Rickey Tripp didn’t make it to the Great White Way after being a trophy-touting competition kid or studio darling; “I would watch my idols, like Janet Jackson….and I didn’t know it, but I was studying,” he says. Yet, make it to Broadway he has. From In the Heights to Choir Boy to Hamilton, Tripp has made his mark as a strong performer.
Now he’s gearing up for his first Broadway project as Lead Choreographer – A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, a new musical drawing from the legacy of jazz legend Louis Armstrong. It will explore various parts of Armstrong’s life and work, where he refined his distinctive voice as a musician — from gritty dives in New Orleans, to sophisticated New York City jazz clubs, to Hollywood musical sets.
Tony Award Winner James Monroe Iglehart will star as Louis Armstrong, and Christopher Renshaw is at the helm as director. Book is from Aurin Squire, and Renshaw along with Andrew Delaplaine conceived the project. The show will officially open on November 11, at Studio 54 in NYC. Previews begin in October.
Dance Informa speaks with Tripp about what led him to this project, how he’s thinking about it at this early stage of the process, and what he can envision for himself after it. He offers a unique blend of thoughtfulness, passion and light-heartedness; readers, you’re in for a treat!
A vibrant and varied background
When it comes to dance artists, Tripp is not alone in having a multifaceted resume: full of teaching, performing, choreography and more. On the other hand, he brings a compelling perspective when it comes to approaching those separate – if related – crafts. With creating and performing, he leads with the honest humanity at hand. “You have to understand the intention for it to feel authentic and organic,” he affirms.
To Tripp, creating and performing differ in a key way, however. Choreography requires bringing many different experiences into one cohesive entity. Performing comes mainly from one perspective, he says – namely, the performer’s. To the former, also coming into play is “filling and moving through space,” and how the context of space impacts the work at hand, what is expressed in and through that. All of that fascinates him, he says.
That all creates just about infinite possibility – and a lot of the work from there can be scaling back, Tripp believes. Play can guide it all. Like children who play and change the rules as it suits them, we can do the same as we create, he agrees. He quotes Playwright/Director Robert O’Hara: “I don’t know the rules, so I can’t break them!”
Tripp says that though he hasn’t been able to teach as much recently, due to being busy with numerous other projects, he loves teaching. Before working in the dance industry, he was on a path to work in pediatrics. One can certainly see an affinity with children/youth there. “I want to help build up the next generation of artists….the next generations…through teaching, mentoring, et cetera. The more you know, the more you have to share,” Tripp says.
Broadway memories
Asked about some of his favorite Broadway experiences and memories, he laughs and says he gets that question often – and, of course, it’s a challenging one. In The Heights (2008) is special to him as his Broadway debut, “what I dreamed about,” he says. “I really believed in it and loved the people I worked with.” Motown: The Musical (2013) centered “the music I was raised on…I didn’t know that would inspire me, but Camille A. Brown helped me see that it did,” he shares.
With Hamilton (2015), he was back with the “dream team” – Lin-Manuel Miranda and co. – and at his “home theater,” the Richard Rodgers Theater, he says. In turn, Choir Boy (2019) led him back to working with Camille A. Brown, of whom he speaks with utmost admiration. “That was the first time I really saw myself onstage,” he shares: a story like his own embodied, sung, captured.
“All [of that] has been impactful and inspiring. Now I’m at the apex of it all, all of those people and experiences….and I try to remember that every moment,” Tripp says – with due pride and gratitude in his voice. “It’s my calling and my purpose.”
A Wonderful World: Embarking on a Broadway project
The fact that he’s beginning the process for his Lead Choreographer credit on Broadway – “it hasn’t even sunk in yet,” Tripp says. For now, he’s full-steam ahead on the work itself — on making something that “satisfies” him and that he can be proud of. At the same time, he notes, “it isn’t lost on me that I’m a Black man in this business and might not have as many opportunities as my counterparts. There might not be another chance like this again.”
He’s currently in the research stage of that work, and “still learning so much” about Louis Armstrong — about his work, his life, who he was and beyond. “I didn’t know that he had four wives,” Tripp explains, “and I’m interested in those different stages and how those people impacted him.” Armstrong also loved dancers and working with dancers, Tripp adds. “He would watch dancers, and bend and articulate his notes accordingly – improvising along with them.”
That’s call-and-response, which is key to Black culture and African Diasporic creation, Tripp reminds us. Also inherent in that tradition are polyrhythms, varied textures in music and movement. Tripp is excited to work with all of those layers, and he hopes that audience members can “see” all of that in the movement. More than that, he wants to involve audience members in that call-and-response, and in the broader experience – rather than them sitting back and being fully passive.
Who Armstrong was and what he did outside of his music also entices Tripp. “He was an activist,” Tripp affirms. “He spoke up about what he didn’t think was right and what rules he didn’t think apply.” Armstrong also had his hand in varied parts of artmaking, which Tripp also finds inspiring. The musical legend was also “just a great guy, a joker and a cool dude,” Tripp says with a smile. “You could feel his humanity, and people wanted to be around him.”
All in all, the rubber will really meet the road when he starts working with dancers, Tripp says. “That’ll really inform how I shape this thing…and dancers will know that they are part of its DNA. It’s about community, and everyone getting to express their voice. That was important to [Armstrong] as well.”
Forward from here
Tripp is immersed enough in this project that it’s a bit difficult to see beyond it. Yet, there are things he can see, hope for and work for. He’d love to dive deeper into film and television work, as well as acting as a creative director, for example. He’s committed to teaching and otherwise guiding young artists, as noted. “I thrive on variety, I’m curious about life,” he says – so it’s not surprising that his career could go in many different directions from here.
“Theater is my home base, but I’ve found that I have things to offer that were there before any of that started,” Tripp shares. At the same time, he’s open to the totally unexpected. “I’m still discovering my choreographic voice, and what’s true today might not be true tomorrow,” he affirms. One thing he’s pretty sure of, however, is that he’ll stay true to him. He once heard the guidance of “be who you are in every room” – and he’s sticking with that.
Go here to learn more about A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, now in development.
By Kathryn Boland of Dance Informa.
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