Josephine Baker was a legendary performer of the 20th Century. She was an entertainment triple threat who sang, danced and acted on stages around the world. She appeared on Broadway in the 1920s and became the first Black woman to appear in a major motion picture with her starring role in the silent film “Siren of the Tropics.”
Baker was also a French Resistance agent during World War 2 and a civil rights activist who refused to perform for segregated audiences in the U.S. She is the embodiment of the word iconic, which is why it came as no surprise when one of Central Florida’s own iconic performers, Tymisha Harris, wanted to bring Baker’s life to the stage.
“The first time I became aware of Josephine Baker, I was 17 and about to graduate high school,” Harris recalls. “I saw [the film] ‘The Josephine Baker Story’ on HBO and I was like ‘wow.’ I saw this movie and it just opened up a lot of worlds for me.”
One of those worlds that film introduced Harris to was that of burlesque.
“Shortly after I saw that movie, I was in a pageant and I attempted to do a burlesque number,” she says. “I only took off one glove and I threw my hat. It was to the song ‘Fever.’ But that style of performing, when I saw it, it made sense to me. I get to sing, I get to dance, I get to act. It’s perfect.”
Jump to 2016 and Harris began to work with director-producer Michael Marinaccio on developing a one-woman show for her to headline. After first discussing doing a show based on the life of Tina Turner, they turned their attention to the iconic Baker after a friend’s recommendation.
“It went off in our heads like fireworks,” Harris says. “We started digging into her life and brought in Tod [Kimbro, ‘Josephine’s’ playwright and musical director] and he is a genius and found a great voice for Josephine.”
The show premiered at the San Diego Fringe Festival in 2016 where it won Best Show and Outstanding Solo Performance.
“We took it to San Diego because we wanted an honest opinion of what we had,” Harris says, “and not that Orlando wouldn’t give it to us but I think being from here there might have been some favoritism and I needed to go where they didn’t know me, where I didn’t know them. I couldn’t woo the audience with a wink of the eye or a wiggle of a tush.”
From there, “Josephine” played across the country from hometown theaters here in Central Florida —including at The Venue Orlando and Sanford’s Theater West End — to Off Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse in New York City. Now in 2021, Harris is bringing her award-winning show back to the stage.
“Josephine” will play at Orlando’s Shakespeare Theater Feb. 17-March 21 and, due to the ongoing pandemic, will be a little different than previous performances. Some things that will need to be altered are the parts of the show in which Harris, as Baker, interacts with and in close proximity to the audience.
“We will be reworking two parts to keep a safe distance from the audience but the show will be just as fun and exciting,” Harris says.
With a life as full and lived as that of Baker’s, it would be difficult to include everything she did in a 10-part series on Netflix, let alone a 75-minute stage production, but Harris says that this show gives audiences a beautiful smooth overview of who Baker was.
“Hopefully what we bring to the stage intrigues [the audience] and helps them to understand how much she gave to the world and how she impacted other people’s lives. How without her we wouldn’t have Beyoncé. I hope after they see this show they go home and dive deeper into who she was,” Harris says.
For those who do walk away wanting the learn more about Baker, Harris hints that the team behind “Josephine” are working on another show focusing on the friendship between Baker and legendary film actress Grace Kelly.
“It’s a companion piece called ‘Josie and Grace’ which will hopefully be coming to Orlando Fringe. More to come on that,” Harris says.
“Josephine” plays Feb.17-March 21 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s outdoor courtyard stage. Visit OrlandoShakes.org or call the box office at 407-447-1700 for ticket information.
