About This Show
Melba Moore: Sweet Songs of the Soul is an autobiographical musical. The audience follows Moore’s life through the trials, tribulations, and many successes – all revealed through dialogue and a heady mix of jazz, gospel, and Broadway melodies. This petite woman with a four octave range holds nothing back as she shares her personal story.
Melba Moore began her Broadway career in the ground breaking musical Hair in 1969, where she originated the role of Dionne. She went on to the role of Lutiebelle, the innocent southern domestic who falls in love with a fast-talking preacher, in the long running musical Purlie, the role which launched her successful television and recording career. Her show-stopping performance in Purlie won Melba the Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress In A Musical, making her the first African-American actress to do so. Melba was born in New York and studied piano and voice at the High School for Performing Arts and went on to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Montclair State College in New Jersey.
