Renée Elise Goldsberry On Leaning On Her Faith, Passing the Baton Of Success, The Power of Second Chances and Peacock's 'Girls5eva'
A Photography Collaboration With Elena Mudd and Sarah Slutsky; Styling by Sarah Slutsky; Assisted by Gina Brase
Before we start talking about all of your work, I’d love to start at the beginning. Did you always know you would be a performer?
It was always in the forefront of my mind because I always felt like I was destined to do this. It was a frightening thing in my late 20s when I started to become aware of the fact there were a lot of people who felt this way and it didn’t happen for them (laughs). I started to fear being disillusioned, but the younger you look at me, the more sure I was that this was my path. I fell in love with singing, then the theater and creating things together with people. I was in love with storytelling and I looked up to a lot women on MTV who were so beautiful and powerful. I thought I would love to get to be in their shoes and do what they do one day. I am grateful, I get to do my own version of that many years later.
I recently watched an interview where you talked about not giving up and stressed the importance of this idea of hope. Can we go back to a more challenging time and how you decided to persevere and not give up? What made you keep going?
I asked a lot, am I supposed to be doing this? I did keep going but it wasn’t without a steady conversation with God asking, if this isn’t for me to please kill it right now because there are so many other things that I could do. I had two greatest fears, one was not living up to the potential and opportunity that I had—I had a great education and the best parents who gave me all of the support in the world. I felt blessed and I didn’t want to blow all of that. The second fear was I didn’t want to sacrifice everything at the altar for something that wasn’t meant for me. I think that people in the arts have very transferable skills and there are all types of things we can do. I didn’t want to be stuck banging my head against the wall and missing an opportunity to be a teacher, a great lawyer, or a philanthropist; I knew there were other things I could do. I used to pray all of the time, I kept asking, show me, show me, show me. When I would ask that question, I would get some sort of carrot that would keep me going, so that’s why I persevered.
First Look, Dress by Rochas; Earrings by Jenny Bird; Look Above, Blouse & Skirt by Carolina Herrera; Jewelry by Mateo New York.
I love hearing about opportunities of a lifetime, a moment or a series of moments that can carve out something that you never thought was possible. Was your role as Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton that for you?
Every job that I ever got was pivotal, I cannot believe this just happened, my life has changed moment, way before Hamilton. I remember being called for a children’s show a long time ago and freaking out when the phone rang, jumping up and down like I had just won the lottery. My father was like, what happened? I told him I got one line on a show that no one had ever heard of. Any time someone gave me a job, it felt life-changing. By the time Hamilton happened, I thought I had already had a pretty successful career and I was grateful. That’s what is so miraculous was the biggest thing that had happened to theater in my lifetime hadn’t even happened yet, so the fact that God had that for me still blows my mind.
Was it at all scary to step away after such a big success? How do you handle transitions in life, are you more nostalgic or do you celebrate it and carry it with you onto what is next?
The beauty of Hamilton and the way it was constructed, by the team of producers and creators, was that we didn't have to walk away. We got to pass it off to amazingly talented people, but the gift of it stays with us and that’s special. I believe with Broadway shows that are successful, it’s a relay race and I was gifted with was the first leg, but the race continues. You hand the baton to the next person but you are standing there with your heart pounding rooting for that person to bring it home. That’s how I feel about Hamilton, it’s still going—new companies are being formed all over the world and everyone who goes into that show enters into a wonderful family. It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.
Now to chat about Girls5eva, I saw movie trailers for the production during the pandemic, one of the first I remember seeing that gave me a sense of hope. How was it from a creative standpoint to film it?
I am going to steal this from one of my cast members but it was a lifeboat. We were all at home and I think the industry was making a lot of videos while Zooming and dreaming what we could put together when we got back. There was Meredith Scardino, Tina Fey, and Robert Carlock who were like, we are ready to go with NBC Universal and we are going to follow every protocol in the world for covid safety, add a few of our own and we are going to see what happens. They asked if I wanted to join the series, they shared the pilot, and asked me what I thought. They told me they already had signed on Sara Bareilles, then they added Busy Philipps and Paula Pell—about a million covid tests and a lot of PPE later, we were all together in a studio in Queens making a show. We were thanking God not only we could create something but also could be together with other people. We created something that brought us a tremendous amount of joy and we’re all proud of and that giddy feeling we had in the moments we didn’t have a mask on are very evident on-screen, I think it’s contagious.
I was just going to say that, every episode you look like you had so much fun. Can you talk about your character Wickie Roy. She seems super fun to play.
Wickie is all ambition and there’s a lot of ego. She is self-absorbed and she seems like she is the kind of person who would step over anyone to get what she feels entitled to which is fame, recognition, and stardom. It’s one of the reasons why Girl5eva didn’t make it (laughs). She stepped over all of them in her pursuit of a solo career. What’s wonderful about that, dramatically, is she launched at the highest and has fallen the furthest.
When you meet her you see the illusion of what her life is. It seems like it’s glamorous, even though the group is no longer attached, she seems like an internet sensation and a mogul but you find out at the end of the first episode that it’s all a lie. She is the least successful person in the group, the most vulnerable, and the most in need of a second chance. I love her because she has some very important lessons to learn about her responsibility to other people and the power of her investment in other people’s success and how it can contribute to her own. I love being a part of someone who is learning these lessons. I also love to learn from her because she feels that she is owed a second chance. I don’t know if I would feel that way if I blew it the first time. She isn’t shy about how big her dream is and it doesn’t matter how old she is and I love that.
I love that too, the power of a second chance, reinvention and also women coming together for a bigger dream. Is there a bigger message that you want viewers to walk away with?
Because of Hamilton and because it popped so many demographic bubbles, I always want that for every show. I think, this isn’t just a show for older women, or for people who like girl groups, if you are a man or a woman or whatever gender you identify with! I love universal themes in shows and they are here, too. It’s important to me, in the very simplest way, to enjoy what great comedy writers are trying to do, before they preach to you, they are trying to make you laugh, and give you license to laugh at yourselves and to ask yourself questions that lightens your load. Things are heavy right now, so let’s look at ourselves and better ourselves but let’s also laugh, it’s okay. I also love the theme, it’s never too late. I love a second chance and also that a diverse group of people come together to lift each other up in order to succeed. It’s the timely message in this world that the lines are drawn so deeper and more severely, we need even in our bite-size comedy that this divisiveness isn’t going to work.
Blouse by Farm Rio; Skirt by Tibi; Rings and Earrings by Mateo New York.
Since you are a very talented woman who sings, acts and writes music, where do you feel most in the flow?
I love shows that have some sort of musical element to them. I can’t say I don’t feel in the flow in other areas, what’s signature about my career path is that I’m all over the place. I’ve been doing it long enough to know and trust if I work really hard and make friends when I show up that I will bridge the gap or the learning curve. I also don't want to stay in my lane; I want to push back on that idea. I get great joy out of doing dramatic pieces with no music; I love doing film, TV and theater and it doesn’t always have to have a dance or music component. I am most in the flow with a new challenge and when I’m around a group of people who believe in my ability to figure it out. I’m a bit addicted to flipping the script.
You’ve said you still get anxiety before performing. How do you work past that and not let it hold you back?
The key to performing for me is focus. Regardless of whether you are performing on a basketball court, in a boardroom, or on stage, anxiety is there but it can work for you actually as long as you can still focus on what you have to do. What I do is pray for focus; I just have to get myself into the place or venue. I let the anxiety let me work harder—it fuels preparation for me because I am a bit of a procrastinator. It keeps me connected to my source, my belief in God, and the fact that I’m supposed to be there, you know, all of the self-talk you do to lift yourself up. Once it’s action, it’s about focusing through it—it’s a muscle that you have to keep working on.
Have you gotten back on stage recently?
I have a band and we travel around the country doing concerts with different symphony orchestras. We stopped in 2020 when the world stopped and we just started again last month.
Dress by Farm Rio; Bracelet by Ben-Amun; Earrings & Rings by Jenny Bird.
That’s wonderful! How did it feel to get back out there?
It was a revelation. It was healing and inspiring. It was not perfect, but in through the imperfection it was really beautiful to be on stage with a sea of insanely talented musicians. We were outside in Quad City Park in Iowa, it was a terrible day—it was cold, drizzling, and muddy—it was the wrong day. We couldn’t even do a sound check because some of the instruments were not safe in that type of weather. I didn’t think anyone was going to show up but then ten minutes before the show started the sky cleared, but even before, the audience was there on the ground with blankets and picnic baskets. They were a wonderful group of people; they ushered us back into performing post-covid and it was dream-like.
Going back to what you said about it not being perfect, one lesson I have learned since last year is this need for authenticity and I only want to interact with things that are real. I cannot deal with fluff anymore. Did you walk away with anything like that?
You can’t go through something as unbelievable as we have been through and not feel like you have to be different. In the way that we might not fit our clothes or our jeans, whether you gained or lost weight, that’s how it feels to put on and old piece of art, how does this fit on me now? Does this still work? What I learned with this music is that it still does. We sing about what unites all people and about love and inspiration, it was even more important post versus pre-covid.
It was just announced you will star in Marvel’s ‘She-Hulk’ on Disney+, congratulations! I know Marvel is super secretive but can you share any more about that?
Lips have to be sealed about it unfortunately—all I can say is I am a huge Marvel fan and it would be great to be a part of anything they do.
Understood! Is there anything else you have coming up that we should be excited about?
I’m finishing up my first solo album and I’m going to start releasing it in the early fall. I might do a single at a time, I’m not sure exactly. I wrote this music dreaming of what I would want to hear as the world returns to some semblance of normalcy and the things that I learned while I was in it. It’s a lot of the joy that I thought I would feel getting out of covid and I am excited to share it.
Suit by The Sei; Shoes by Jimmy Choo; Jewelry by Grace Lee.