Weather 
The 1990s are alive and well in Washington, D.C., where CrazySexyCool — The TLC Musical is playing its world-premiere engagement at Arena Stage.
The musical, which charts the highs and lows of the Grammy Award-winning girl group TLC, has been in the works for years. Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas first revealed plans for a Broadway-aimed stage adaptation of their musical catalog at the first 90s Con convention held in 2022.
After Kwame Kwei-Armah initially turned down the project, the British playwright and director finally agreed to be the person telling TLC’s story for the stage. Kwei-Armah exclusively tells BroadwayWorld he had to include TLC hits like “No Scrubs,” “Unpretty,” “What About Your Friends” and “Waterfalls,” but he wanted to weave them into the story in a way that feels organic. The theater artist also knew he had to find a way to properly incorporate the tragic death of singer Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes — who died in 2002 at age 30 in a car accident — that honored her legacy but didn’t bring the musical to a sudden halt.
Before CrazySexyCool concludes its run on August 9 at Arena’s Kreeger Theater — where the Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen made its world premiere in 2015 — BroadwayWorld exclusively checks in with Kwei-Armah. He discusses the musical’s development, TLC’s involvement and what’s ahead, including the possibility of the musical transferring to Broadway or having life beyond Arena.
What has the audience response been like at Arena, and what have you learned?
Kwame Kwei-Armah: Once you get into previews, as you know, you stop looking at the stage, and you start looking almost exclusively at the audience in order to see what bits they’re leaning forward in, what bits they’re leaning back or when they’re starting to cough. So far, I’m feeling really, really good that the audience seems to be fully engaged with it. There are moments that we’ve engineered for shock, and we’re getting that kind of reaction. And there are moments where there are some gags, and there’s some titillation, and they’re responding very positively to that. On the whole, what we’re getting is that people are really enjoying seeing the TLC story through this lens.
What has it been like working with Chilli and T-Boz? How involved do they continue to be in shaping the musical?
KKA: They’re very involved in it. It’s been relatively joyous. Each one has their own personality and expresses their joy in different ways. They were both there for opening night, and it just so happened that friends sat next to them, and they were laughing and giggling and [had] affirming behavior patterns all the way through. I only got a couple of notes from them after the opening night, which is a really good thing. Throughout the process, I have flown to Atlanta and read them the script by myself, and then they’ve [given me notes]. They’ve been with us all along. And it’s really important when you’re telling someone’s life story that they allow you to find the essence of them, even though they may not have said some of the lines.
You were approached about doing the project more than once, but you initially said no. What was the moment you changed your mind?
KKA: I was walking down Broadway with Billy Diggins, TLC’s manager, and he was talking about it. And then something just struck me. I went, “I think I know how to do this with what would feel unique to me.” These women have survived some catastrophic things that would break most mere mortals. So what is the spirit that keeps them going? Then I went, “The spirit of Left Eye — what is the spirit of Left Eye? What does it contribute to who the women are now?” It wasn’t just me going, “Let me just tell the jukebox version of [TLC].”
What makes CrazySexyCool different from a traditional jukebox musical — if at all? When you started with a blank slate, where did you begin?
KKA: I think that every person says, when they start, “This is a different kind of jukebox musical. This is different from all others.” And I don’t think I did that at all. I think the jukebox musical is a genre that can be like every other genre — [it] can be done well or can not be done well. And I attempted to do it as well as I could. When I began, I started…with the songs. I start with the lyrics of the songs, and then I try and build scenes that feel organic to the song. One of the joys [in doing so] is on the opening night, T-Boz said while she was on stage, “I didn’t know my lyrics were this deep.” And that made me very happy.
Talk to me about incorporating Left Eye’s death and legacy. What did you learn about her throughout the process?
KKA: I thought that Left Eye’s death was the biggest thing to happen. But what [dramaturg] Hana Sharif challenged me with was absolutely wonderful. She said, “It can’t be the be-all and end-all because if it is, that’s the end of the show when it happens.” So — even though it’s huge and we’ve made it into something that is very, very big without a shadow of a doubt during the show — it’s not the end of the show as it were. Trying to deal with someone’s death — someone so iconic and someone who means so much to the band — was a challenge. But in truth, I believe that Left Eye was on a quest. She was on a quest for inner peace. She was on a quest for tranquility. She was on a quest to be her best self when that accident happened. So long as that was my North Star, the death wasn’t the end of the story, but a continuation of that quest.
After reading your early drafts to Chilli and T-Boz, what was their response, and did they change the course of the piece’s creation?
KKA: Yes. And again, they have different personalities, so they receive things in different fashions. [Reading it to] Chilli, I read all of the characters and stage direction. It took about three hours. It was one of the most nerve-wracking things of my life, to read to someone about their life in your words. She got up, and she hugged me. She kind of dropped a tear and hugged me for five minutes and just said, “Thank you.” So that was wonderful. And then [she] proceeded to give me some notes on it. Whereas T-Boz was really enthusiastic and really, really enjoyed [it], but at one point said, “I don’t know that you’ve captured me correctly. I don’t know if you’ve [captured] what I do in the band correctly.” And then I went on the road with them for a little bit, and I went, “You’re absolutely right. I haven’t captured some of your humor. You’re really f–king funny, and I haven’t captured that enough. I haven’t captured your songwriting enough.” So yeah, they really did affect the direction. And I was overjoyed on opening night that they would both hug me and say, “Thank you so much.”
Since this is the world premiere, what do you feel is still unfinished and what have you learned at Arena?
KKA: I won’t say which, but I know that there are a couple of songs that feel fatty that I don’t actually need in the show — one or two in particular. I have some thoughts about how I rearrange some of the characters. I think there is always work to be done. Mainly, it’s about the construction of some of the scenes, where I can rewrite and tighten up.
What is the goal? Do you want to see it come to Broadway or New York? A tour?
KKA: I think all of the above. There’s always talk on shows of this nature, so I’m just keeping my fingers crossed and hoping — well, not just hoping, but knowing — that a lot of people are coming down [to D.C.], a lot of people are making positive noises, and that we could just build on those positive noises and go all the way.
When the run finishes, is it immediately back to work on making those tweaks?
KKA: Absolutely. I’m doing them already. And then we’ll work out when is the best time for us to do the next step. But the next step will happen.
Tell me about casting Holli’ Gabrielle Conway, Jade Milan and Stoney B. Woods as TLC. What was it like trying to find three women who can embody this iconic girl group?
KKA: First of all, I have to big ‘up’ Telsey, our casting agency, because they were on it for two years, and they never stopped right till the last moment. Our three women, who are brilliant and perfect together, came in different waves. Holli’ came quite early during an early workshop. We went, “We got you.” And then came our Left Eye, who walked into the room, and I was just like, “Oh my God, you have been sent by God.” And then the last person to join was our Chilli. Even in the last auditions, we had the other two women in there reading and watching some of our contenders for Chilli and asked them their opinion because that was really important. They had to be a partnership.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes
