'Fannie Lou' Musical

Performing in a musical about voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer was more than just acting for Yewande Odetoyinbo.

“I feel like a lot of people don’t know the story of Fannie Lou Hamer,” said Yewande. “She was such an inspiration and an important part of not just black history,
but American history.”

Yewande helped tell the story of Mrs. Hamer's s voting rights struggle in “Scenes and Songs from Fannie Lou: At Carnegie Hall,” a special, one-night-only benefit presentation that took place at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on Oct. 9.

“I learned about her in school, but when I ask a lot of people they say, ‘Who’s that?’” noted Yewande. “People need to know
who she is.”

Fannie Lou Hamer was one of the beacons of the voting rights movement. She grew up in rural Mississippi, had little education and lived the life of a poor sharecropper. Her attempts to register to vote and to help other African Americans exercise their voting rights were met with violent resistance.

At one point, Mrs. Hamer was jailed and severely beaten because of her voting rights efforts.

A native of Detroit, Yewande began singing in church at age 4. She went on to join youth theater groups.

“As far back as I can remember I’ve loved performing,” she said. While Yewande’s journalist mom and Nigerian-born engineer dad envisioned a career for their daughter in the sciences, medicine or perhaps law, Yewande had other plans.

They were set in motion by the King of Pop.

For most performing artists, there's a moment they can point to and say, yes, that was what reeled me in and hooked me to pursue a life on the stage. For Yewande, it was seeing Michael Jackson for the
very first time.

“I saw Michael Jackson perform on TV, and it was, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to do that,’” said Yewande about her epiphany. She started buying Jackson’s albums and following his career.

When pressed about what exactly it was that attracted her, Yewande says she can’t pinpoint just one characteristic.

“I like everything. He has the whole package,” said Yewande, adding, “He’s my favorite artist of all time.”

While Yewande was elated at the prospect of following her idol into a career as a performer, her parents were not as jubilant. Only after seeing Yewande act in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace did her mom realize Yewande’s talent, and give her blessing for Yewande to pursue a career
as a performer.

It took Yewande's dad a little longer. When it came time for his daughter to apply to colleges, he wasn’t pleased with her career choice.

“He said, ‘We are not paying this money for you to frolic about the stage,’” recalled Yewande.

That reaction became a moot point, however, after Yewande received a full-tuition scholarship to attend Howard University.

“So my dad didn’t have to pay,” she noted. With time, she added, her dad has become used to the idea that he is the father of an actress. “He’s accepting of it now.”

Yewande has performed on cruise ships and in regional productions ranging from Rent to Carmen Jones. She relishes being on stage.

“I think it’s becoming someone else,” she said about the attraction. “You’re telling a story that without you may not have been told.”

Yewande is especially attracted to the medium of theater.

“People say, ‘Why didn’t you go into film?’ But I love the [live] audience. If something is funny, there are laughs. If something is sad, there are tears. It’s that instant gratification.”