Uggams--From the Beginning

Versatility could be Leslie Uggams’ middle name. Mention an area of show business--from nightclubs and musical theater to television and films--and the multitalented performer can comfortably say, “Been there, done that.”

Thursday through Sunday, Uggams, 56, will touch on many of the high points in her five-decade career in a performance opening the 1999-2000 Cabaret Series at Founders Hall in the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.

“The show,” says Uggams, “will consist of events that have happened in my life, including a beginning that a lot of people aren’t familiar with. A lot of people know me from the ‘Sing Along With Mitch’ television show. But I was around long before that.”

Since she was 6 years old, in fact, when Uggams made her national television debut in the television series “Beulah,” playing the niece of Ethel Waters. By 9 she was a regular at the fabled Apollo Theater, a “Special Added Attraction” on bills with such legendary artists as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington.

“I had won an amateur radio contest at the theater,” she recalls, “and I just kept on winning, and they couldn’t get rid of me, so they put an act together for me. The first time I worked there, I was with Louis Armstrong. But I was way too young to realize how special that was. The Apollo was really like my playground, and the fabulous people who were there--Louis, Ella--were all my friends. I tap-danced, I sang, I did impressions, and when the R&B; groups started coming in I worked with them, too.”

Uggams’ background undoubtedly played an important role in her early achievements. She was, from the beginning, almost surrounded by musical artists.

“My mother had been a Cotton Club dancer for a while,” she says. “My father sang with the Hall Johnson Choir. And my aunt Eloise did several Broadway shows--in the Blackbirds of ‘29, and in every production of ‘Porgy and Bess’ except for the original. And I was studying acting from when I was 8 years old. In fact, Sal Mineo and I were acting students together. I took tap-dancing and singing, too.

“So I felt comfortable on stage at a very early age, in part because of my background, in part because I tried to learn my craft and not just to wing it when I was performing.”

In her appearance, Uggams will go back to those remarkable early years with songs and reminiscences from the period.

“All the Apollo stuff is in the show,” she notes. “I talk about it and I sing things that relate to what I sang at the theater.”

Uggams will also cover her breakthrough appearances with “Sing Along With Mitch,” in which she was one of the first African American performers to become a regular on a television variety show.

“Mitch Miller introduced me to the world,” she says. “With Mitch, we did all the songs by the great American composers. He really exposed me even more to that kind of music. And that was important to my career. But what’s just as important is the loyalty of my fans from that show, because they have stayed with me ever since.”

Uggams undoubtedly will reprise her hit single “Morgan,” as well as the kind of songs featured, not just on the Miller show, but on her CBS variety show from 1970.

“And I’ll do a lot of Gershwin,” she adds. “The Gershwin songs just give me goose bumps. ‘Summertime,’ ‘I Got Rhythm,’ ‘The Man I Love,’ ‘Someone to Watch Over Me.’ ”

The portion of Uggams’ multifaceted career that will not make its presence felt, at least in a musical sense, is her Emmy-nominated performance as “Kizzy” in the television production of Alex Haley’s “Roots.” At the time, she was keeping a relatively low profile, but the role dramatically revived her career. Equally important, it gave her--as well as the other actors, and millions of Americans--a historical perspective that had long been lacking.

“There was a vital spirit to that whole production,” Uggams says. “Alex gave all African Americans a history that we had always wondered about, and it changed our lives. For me, it opened a dialogue with my mother and my grandmother that I had questions about, and it brought up a lot of anger.

“So I started reading, wanting to know more and getting very ticked off that schoolbooks don’t reflect the contributions that African Americans have made to the world.”

Uggams has followed up on those feelings with concrete actions. This year, she is the chairwoman of the National Black Theater Festival. She also is a founding member of the BRAVO Chapter/City of Hope, a charitable organization dedicated to the study, treatment and eradication of all blood-related diseases.

And her career just keeps rolling along. Later this year, she will appear in a brief Broadway revival of “Play On!,” based on Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” with music by Duke Ellington and choreography by Ellington’s only granddaughter, Mercedes Ellington.

“I’ve been through a lot of phases,” Uggams says. “I came in when vaudeville was just about to leave. Television was coming into its own, and I got into that, and then I got into theater and films. But my attitude about my work hasn’t really changed, no matter what I’ve done. I’ve tried to be willing to grow. I’ve tried to maintain my integrity. And I’ve tried to move on from what was, to what’s next.”

* Leslie Uggams at Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa (714) 556-2787. Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m. Also Saturday at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.