A relative of Louis Armstrong helps create a musical icon on Broadway

NEW YORK (AP) – A latest stage musical about Louis Armstrong on Broadway begins with a jazz icon in a rehearsal room next to an anonymous pianist. Keep an eye fixed on the important thing guy.

The audience may not understand it, but there are literally two Armstrongs on stage at that moment – the actor playing the nice trumpeter and one of his real-life descendants. The pianist for the kismet act will likely be Brandon Louis Armstrong, the great-great nephew of the musical giant.

“Right now I always feel like I’m talking to my great-great-grandfather from the afterlife as Brandon,” he says. “I can just spend a moment talking to him, ask if he’s OK and hear his voice.”

The younger Armstrong makes his Broadway debut “Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical” playing many roles, including pianist, teacher and understudy to Louis Armstrong himself.

“I was cautious about how I would be able to step into this world and connect with some of the history of my family and my lineage,” he says. “I am very thankful, grateful and happy.”

Behind the smile

“A Wonderful World” – Starring the Tony Award Winner James Monroe Iglehart and sometimes James T. Lane within the title role – it’s a stage biography of one of probably the most influential figures in jazz, a musician known for “Hello, Dolly”, “Cheek to Cheek” and “A Wonderful World”.

The musical looks behind his broad smile and delves into his rise from poverty, 4 marriages and his struggles with racism, from New Orleans Klansmen to Chicago thugs to Hollywood bigots. A transcendent power emerges from it, warts and all.

“The message is that jazz is about the choices we make between the notes,” the younger Armstrong says. “It’s not about making the best selection each time. It’s about making a selection and allowing yourself to be present wherever those decisions take you.

Show choir and “Hamilton”

The younger Armstrong was born and raised in Los Angeles. His house has all the time been full of music, but nobody in his immediate family is a musician or desired to perform.

“I grew up in a house where there was a lot of jazz, a lot of gospel, a lot of R&B and a lot of hip-hop. “My mom was also really into 80s hair metal bands and stuff like that,” he says. “I stopped listening to Motown and started liking Guns n’ Roses and then Kenny Rogers. It’s just always been a tapestry of music.”

He was enchanted by his highschool’s choir performance and was invited to hitch in – all of the boys got here since it took muscles to lift the ladies – and was later stunned to see a regional production of the classic musical “Ragtime.”

“I was so moved by it that I thought, ‘I don’t care if I’m the one sweeping the floors when this is over.’ I just want to be a part of whatever it is,” he recalled.

He graduated from the American Academy of Music and Drama and after working on the local stage — including playing Donkey in “Shrek” — landed the third national tour of “Hamilton,” which began in 2019 in Puerto Rico with Lin-Manuel Miranda.

No name disappears

Armstrong didn’t rely on his name to realize success. In press interviews when it broke out, his famous pedigree was not even mentioned. “I never, surprisingly, thought about ever leading like this,” he says. “It’s inevitable in this particular program.”

Iglehart, also a co-director, remembers Armstrong walking into the rehearsal room and giving his name. “We thought, ‘How cool.’ He said, “No, no, I’m related.” He got the job because of his voice and acting, not his name.

“We really did it on talent,” Iglehart says. “I all the time feel like probably the most talented person on the show needs to be her. But the undeniable fact that it was his lineage, we felt it was a sign.

“A Wonderful World” is a strategy to honor not only Louis Armstrong, but additionally Brandon’s grandfather, Louis Henry Armstrong, who told stories of his proud lineage and infrequently picked Brandon up after school listening to jazz music, much to his teenage embarrassment.

“I just think in moments like this how incredibly proud he would be of something like this,” he says. “It’s the best kind of therapy every night.”

Even though the forged includes the true Armstrong, the opposite actors and creators didn’t pull Brandon aside to ask him what Louis would think of a line or scene. This is because Louis Armstrong left many wealthy records about his thoughts.

“A lot of the heartbeat of our show – and I prefer it this way – is the heartbeat in Louis’ voice, rather than someone coming in and arbitrarily squeezing himself into it,” the younger Armstrong said.

In addition to being a rehearsal pianist, serving within the band, and playing for a New Orleans music teacher who recognized Louis Armstrong’s talent, Brandon knows that someday he will likely be asked to proceed within the role of his great-great-grandfather.

“I think what worries me the most is when it happens, I just try not to cry throughout the whole show,” she says with a laugh. “Somehow the universe paved a path for me that brought me here, where I can literally walk up on stage and carry this baton.”