(Capathia Jenkins is sensational singing Aretha Franklin hits)
By Jerome Langston
“I have the best airport in the world. The busiest airport in the world, right? So I can get, almost anywhere, on a direct flight from Atlanta because it’s Delta’s hub,” says Broadway star, Capathia Jenkins, during the beginning of our phone chat, earlier this week. Born and raised in Brooklyn, and being so associated with success on the American stage, I thought that the actress still lived in NYC, till she nixed that assumption. She and her husband moved to Canton, Georgia, which she describes as being an hour north of Atlanta, and as a sleepy, quiet suburb of the huge ATL metro, in 2019. Prior to then, she was still an active New Yorker.
And since she doesn’t have to commute into the city of Atlanta, she loves living there. The Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport provides the singer/actress with the ability to easily travel to all sorts of places, for her high-profile work singing with some of the top symphony orchestras. “I had been doing this kind of symphony work. And traveling around the country. And really around the world with symphony orchestras. And just realizing that nobody else lives like we live in New York, right? People have backyards, and front yards… garages and cars,” she says, with a slight chuckle. Later this month, the ATL’s infamously busy and newsworthy airport will provide Capathia yet another opportunity to travel outside of Georgia, when she heads here for a concert with our well-regarded Virginia Symphony Orchestra, for a tribute program dedicated to the legacy of one of America’s popular music icons, Aretha Franklin. Capathia will be joined by vocalist Darryl Jovan Williams, while the orchestra will be conducted by Morihiko Nakahara, who works often as conductor, with VSO.
Though she often tributes the still reigning Queen of Soul, Capathia Jenkins has carved out quite an impressive career on the American stage, and in music…in her own right. Her Broadway debut in 1999 in The Civil War, saw her originate the role of Harriet Jackson, for a musical that garnered two Tony Award nominations, though it ran for less than 3 months. In 2003, she returned to Broadway in the Burt Bacharach & Hal David musical revue, The Look of Love. And then roles in the Broadway shows Caroline, or Change, and Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me turned her into a star. She even received a Drama Desk award nomination for her Off-Broadway show about Hattie McDaniel, in 2007. And then there is Newsies. As part of the original cast, playing the role of Medda Larkin, Capathia became a household name on the American stage, as the show grew into a Tony award-winning, Broadway smash.
Following those successes, she’s also done notable television and film work, but where she’s really distinguished herself in recent times, has been as a highly sought after concert artist. Her long list of appearances with major symphonies includes the Houston Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Toronto Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic; amongst many other appearances. This upcoming appearance though, with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, will be her first time working with our esteemed locally based orchestra.
Early in our conversation, Capathia recalls how her late mother, encouraged her to stay committed to being herself, no matter what. The advice was passed on to the singer, when she was leaving home for college. “My mom said to me, ‘you should always be yourself, because no matter what you do, not everybody is gonna like you,’” Capathia says. “So you’re better just trying to be yourself. And I really just took that to heart, particularly when I started to work in theater.” Due to her appearance, show producers and the like, expected her to sing a particular way…but that way isn’t her wheelhouse. “I just love telling a story. So pretty much singing the ink off the page, that is where I live,” the Brooklyn native says. Capathia grew up listening to Aretha Franklin, in part due to her older siblings. The music of Aretha, the music of Motown, gospel music…all of that was blasting in her household. “She is totally in my DNA,” Capathia says. “I have so much love and reverence for her.” As did I, and so many millions of fans, throughout her incomparable career in music, that spanned well over half a century, and earned her a ton of Grammy awards, gold and platinum records, and classic hit singles like “Respect,” “I Never Loved a Man,” “Chain of Fools,” and “Think.” Miss Franklin is one of the most important American artists of the entire 20th century, and she has inspired many in the generations of women and minority artists who have followed her unique blueprint.
Many of the hits that we all love Miss Franklin for, will be performed by Capathia, with accompaniment by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. And singer Darryl J. Williams will bring some of that male soul perspective to the evening’s program as well. This Aretha tribute show goes all the way back to 2018, when it first premiered. She says it’s been all over the country. “It’s a program that’s in my blood. We love it. I’m bringing my back-up singers… People just love Aretha…,” says Capathia. “She’s a singular talent, right? There will never be another Queen of Soul.”
WANT TO GO?
Aretha: A Tribute
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
With Capathia Jenkins & Darryl J. Williams
September 27
Chrysler Hall
