We were lucky enough to talk to Lillias White about her upcoming 54 Below show, The Lillias White Effect. But before we dove into that, we needed to make sure she knew that Audra McDonald went on a tweeting spree two weeks ago, posting links to YouTube videos of Lillias and calling her voice “singular, brilliant & perfect.” We couldn’t agree more and couldn’t be more excited for her upcoming show!

Lillias said it all started when 54 Below reached out to her to do a show at the venue. We also have her good friend Joshua Sherman to thank for getting her to the 54 Below stage. (Check out this amazing video they did together!) What made it all come together, however, was when Lillias “locked eyes” with a young man at the opening night for Disaster! the Musical. This young man was Will Nunziata. He approached Lillias because in that moment he had a gut feeling that this was the “once-in-a-lifetime talent” he was looking for to direct in a show.

And this show sounds like it’s going to be amazing, not that we thought a Lillias White show would be anything less! When we called her, she had just been listening to Rosalind Russell in Gypsy in preparation. Billy Stritch is her musical director. And she’s working with a director for the first time on a show like this. She is enjoying having Will there to really shape it. His focus is to stay true to Lillias as an artist, so we can expect all those songs we want to hear Lillias sing, but maybe not from such an expected place.

We ended our conversation with Lillias by asking her to answer our silly little questionnaire we’ve used in our 54 Below shows. Here are her answers:

Patty & Emily: Do you know Beth Leavel?

Lillias White: Yes

P&E: Which show do you most want revived?

LW: Oh, there’s a list. I would love to see Gyspy revived with me starring as Mama Rose. I’d love to see Mame too. Hello, Dolly! with me as Dolly. I’d love to see a revival of Once on This Island. What else? The Wiz.

P&E: Have you ever fallen asleep on stage while pretending to sleep or be dead on stage?

LW: No

P&E: What’s your favorite Broadway house?

LW: The St. James. I love it up there. That was my first.

P&E: Do you have a monologue?

LW: Uh, yeah. I could do one. If they called me today and said have it tomorrow, I could do that.

P&E: What is the show you’ve seen the most times?

LW: Dreamgirls. I think I’ve seen that show more than anything.

P&E: Who would you fangirl over?

LW: There are lots of people, you know, who are fantastic! There’s a singer named Ledisi. Every time I see her, I just bow down. Also, Leontyne Price. Harry Belafonte. There was a girl in Motown, Morgan James. She’s got some pipes. Also, Valerie Simpson. Rachelle Ferrell. And Mariah Carey. Also, Gregory Porter! Oh, oh, oh! That voice is just fantastic.

P&E: On a scale of 1-10, how awful is the Broadway World message board?

LW: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t look at that every day. I’m not a computer person.

P&E: If you had comps and a time machine, what would you go see?

LW: Oh, man. If I had comps and a time machine, I would go and see all of the shows that I would not have been able to see during the period where blacks were not allowed into the theatre. I would go see original productions of shows that had Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte.

We also asked Will if he had comps and time machine, which Lillias White show would he go see. He said The Life, and we would be right there with him.

The good thing is you don’t need a time machine to see Lillias White at 54 Below! She’s doing three nights: May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Get your tickets here, and we’ll see you there! We’ll be the ones crying.