After decades delighting audiences in Trinidad & Tobago and Great Britain, Melanie (Hudson) La Barrie makes her Broadway debut. Caroline Taylor learns more. Published in the November/December issue of Caribbean Beat It’s what the Independent called “a gloriously silly, unexpectedly poignant” jukebox musical that — using the music of Grammy-winning songwriter and super-producer Max Martin …
Published as part of the "Carnival is love" series in the Jan/Feb 2022 edition of Caribbean Beat Is a vibe coming outta we soulEverybody take up yuh roleThis year we playing brave and boldJumbies coming out ah dey hole — Machel Montano, “Jumbie” Picture it: Port of Spain, 2007. For a plucky 20-something, it is …
Continue reading A love letter to doing everything for Trinidad Carnival
I was just going to do a short post on Facebook. But I realised there was too much to say. One of the things I cherish about the way I grew up is that all I saw was that steelbands could be and do anything; choirs could be and do anything; and women could be …
October 6th: the promo I saw a Facebook post today that made me smile. Hard. Wide. Wisftfully. Nostalgically. One of my "idols" — the incomparable Anna Deavere Smith — was performing at my old workplace, Second Stage Theatre. Why the wist? A dozen years or so ago, I'd have been working on that show. Seeing that show …
Continue reading Anna Deveare Smith brings “Notes from the Field”
I think it's nearly 10 years I've been trying to decide whether I agree with this! I first heard it said by Phylicia Rashad on a New York TV station, and I've been mulling it ever since. I thought I disagreed with it, actually thinking film was more life-like and theatre more "artful" – at …
Continue reading “Theatre is life, film is art, TV is furniture”
Written and published in CariVele Magazine for their special issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of Trinidad & Tobago's independence “I am not afraid to sacrifice for my fellow man Prepare me now to dance this dance, spirit hold my hand… I could make de grade, I could make de grade, I eh ‘fraid…!” – Spirit Dancer Ella …
Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat magazine in 2012. The full interview transcript is published here, and at Discover Trinidad & Tobago. In 2000, news spread about a Trinidad-born actress making waves on Broadway. Her command of her emotions made you sure that her onstage tears must come from some fresh real-world trauma. The truth was very …
Continue reading Heather Headley: a star with her feet on the ground | Caribbean Beat
This interview was done for and published in full on Discover Trinidad & Tobago, and formed the basis of another article in Caribbean Beat magazine. It took a while, but I finally caught up with Heather Headley for a proper interview in late January 2012, just a few weeks before Whitney Houston’s passing. We talked about her memories of …
Continue reading Heather Headley: One of Trinidad’s Brightest Stars
Caroline Taylor 