Michelle Williams Talks about her character, Sandra Isadore In Jazz Play 'Fela'

Michelle Williams Talks about her character, Sandra Isadore In Jazz Play ‘Fela’

Michelle Williams is best known for her accomplished musical career with Destiny’s Child — but the Illinois native has also became a staple on the theater circuit over the past few years. Her latest gig finds her playing a lead role in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning play “Fela!,” which touches down in Cleveland this week starting today.

“It feels amazing to be involved with ‘Fela!’ because I said that between each album, I wanted to do a theater run,” Williams told MTV News. “I’m on my fourth album, and this is my fifth show, actually, so I’m on time. I just need to catch up on an album so it’s five and five, but it’s an amazing experience for me to do both.”

Check out her full interview with MTV news below:

Williams said a close friend introduced her to Fela Kuti’s music five years ago, and she eventually found herself researching him on YouTube, watching his DVDs and even catching the original “Fela!” show in London and on Broadway. Now she’s cast as one of the lead characters.

“I play the role of Sandra Isadore, Fela’s love and basically his teacher,” she explained. “What I like about Sandra is that she saw something in Fela. Fela was definitely passionate about his music and passionate about what he was feeling — he knew things were going wrong in Nigeria, he knew there was corruption going on — but [he was] emotional about things [that he hadn’t] studied, researched and gotten all the facts [about], and that’s what Sandra helped him to do. I like how she loved him, saw the potential in him and she helped him to learn more about himself and his country.”

Visit FelaOnBroadway.com for tour dates and tickets.