Theatre Register

Lillias White

Shows · Lillias White

Actor b. 1951 On stage 19822019

Lillias White is an American actress and singer. She is particularly known for her performances in Broadway musicals. In 1989 she won an Obie Award for her performance in the off-Broadway musical Romance in Hard Times. In 1997, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for portraying Sonja in Cy Coleman's The Life. She was nominated for a Tony Award again in 2010 for her work as Funmilayo in Fela Kuti's Fela!. White is also known for her roles as Calliope in the Disney film Hercules (1997), and its animated series of the same name; Evette in the film Pieces of April (2003); and as Fat Annie in the Netflix…

On stage 12 productions, 37 years

1982 Cats Winter Garden Theatre · Original · directed by Trevor Nunn 7,485 perf.
1982 Rock 'N Roll! The First 5,000 Years St James Theatre · Original · directed by Bob Gill 9 perf.
1987 Dreamgirls Ambassador Theatre · Revival · directed by Michael Peters 177 perf.
1990 Once on This Island Booth Theatre · Original 469 perf.
1995 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Theatre not recorded · Revival 548 perf.
1996 Chicago Richard Rodgers Theatre · Revival · directed by Walter Bobbie 9,999 perf.
1997 The Life Ethel Barrymore Theatre · Original · directed by Michael Blakemore 466 perf.
2001 Dreamgirls Ford Center For The Performing Arts · Revival · directed by Brenda Braxton 1 perf.
2002 Once on This Island Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre · Revival 2 perf.
2004 Hair New Amsterdam Theatre · Revival 1 perf.
2009 Fela! Eugene O’Neill Theatre · Original · directed by Bill T. Jones 463 perf.
2019 Hadestown Walter Kerr Theatre · Original · directed by Rachel Chavkin 1,700 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once12 names

Orfeh 3 productions
Norm Lewis 3 productions
Milton Craig Nealy 3 productions
Chuck Cooper 3 productions
Bobby Daye 3 productions
Afi McClendon 3 productions
Adriane Lenox 3 productions
Steve Geary 2 productions
Stephen Reed 2 productions
Shoshana Bean 2 productions
Sheila Gibbs 2 productions
Rich Hebert 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 3 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

Also credited on1 work

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature8 passages

  • After more than two hours, Lillias White finally got the chance to sing an eleven o’clock number that did offer its rewards. Never, however, did she convince that she was Fela’s mother, for she more resembled a Broadway performer.ebooks/Filichia, Peter/Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks - Peter Filichia.txt
  • When they show opened, they saw that it was sung by Sonja (Lillias White) and Queen, two tough prostitutes who’d just been released. That wasn’t as palatable.ebooks/Filichia, Peter/Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks - Peter Filichia.txt
  • Cast: Matthew Broderick, Megan Mullally, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Jonathan Freedmen, Victoria Clark, Luba Mason, Gerry Vichi, Lillias White, Ronn Carrollebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Cast: Sahr Ngaujah, Kevin Mambo, Saycon Sengbloh, Lillias White, Ismael Kouyaté, Gelan Lambertebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Finally, Brett Macias had orchestrated "Don't Rain On My Parade" for Lillias White, but we wound up not doing it on the first night of the cruise in the Barbra show. But I didn't want to deprive the audience of her brilliance, so as an encore to Chicago , I kept Lillias onstage and started the vamp. Needless to say, she sounded amazing .…ebooks/Rudetsky, Seth/Seth's Broadway Diary, Volume 1_ Part 2 - Seth Rudetsky.txt
  • At Sirius, I got to interview one of the best singers on Broadway, Tony Award-winner Lillias White. What a voice, and what a spirit! We had an amazing afternoon. When she arrived, she told me that she was vocally exhausted because she was up the night before doing her gig at The Triad and singing 'til 2 AM. She needed to rest her voice so…ebooks/Rudetsky, Seth/Seth's Broadway Diary, Volume 1_ Part 2 - Seth Rudetsky.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Any portrait. 1,626 of 7,139 people have one, so this is the usual case rather than the exception.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

Something wrong here? Correct a field or report the problem. Every change is recorded in public under the contributor licence.