The Sylvester Musical & Sheryl Lee Ralph Interview By Mychaeltodd

NEW YORK - Sept. 24, 2014 - PRLog -- start. The Interview:

Mychaeltodd: I heard you are on set, so I’ll start with you first Mrs. Ralph, ow arte you doing this morning? First, thank you all for taking this interview- and I want you to know I’m excited about the musical for many reasons. I gonna jump right into it,  Mrs. Ralph, how are you doing this morning?

Sheryl: I am great! It’s freezing here in Chicago, but it’s all great.

Mychaeltodd: I’d like to thank you personally Mrs. Ralph and your husband Senator Hughes for the committed hard work that you two bring to the awareness of HIV & AIDS.

Sheryl: Very interesting, when I met my husband, you know you have those early dates, and he said what are your passions? And I said bringing awareness to AIDS, he didn’t flinch, you know it’s hard to measure time and numbers, but ten and twelve years ago, you know folks didn’t wanna hear your passion was AIDS, so when he did not flinch, I was like wow! This is an interesting man.

Mychaeltodd: What is the creativity and passion that you have with connected with the show with these two gentlemen associated with your non-profit?

Sheryl: We felt that it was a natural combination, because I created the D.I.V.A Foundation as a living breathing memorial to many friends that I have lost to AIDS, as an original company member of DREAMGIRLS on Broadway, in using, doing and creating D.I.V.A.S, I said we have to use the art, because my friends were artistic people, and I wanted to use the art’s in a unique way, to fight the disease, I always believed, that the arts were transformational, and if we can use the words, the play, the musicals, the songs, to help people, see the disease differently, that we would be able to reach them in a place, that last forever! So when it came- when I heard the guys were doing the musical, we met, we sat, we talked, and it was just a natural combination, plus the way- you know Sylvester was on the front line of his life, his whole life, so making the decision as a young man, that he was going to audition and win the role of a woman and play that woman with believability, when one of his lead characters, that he played and performed was Billy Holiday, you know the kind of man that got out there and dressed- you know in a way that made people think: WAIT is it a king or a queen of disco? He was absolutely amazing right up until the time he died.

Mychaeltodd: Mrs. Ralph I’d like to share something with you, I lived in San Francisco and had the pleasure of meeting Sylvester and had the opportunity to hang out with him on occasion, do you see any challenges that you will be facing with the musical?

Sheryl: No!, there are no challenges with this musical, listen- if people can go and hear Abba music, for all of these years- why wouldn’t want to hear Sylvester’s music?

Mychaeltodd: I agree.

Sheryl: Alright, Thank you!

Mychaeltodd: I agree (chuckles)

Mychaeltodd: Can you describe briefly how the three of you got together to form the musical?

Sheryl: Ovice called, from my friends, saying you have got to meet these two young men, and for whatever reason, it did not happen the first year, I got an email from a friend name Ed, and Ed said Sheryl “If you don’t meet these guys you are crazy”….as fate would have happen, the two of them reached out to me on my twitter- and I love social media, and I said to myself, this- Okay GOD I hear ya, this must be the way you are ordering my steps, we talked, and before we knew it, we had met, we had talked again, and I was like- okay here we go, and that’s how that happen, thank GOD for Twitter- okay.

Mychaeltodd: Speaking of social media, I have a couple of questions from people on Facebook and Twitter- What advice do you give people who want to get into the realm of theatre?

Sheryl: All the time, study, a well-educated actor is a far more interesting actor, get into class, find a great teacher, perform, just because you think you can perform, doesn’t mean you can, learn what it is to have a craft and be able to use it, learn the terms of the stage, upstage, down stage, on stage, off stage, those all the easy things, get into it and learn.

Mychaeltodd: I have one last question for you, do you think the community needs to become more involved in theater?

Sheryl: Which community?

Mychaeltodd: The black community

Sheryl: The black community have never not been involved in theatre, we always have something happening, rather it’s on the chitterlin circuit, or not, we are always involved in theater, how could we not be involved in theater, when we are such a dramatic people, when we are such a passionate people, at times it’s seems for real are life is theatre, one of the things that keep us away from places like Broadway and it’s not all of us, because when you have the likes of a Cicely Tyson coming out, you see how the audience changes, you see how we do come out, but very often it could can be the cost of the ticket, two hundred dollars a seat is not cheap.

Mychaeltodd: Exactly, Well Mrs. Ralph thank you, those are all the questions that I have for you, and I wish you well-

Sheryl: Thank you, I really want you to pay attention, to my co-Producers, because these two guys, are two of the hardest working people that I have ever met, and worked with, they work with direction, they work with intent, they bring their passion- to their work, and a lot of people think they know how to do it, but they are in it and doing it, and I’m loving every bit of this journey with them, because in just a short amount of time we have made some great things happen.

Mychaeltodd: Well thank you and I can’t wait to talk with these two gentlemen- Anthony & Kendrell

Sheryl: Alright guy’s bye and I’ll talk with you later-

The show opened Sept 5th and will run through October 5th 2014, Tickets are on sale NOW at www.FabulousSylvester.com.

The cast will be on BRAVO with Host Andy Cohen Sept 24th 2014, check your local listings.

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