you know, we survived the pandemic and they were finally doing a reading and he called me and says, hey man, I think I want you to be Obama. I'm like, you sure, are you sure you want to do this? He says, yes. And from that point on, I've been with the production really since then.

And then Shanice, you want to share your journey?

Shanice: We’re going on three years this year.  Kerry Gordy, who is Barry Gordy's son, he reached out to me and he said, how would you like to do a musical playing Michelle Obama? I'm like, what, me playing Michelle Obama? And they played me a little presentation of the show and I heard T.J. singing on it. And I knew T.J. before the show. So I was like, I know what T.J. is going to bring, I’m a fan of his voice. So I said, okay, you can sign me up on this. Cause I was like, once I heard T.J. singing it, I was like, yeah, I would love to do it.

I was extremely nervous to play Michelle Obama. I'm not going to lie. Cause I was like, wow. This is a challenge. But once I heard the music and when I thought about her, like as a person, like as far as she is as a wife and as a mother, I'm all those things too, you know? So I was like, okay, I’ve been married for — today's actually my 25th year anniversary.

Congratulations, that's really amazing.

Shanice: Yeah, so I said instead of imitating her, I'm just going to play, you know, a strong woman, who supports her husband, loves her kids.

When people come to the show, they can't see it just once. I have people telling me, I've been here eight, nine times. We have fans that literally fly to each city that we go to. Yeah, we see them in different cities, the same people.

That's wonderful.

Shanice: I tell you, I'm having the time of my life. I love the entire cast. I mean, you just saw a little snippet. That's nothing compared to the entire show. Like, the show, the cast, just everything is just amazing. The songs, you're not going to be able to get the songs out of your head. The songs are so catchy. And I love it because you're going to hear a little bit of Motown in it. You're going to hear a little bit of gospel. A little bit of, what? Like, country.

T.J. Wilkins: A little bit of rock and roll. Jazz. We cover a wide range.

Shanice: A little bit of everything. Oh, a little rap?

T.J. Wilkins: Yeah, rap.  The only thing we're not doing is yodeling. But with Eli and the genius that he is, you never know. He might change something and there might be a yodel solo. [laughs] Like, it's very possible.

Shanice: Honestly, every time we do a run, he changes it. So we haven't done the same show twice.

T.J. Wilkins: Even our people in L.A. that are coming to see this one?

Shanice: They're going to see something different.

T.J. Wilkins: They're going to see something different. And it's great because it keeps us on our toes.

Shanice: It does.

T.J. Wilkins: We're always pushing to get better and to go bigger. And to make the show the best that it can be. And when you're telling such a wonderful story like this, it makes it very easy. And what makes it even easier is when everybody, from the cast to the crew, everyone backstage, we're all getting along.

Shanice: It really feels like a family.  I love everybody. I look forward to when I come here to rehearse and do shows with them. I get so excited to see everyone's faces.

T.J. Wilkins: Shanice and I don't really get along. [laughs]  We can't stand each other. That's the joy of acting. You never know. [laughs]

Everybody's voices blew me away. Just gorgeous, rich, warm voices. What was your guys' training growing up? When did you start? What did you do? What did you find most helpful in opening up the voice? I'm always really impressed by people who, cold in the morning, can sound like that. Beautiful.

T.J. Wilkins: Oh, my goodness. You want to go first? I'm going to let the legend go first. I'm still learning.

Shjanice: I’m learning from you. I'm trying to learn those runs you do.

T.J. Wilkins: Oh, listen. For her to be able to sing those high notes?  The funny thing is, she's doing stuff like we hadn't heard before. We're like, wait, hold on. That's really cool. So, yeah. Tell us. I want to know the secret.

Shanice: I studied with Seth Riggs growing up as vocal coach. My mom is a singer. So, when I was three years old, she put me on stage with her for the first time. And I fell in love with the stage from three on up. And my mom, she trained me for most of my life. And then I studied with Seth. So, I do a lot of his vocal exercises. And then I just feel like you've got to take care of yourself as far as, like, I don't do a lot of heavy drinking, you know, I may do a glass of wine here and there. But you just have to get a lot of rest, drink a lot of water, vocal exercise, and just take care of yourself, you know. And if you don't use it, you'll lose it. So, I try to sing as much as possible. Because I've noticed that if I stay quiet and I don't sing for a while, my voice gets really tight.  For some people it's different. Some people have to save their voice. They can't really talk. But I'm the opposite. Like, the more I vocal exercise and sing and sing and sing, my voice opens up.  I'm like in the car on the way here. I'm singing.  Or in the shower, you know, just at home. When we're rehearsing for this, we sing a lot, like we rehearse a lot when it's time to do the show.

T.J. Wilkins: Absolutely, my training—I grew up singing in church.

Shanice: Me too.

T.J. Wilkins: My mother and father, you know, sang in choir. And then once it became obvious that music was a gift in my life as well, I went to performing arts school from elementary school all the way to high school. I had the opportunity to sing in chamber choir and vocal jazz choir and studied being able to sing in different languages. And then from there, I went to Cal State University Northridge (CSUN), go Matadors! I was a jazz studies major as a vocal jazz major for like my first three years, and I switched over to musicology because I wanted to study more genres of music, more aspects of music, and got my degree in musicology from Northridge.

That's awesome!

Shanice: Good for you, T.J..

T.J. Wilkins: Thank you, and you know, being able to just learn about how to use my voice properly and like Shanice said, stay hydrated.  Make different lifestyle choices that help to sustain the instrument.  Horn in your hand or like playing the piano, you don't really have to worry.  But this instrument of the voice is something that is so delicate, so sensitive, so it requires a little bit of extra care.

Shanice: Yes, so you know, I deal with like post nasal drip, acid reflux, stuff like that. I do my little saline and water in my nose, so that helps.  I have to say I stay away from anything that’s acidic as far as like fruits, like I don't do orange juice, I don't drink juice or certain fruits and stuff like that.

Shanice was saying for Michelle, she was pulling from her own life experience, from her own truth. For you, were you political? Did you research Obama or did you just throw all that out and lean into your own thing?

T.J. Wilkins: I knew a little bit about President Obama just because the first election that he ran for president,  that was my first time being eligible to vote. I was a college freshman and so excited about, you know, getting into civic engagement.  And then of course being in college, I took a couple of political science classes that helped me understand how government works. When I was cast in this role, I read his book, The Audacity of Hope, just to kind of understand a little bit more about the man behind the title, why he wanted to run for president, also being a father and a husband.  Kind of balancing, you know, your love of country and the duty to office, but then also your duty at home, and just being Barack at the end of the day.  So it kind of helped me understand the man and draw some parallels in my own life with being an entertainer and then, you know, being a boyfriend, then, yeah, eventual husband and all that kind of stuff, really pulling from his life experience and my own life experience to bring that to the stage.

To post a comment, you must register and login.