‘Josephine’ show star set to charm Vienna

Vienna. An international hit musical on the life of Josephine Baker comes to Vienna and News on Austria has found out that the cast of the lead role is just a perfect match.

"Josephine” by theatre luminary Jérôme Savary is a tribute to the life and work of celebrated Afro- American singer Josephine Baker, the world’s first black star of cabaret and film. New Jersey-born Ni- colle Rochelle stars as Josephine Baker in the incredibly successful pro- duction which premieres in Vienna tonight.

Rochelle was born to a mother of Caribbean origin and a light-skinned US American father. Like Baker, Rochelle was confron- ted with racism throughout her life.

"People say certain things or stereotype me. It will always exist. Nowa- days, it might be more subtle - which makes it harder to recognise and realise,” she says. But spea- king about her work, her eyes start to sparkle and the words gush out like a waterfall.

"I just love what I’m doing and this is also what the show is about: having a good time and being happy,” Rochelle, who speaks five languages, says.

"Josephine” was staged in Barcelona, Copenhagen and Paris before coming to Vienna. "The response from the audience was great everywhere,” Rochelle says.

Rochelle has no trouble justifying the honour of being cast in the leading role. She recalls: "I started studying her life 15 years ago. When I learned about her life, I kind of imm diately connected to her - I think it’s my destiny to play this role!”

She says proudly: "People tell me I’ve got a similar voice. I am similar to her in many regards - I think I look like her quite a bit.”

It seems the 30-year-old was destined to become a musical performer.

"I started singing and dancing at the age of five. I got a manager when I was eight," Rochelle says. "I soon got cameo roles in various shows and TV productions. I’ve been on stage with Ringo Starr! And I had a small part in the Bill Cosby Show as a friend of the family.”

Speaking about her child- hood, Rochelle reminisces: "I’ve always been extroverted. I ran around the house with nothing on, asking my dad whether my boobs have grown. I’ve just never been embarrassed about anything I have done or about what happened to me.”

This leads to the question of whether she will be seen topless in the new show - as it was "Black Pearl” Josephine Baker’s controversial trademark. Finally, the stream of chat ends, as Rochelle stutters: "I will be... almost - as good as. I can’t predict it. It depends on how things go on stage - just come and see the show to find out!"

Superstar josephine Baker

Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an African American expatriate entertainer and actress. She became a French citizen in 1937. Most noted as a singer, Baker also was a celebrated dancer in her early career. She was given the nicknames the "Bronze Venus" or the "Black Pearl", as well as the "Créole Goddess" in anglophone nations. In France, she has always been known as "La Baker".

Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de Guerre.

Rise to fame

After a short while she was the most successful American entertainer working in France. Ernest Hemingway called her "… the most sensational woman anyone ever saw." In addition to being a musical star, Baker also starred in three films which found success only in Europe: the silent film Siren of the Tropics (1927), Zouzou (1934) and Princesse Tam Tam (1935). Although Baker is often credited as a movie star, her starring roles ended with Princesse Tam Tam in 1935.

At this time she also scored her most successful song, "J'ai deux amours" (1931) and became a muse for contemporary authors, painters, designers, and sculptors including Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, and Christian Dior.

Under the management of Giuseppe Pepito Abatino — a Sicilian former stonemason who passed himself off as a count — Baker's stage and public persona, as well as her singing voice, went through a significant transformation. In 1934 she took the lead in a revival of Jacques Offenbach's 1875 opera La créole at the Théâtre Marigny in the Champs-Élysées of Paris, which premiered in December of that year for a six month run. In preparation for her performances she went through months of training with a vocal coach.

In the words of Shirley Bassey, who has cited Baker as her primary influence, "… she went from a 'petite danseuse sauvage' with a decent voice to 'la grande diva magnifique' … I swear in all my life I have never seen, and probably never shall see again, such a spectacular singer and performer."

Baker was so well known and popular with the French that even the Nazis, who occupied France during World War II, were hesitant to cause her harm. In turn, this allowed Baker to show her loyalty to her adopted country by participating in the Underground, smuggling intelligence to the resistance in Portugal coded within her sheet music. After the war, for her underground activity, Baker received the Croix de Guerre, the Rosette de la Résistance, and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by General Charles de Gaulle.




Despite her popularity in France, she never obtained the same reputation in America. Upon a visit to the United States in 1936, she starred in a failed version of the Ziegfeld Follies (being replaced by Gypsy Rose Lee later in the run), her personal life similarly suffered, and she went through six marriages, some legal, some not.

Her 1935–36 US performances received poor reviews. Baker returned to Paris in 1937, married Frenchman Jean Lion, and became a French citizen.

In January 1966 she was invited by Fidel Castro to perform at the Teatro Musical de La Habana in Havana, Cuba. Her spectacular show in April of that year led to record breaking attendance.

In 1973, Baker opened at Carnegie Hall to a standing ovation.