'Hamilton' star Renee Elise Goldsberry has Pittsburgh Symphony dates
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May 8—Tony Award-winning performer Renee Elise Goldsberry will return to a city filled with fond memories when she appears this weekend with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
The actor and singer who originated the role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway smash "Hamilton" is a Carnegie Mellon University graduate. She also lived briefly in Fox Chapel as a child.
That's why, she said, "I typically come running when somebody invites me back to Pittsburgh."
Backed by the symphony, Goldsberry will stitch together a tapestry of songs in a wide variety of styles for three performances, Friday through Sunday in Heinz Hall.
"In my concert, we do jazz, folk, pop, some rock, some country, spirituals, freedom protest songs, gospel and the great songs from the Broadway shows I've been in," she said. "What you celebrate when you listen to a songbook of so many different kinds of music is what is most unifying about all of this.
"The same powerful unifying messages exist in all forms of our music, and you can drive that point home when you go on that journey in one evening, which is what we do," she added.
Goldsberry typically performs the program with her own band. Working with the symphony will provide another layer to the experience, she said.
"I'm sure people come to the pops concerts and hear all different kinds of music, but there really is no greater group of musicians than those in your local orchestra," she said. "People need to know how versatile their symphony is."
In addition to her Tony Award-winning turn in "Hamilton," Goldsberry's Broadway credits include "The Color Purple," "The Lion King" and "Rent."
She also has a Grammy Award for the "Hamilton" cast album and two Daytime Emmy Awards for a role in the ABC daytime drama, "One Life to Live."
One-hit wonder
Along with Sara Bareilles, Busy Phillips and Paula Pell, Goldsberry stars in "Girls5Eva." The musical comedy show ran for two seasons on Peacock and has just wrapped a third season for Netflix.
"We are a one-hit-wonder pop group from the '90s who come back together in our 40s to have a huge comeback," Goldsberry said. "It's probably the funniest thing I've ever read or been a part of.
"It might be dangerous to compare us to 'The Golden Girls,' but in the chemistry the four women have with each other, the wittiness and pace of the comedy, it reminds me of those great women," she said.
Goldsberry also is finishing a new album. As a rock composer, she was the grand prize winner of the 1997 John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
The thread that runs through all of Goldsberry's creative pursuits is a love of storytelling.
"We tell great stories in the theater, we tell great stories in film and in the writing, arranging and performing of our music," she said. "What I love about my concert is the ability to stand on stage with great musicians and tell a story with the songs I choose to perform and the reasons why I'm singing them.
"It takes the audience on a journey. What's important to me is that, when you leave, you feel that great power you only get from live music — and you feel like you've spent and hour-and-a-half with a new friend."
Goldsberry, 52, said her crowning achievement is still a work in progress — raising the two children, ages 10 and 14, whom she shares with her husband, Alexis Johnson, in their Connecticut home.
"Hamilton" is perhaps a close second.
"I often say that if every room I walk into, they start playing 'Satisfied' from 'Hamilton,' I'd feel very good about that," Goldsberry said. " 'Hamilton' and the success of it has given me many gifts and continues to bless my life.
"One of the greatest ways is that I now get to come and perform with the greatest groups in the most beautiful halls," she said. "It exposes me to a wider audience and has enabled me to see the country by traveling with my show."
And before "Hamilton," there was Pittsburgh.
"I still consider my time at Carnegie Mellon the pot that I draw from for everything I do," Goldsberry said. "My greatest memories of childhood are riding bikes down the streets of Fox Chapel. I love Pittsburgh very much."
Enrico Lopez-Yañez will conduct Goldsberry with the symphony in programs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $22 to $99, available at 412-392-4900 or www.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
