You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-Nonsense Mother, and How They Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (22 page)

We’d had only three weeks to rehearse, but the put-in was nearly flawless. We hit all our cues and changed costumes on time. In the first act, my character is in a harness and flown up to the top of the prison during a blackout. I forgot that during the flight offstage, I was supposed to stay in a deep second position—a dance position where my legs are sideways—so I wouldn’t bang into the iron bars of the prison. Well, it wasn’t deep enough.

OUCH! I whacked my knee all the way up.

When I got off stage my knee was swollen and gushing blood. It was quickly bandaged. Then I changed into a gorgeous Tropicanalike outfit covered with feathers and got back on the stage.

I did the rest of the show in tremendous pain. But in some strange way the pain helped me—it took me out of the chaos of the put-in and made me focus on just moving past the injury and executing the dance routines. I couldn’t concentrate on anything but getting past the pain of my throbbing knee. It was what I needed to get through the moment.

Opening night was a thrill. A culmination of a dream. All my friends from college were in the audience, plus my parents and family. The house was packed—it was standing-room only. I looked out at the audience and thought,
This is the night. This is what I do.
I said to myself, “I always knew that once the dust settled, I’d be on a Broadway stage!”

Chita had sent a note in the shape of a spider’s web to my dressing room. “Welcome to the web!”

•   •   •

HELEN ON
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN

Vanessa was remarkable. Even though I didn’t cry, it was one of the most emotional times of my life. I watched my daughter fulfill one of her life’s goals and do it so incredibly well. It was amazing, wonderful, and very emotional for me and for Milton as well—although not as much for him. Milton always loved everything Vanessa did, but I’m a bit pickier. Even if she bombed, he’d make excuses for her. I don’t. This was a very proud moment for me. A moment where you forget about all those little hiccups—at least momentarily.

One morning a few days after opening night, I was dropping my daughters off at summer camp in the Bell Middle School parking lot when a mom approached me.

“Did you see the love letter to you in
The New York Times
?”

It was nine in the morning. I was a mom with a baby and two little girls. I didn’t read
The New York Times
that early! Actually, I never read reviews. I’m not a crazy, neurotic example of what people think actors are like. I don’t read reviews, google myself, or read online gossip. But reviewed in
The New York Times
? I left the parking lot and booked it to the nearest newsstand to check it out. The review read, “Ever since it opened more than fourteen months ago,
Kiss of the Spider Woman
has been one of Broadway’s most thrilling musicals. Now that Vanessa Williams has joined the cast, it is also the sexiest. Sleek, proud, and breathtakingly confident, the recording star has taken over the role of Aurora, the exotic film goddess who prowls men’s dreams and inflames their imaginations.
Whenever she’s onstage, the temperature in the Broadhurst Theater shoots up about twenty degrees. The air-conditioning bills are going to be hell to pay, but the box office is bound to start jumping as word of her performance gets around…. Ms. Williams, making her Broadway debut, adds a dimension to the production that has been missing until now: She is an irresistibly alluring temptress.”

This was one of the most wonderful moments of my career—to get a great review by
The
New York Times
for a role in a Broadway show! And to have no mention of my beauty queen past! Ramon designed wooden fans with my picture on one side and the review on the other to include in my media kit. Mom framed the review for me along with a ticket from opening night and the Playbill—my
Kiss of the Spider Woman
montage.

With the new cast in place,
Kiss of the Spider Woman
was supposed to have a limited run of three months. But after we got reviewed by
The New York
Times,
the box-office ticket sales went through the roof. I’d heard they skyrocketed by as much as $100,000 a week. It became the hottest ticket in town because it was almost considered a new show, despite the fact that it had been on Broadway for more than a year. People who’d already seen it were coming to our version. People who hadn’t seen it were suddenly curious about it.

And with me in the lead, the play attracted a diverse crowd of younger theatergoers as well as a tremendous black audience.

I thought of Lee Gershwin’s comments ten years earlier, when she said I was a whore who’d attract the wrong type of theatergoers.

Well, look at me now, Lee. I’m filling the house every night!

I loved that we were able to surprise people with our fresh take. I loved that people were shocked that I could actually dance and perform on Broadway—even though that’s what I had been trained to do. The attitude had been “Oh, she’s just a singer. She couldn’t possibly act and dance.” I loved that I’m this underrated talent because it’s almost like having a secret weapon. No one expects much from me.

A FEW OTHER THINGS ABOUT ME THAT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU

• I secretly listen to Howard Stern. I didn’t start until my morning commute into the city from Chappaqua when I was rehearsing
Into the Woods
. I was tired of urban radio and I wanted something different. I turned on Howard and was surprised at how funny, objective, normal, and smart he is. I love the banter and I’d find myself laughing out loud in the car.

• I love Irish music. I listen to Irish radio every Saturday morning on WFUV, Fordham University’s radio station. Irish music is soulful and I find the themes of hope and despair align to the African-American experience. One day I hope to go to Ireland and do a horseback-riding tour through the lush green countryside.

• I have always loved horses. When I was a little girl, I’d ask Santa for a pony. Every Christmas I’d wake up and look out the window to see if one was tied up on the front lawn. It never happened. As a mom, I watched my daughters take riding lessons and I thought,
I should be doing this, too.
I started taking jumping lessons and now I’m a strong enough rider to ride anywhere. Whenever I travel, I ride. It gives you a whole different perspective on the place you’re visiting. I love galloping along a beach as fast as possible. It’s exhilarating, freeing, and exciting. Riding a horse connects to that side of me—my free-spirited youth.

• My dad taught me to pray as a little girl. I still pray every day right before I go to bed. Sometimes, I’m not on my knees,
but other times, I am. I say how I am thankful for my blessings; I ask for guidance and trust that the way will be shown to me.

• I love salsa dancing. If I could, I would do it every day.

• I do the
New York Times
crossword puzzle every morning (except Friday and Saturdays because it’s too hard—Monday is always a breeze). I love the mind exercise and the routine. Plus I love learning new vocabulary words.

• I’m a dreamer and a dancer. When I close my eyes and listen to music, my first thought is always a dance. My true nature is as a dancer.

So when I deliver: Wow!

Kiss
became such a sensation—it was extended for three months and then another three months. It was a crazy, hectic time.

Onstage, I was an alluring temptress. I’d get reviews calling me hot, hot, hot. Then I’d go home after a show, walk into the house, and transform back into a mom who had to take care of ear infections, comfort a crying child, and breast-feed my nearly two-year-old son (I could not get him to stop!)—the most maternal act there is.

Being on Broadway was glamorous, but the reality was I’d come home and be Mommy. I was swinging it all—performing in eight shows a week on Broadway, finishing an album, and trying to be the best mom and wife I could be. But I hardly saw Ramon and wondered,
Where the hell is he?
I thought,
Okay, this is how it has to be right now. This craziness is only temporary. Once the show ends its run and I finish my album, we’ll be able to get back on track.

When I wasn’t onstage performing, I was in the studio working on
The Sweetest Days
. I wanted to make something that was different from my other albums. I didn’t want it to be a traditional R & B album. I wanted to create music that was like a journey, moving from sultry jazz to acoustical soul to Brazilian pop.

“Sister Moon” was a song written by Sting, who also sings backup on the track. It was a treat to work with him because I’d been a huge fan and had seen him perform with the Police at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse during their
Synchronicity
tour while I was in college.

Babyface, who was being managed by Ramon, wrote and produced two of the cuts for the album and had been inspired by
Kiss of the Spider Woman
. “Betcha Never” was Latin influenced and the mid-tempo “You Can’t Run” sounded very tropical. I also sang a remake of the Patti Austin hit “You Don’t Have to Say You’re Sorry,” as well as a song called “Ellamental,” a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. We recorded in the studio with lava lamps glowing, incense burning, and candles flickering. It was a very intimate yet laid-back atmosphere.

I’d never been so fulfilled professionally. It was coming together so well that I decided to celebrate by hosting a New Year’s Eve party at Sardi’s, a restaurant in the theater district. I invited my family and the entire cast and crew of
Kiss of the Spider Woman
, plus their spouses. We had had a grueling day with two shows, so we wanted to let loose, have fun, celebrate our success, and ring in the New Year together—just like family.

Ramon was at Madison Square Garden where Babyface, his client, was performing with Boyz II Men. It was the first leg of a nineteen-date national tour and a big deal because Babyface never toured. Ramon was busy, but I assumed that he’d eventually slip away to be with me so we could welcome in the New Year together, as we did every year since we’d been together. But he never showed up. He never called. He didn’t come home that night.

It was my first New Year’s alone, ever. I was surrounded by family, cast, and crew, but no husband. It was another tear in our already fraying relationship. This year I’d seen my dreams come true, yet here I was, celebrating the end of the year without my husband.

But the show must go on, right? I smiled, laughed, and counted down to the New Year with a roomful of joyous guests and hid the ache in my heart.

Kiss of the Spider Woman
finally ended its run on my birthday, March 18, 1995. I was supposed to immediately go on tour stateside to promote
The Sweetest Days
. We had the band, choreographer, singers, and tour manager. We’d even started rehearsals. Then I got a call from my agent saying that a big-budget movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was being cast.

“You can’t do this. Everything’s ready to go,” Ramon said.

“I need to do this.”

Ramon was furious—all that work, all that time might be for naught. It was a battle over music and acting. Which, or in this case who, would win?

How could he expect me to pass up an action-adventure movie starring one of the hottest box-office stars? If I got the part, didn’t he know how great this would be for my career?

It’s what I wanted, and I had to speak up!

CHAPTER

17

Sometimes people will come up to me and ask, “Are you Vanessa Williams’s mother?” I’m proud when her fans recognize me and I always answer, “Yes.” But that’s not my only accomplishment. Vanessa has a brother, Chris, who is also in show business. And I have an identity of my own. However, being “the mother” does offer many rewards. Yippee!

—HELEN WILLIAMS

T
he story goes that Arnold Schwarzenegger was compiling a list of costars for
Eraser
, a big-budget action-adventure movie, when his then-wife, Maria Shriver, chimed in: “You know who I think would be great? Vanessa Williams.”

“She doesn’t act—she’s a singer,” he said.

Arnold only knew me as a recording artist. But Maria was persistent. “She’s an actress, too, and she’s great. At least have her audition.”

Maria and I had met years earlier when she had interviewed me for NBC News shortly after the Miss America scandal. We had become instant friends—bonding over the fact that we both felt we had so much to prove. As a member of political royalty (Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver were her parents, President John F. Kennedy her uncle), Maria always felt that people didn’t take her seriously as a journalist. And I’d spent years and years striving to move beyond my beauty queen image. When you meet someone who has had similar struggles, friendships are easily forged.

It seemed Maria was the only one who believed I’d be perfect for
the role of Lee Cullen, a senior executive at a weapons company who discovers corruption and is placed in a witness protection program. Arnold, whose character was a U.S. Marshal assigned to protect her, wasn’t convinced.

Neither was Arnold Kopelson, the producer, who didn’t consider me a feature-film actor; Chuck Russell, the director, wanted Madeleine Stowe.

And Ramon didn’t want me to consider it.

“I can’t believe you want to do this now,” he said. “We have plans. You’re rehearsing and we’re supposed to go on tour. I already have all the dates lined up for you.”

He’d worked so hard to get my tour together and I was just abandoning it. I knew this was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. “I’m not canceling the tour,” I told him. “I’m just postponing it.”

But Ramon was faced with the stress of dealing with a looming lawsuit filed by the promoter in Japan for canceling all the tour dates, and we also had to settle on employment agreements with everyone who had signed up for the tour—all of whom wanted some compensation for the lost income they’d suffer as well as the “supposed” dates they had already given up and lost because they committed to touring with me. No one cared whether or not the tour would be rescheduled, and they all wanted something for their time.