Melba Moore Returns to Broadway: A Legendary Voice Reimagines the Classics

Melba Moore, Tony Winner and three-time Grammy nominee, is back on Broadway by popular demand in the musical From Broadway, With Love. The show returns to 54 Below in Midtown Manhattan on October 17th and October 18th. After a successful run at “Broadway’s Living Room” in March,  the show is back with a purpose. 

“They invited me to come back. We did something right,” joked Moore in her sit-down exclusive interview with NJ Urban News.

Accompanied by a trio of background singers and a story told through the visual symbolism of photographs, in From Broadway, With Love, Moore takes the audience on a magical illustrative journey featuring music from Broadway greats like Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, and Diahann Carroll. “As a mature artist and person, I understand building the bridge. I want to translate one generation to the other,” Moore declared. 

The show aims to take the audience on a musical tour of what makes Broadway tremendous and inspirational, with the incomparable Ms. Moore as the all-capable tour guide. Her record on Broadway speaks for itself: Les Miserables, Hair, Timbuktu, Innocent Black, and Purlie. Moore won a Tony for Purlie and made history in Hair by being the first Black actress to replace a white actress on Broadway (that actress was Diane Keaton). 

When asked what she wants the audience to have gained after leaving From Broadway, With Love, Moore responded that she wants, first and foremost, for the audience to be entertained. She is an entertainer, but more importantly, she wants the audience to understand that entertainment giants like Lena Horne and Mahalia Jackson, whom she also pays tribute to in the show, transcend language, culture, and generations. According to Moore, through her unique artistic expression, the audience will connect with the artistry of those on whose shoulders she stands.

Both of Moore’s worlds collide in From Broadway, With Love. She spoke plainly: “R&B is Black and Broadway is white. I want to do this show because this is my Broadway side, not just my R&B side. It’s two different worlds.” 

However, Moore has no regrets about her dual career spanning almost 60 years. “If I had just done Broadway, I would have lost the ability to develop my own cultural base.” With her natural voice leaning more classical, Ms. Moore’s record in R&B began as a background singer for Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin. She earned a Grammy nomination for her debut album in 1970, I Got Love, before recording an astounding 19 albums. 

With a remarkably enduring career in music and on Broadway, at age 78, when asked why she doesn’t simply allow others to pay homage to her, Moore spoke about duty and calling. “It’s a calling. Not a job.” She continued: “We are required to keep going. We are God’s mouthpiece and his hands. I want to do what I am trained to do naturally, what I am given to do by God.” 

After From Broadway, With Love, Moore intends to continue the calling. She hopes to continue residencies like the one she’s recently had at Blues Alley Club in Washington, DC. “My career has been diverse, and in some ways, it’s been scattered, so if I can have some places where I can be there for a minute, I can develop a foundation for whatever the [venue] category is.” And, according to her, there are no plans for slowing down. “Why would I stop [when] I am in good health?” 

When asked what advice she has for young female performers, Moore first stated that she thought they could teach her a thing or two about the industry, as entertainment has advanced in so many areas, especially in the digital era. When asked what moral advice she’d pass to young female performers, Moore sat up with her back straight. She was eager to place onto herself, the hat of the elder, full of wisdom. “Gain some places where you can get respect for yourself. In our day, we had to compete with men, which sometimes made us feel like we had to be men or be like men.[…] A woman is a certain creature God made.[…] She can do anything. There is nothing limited to her.”

Like the well-known African proverb says: The young can walk faster, but the elder knows the road.  Ms. Moore is a timeless example of that.

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