The week after the opening of “Goddess” at the Public Theater, the musical’s lead Amber Iman was busy as ever. A cofounder of Black Women on Broadway, Iman was in final meetings and preparation in the days leading up to the initiative’s fourth annual award ceremony. This year’s event, which took place on Monday, honored LaTanya Richardson Jackson, LaChanze and Khaila Wilcoxon. “ I’m a pretty busy girl in the daytime,” Iman says in the lead up the event.
Recently, she’s also been pretty busy in the evenings. Iman is in the last stretch of performances for the New York debut of “Goddess,” closing out a well-received run at the off-Broadway theater. “The Public is such a New York institution. It’s been a dream of mine to work at the Public forever,” Iman says. “It’s the house that built ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and so many others. New York audiences, they come to listen and be engaged and to be able to feel that energy is so wonderful.”
“Goddess” also marks Iman’s first time leading a musical, 13 years after she first moved to New York from Atlanta. “I and the entire cast and the crew, we’ve poured so much into getting the show to New York City,” says Iman, who also starred in the show’s world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California in 2022. “There have been so many times we were supposed to be here and the timing, for whatever reason, we’re here now, and I’m just super proud.”
Austin Scott and Amber Iman in rehearsal for “Goddess.”
Joan Marcus
Iman, who last year received a Tony nomination for her featured role in “Lempicka” on Broadway, has been involved with “Goddess” for eight years. She was brought onboard by playwright, and fellow Black Women on Broadway cofounder, Jocelyn Bioh. Bioh collaborated with show creator and director Saheem Ali — of 2023’s “Fat Ham” — on the show’s book, but stepped away from the creative team project shortly before previews at the Public started.
“ She is a dear, close friend. She was like, ‘I’m working on this show called “Goddess,” and I think you should be the Goddess,’” Iman recalls. “I have developed wonderful relationships with folks in theater, and when I know their track record and they have a reputation for doing work that is compelling, that is challenging, shows women — especially Black women, especially dark-skinned Black women — as fully thought out, I just say yes.”
Amber Iman, Danielle Brooks and Jocelyn Bioh speak onstage during the fourth annual Black Women on Broadway Awards at Chelsea Piers on June 2 in New York City.
Getty Images for Black Women on
Many years in the making, “Goddess” has emerged on the stage as an exuberant, energetic musical that delivers big dance numbers and powerful vocal performances from the ensemble cast. The show is inspired by the myth of beautiful music goddess Marimba, who takes the form of Nadira in the show, played by Iman. In an attempt to skirt her mother’s evil expectations for her, Nadira takes up residence on Earth within the Moto Moto jazz nightclub in Mombasa, Kenya. There, she meets the young son of a politician family, who attends the club in secret disobedience of his father.
“ I only work on new musicals. I’ve never worked on a revival, so it’s all I know,” Iman says. “That’s pretty cool, and that creative teams understand and respect me as a collaborator and that they invite me into the room,” she adds. “Because they know I have a point of view and I’m gonna ask questions, and that I am present for the collaboration and the build. Pretty much my entire career has been collaborative and building — and it’s hard. I don’t really get to rest.”
Despite the demanding nature of the show — “it’s Olympic,” Iman says — she’s excited about the legacy that “Goddess” and her character have already created, adding a new female voice to the musical theater canon.
As the production nears the end of its Public Theater run, Iman calls back to her opening lyrics in the show.
“I sing, ‘on a night with no breeze, the sweat drips down my chocolate skin,’” she says. “And the intention of chocolate, meaning every woman behind me has to have chocolate skin, is beautiful. It’s making space for women who are not often given opportunities to lead.
“That’s one of the blessings of originating [this role] — this has been built on me, on my voice, on my body,” she adds. “I’m 5’11”. I’m not small. And I feel like it’s allowing other women of size and stature to take up space. And so I’m grateful to be able to be the builder of Nadira.”
“Goddess” at the Public Theater.
Courtesy
