Exclusive: Tony Nominated Actress Joaquina Kalukango On Working With Danielle Brooks In ‘Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia’

Premiering Saturday, April 3 at 8pm/7c only on Lifetime is Mahalia Jackson. Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia, starring Tony Award nominee, SAG and Grammy Award-winning actress Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black, Broadway’s The Color Purple) as the iconic gospel legend and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson.

Directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon (Broadway’s A Raisin in the Sun, Fences, Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias), the film also features an impressive list of Broadway stars including Tony nominee Joaquina Kalukango (Slave Play), Jason Dirden (Fences), Olivia Washington (The Butler) and Rob Demery (Lovecraft Country).

Born in New Orleans, Mahalia began singing at an early age and went on to become one of the most revered gospel figures in U.S. history, melding her music with the civil rights movement. Her recording of the song “Move on Up a Little Higher” sold millions of copies, skyrocketing her to international fame and gave her the opportunity to perform in front of a racially integrated audience at the prestigious Carnegie Hall and at John F. Kennedy’s inaugural ball.

An active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, Jackson sang at numerous rallies, including the March on Washington in 1963 alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in hopes that her music would encourage and inspire racial equality. Jackson’s story will continue to strengthen the need for more stories about Black legends that are often overlooked.

For Kalukango, who takes on the role of Mildred, Mahalia’s talented and opinionated, long-time pianist, the Atlanta, GA native get to work opposite one of her closest friends with Brooks and is reunited again with Leon. A recent Tony Award nominee for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for Slave Play, one of Kalukango’s early stage roles was in The Color Purple revival with Brooks and Kenny Leon’s Holla If You Hear Me. Besides her stage work, Kalukango also appears as Betty Shabazz in Regina King’s One Night in Miami and had a recurring role in HBO’s acclaimed series, Lovecraft Country.

In speaking with BlackFilmandTV.com, Kalukango shares her experience in working on the film and with Brooks and Leon.

How did the role come about for you?

Joaquina Kalukango: Well, Danielle Brooks called me one day and she was like, "I'm doing this Mahalia Jackson story, and how would you feel playing Mildred?" She told me to look at it. Then Kenny Leon hit me up and gave me the offer to my agents. I was like, “Oh, man, anything to get to play with people who I love and admire so much." So yeah, I was in it from the jump.

Can you talk about the character Mildred?

Joaquina Kalukango: The character I play is Mildred Falls. She was Mahalia's longtime pianist, and friend. What I love about their relationship is that they just have such a strong, creative relationship. It would be like Mahalia would hear a song in her head and Mildred could interpret it right then and there on the piano or write it on paper. And just knowing the closeness of them and how they were able to create the sound. We always like to look at icons or incredibly talented people as seeing them as being the only ones to reach that pinnacle, but not knowing that there was a group of people behind them to get them to that moment. So much of Mahalia's sound is due to Mildred in her great skill as a pianist and artist.

How much research did you do? Were there any family members that you talked to?

Joaquina Kalukango: No, there were not. We did not have any communication with any of Mildred's family. To be honest, even in my research, there was very little documentation about her life. So I had to watch a lot of YouTube videos, look at pictures, rely on the script that we were given that Todd Kreidler wrote, and just use that and my relationship with Danielle to bring these characters to life.

Being real life friends, how was working with Danielle on-screen?

Joaquina Kalukango: It wasn't even work. I feel like crazy calling it work. It was so much fun. It's a great thing to be able to work with people you trust. There's no ego involved. You can literally say, “Hey, how do you feel about this moment? Do you need more here?" And we'll just be able to do it. The fact that we've worked together so long and know each other so well, I think just makes it easier to bring this type of relationship to life, because we could use a lot of our lives, and instill into these roles.

You’ve worked with Kenny Leon before on the stage. How about working years later in a film production?

Joaquina Kalukango: He’s incredible. Kenny’s the same in every regard. He's a master at what he does. He trusts us so much as artists and respects us so much as artists and people that quite honestly, it was a gift. He allowed us to try things. Even when we didn't have enough time. He was like, "Alright, let them try. Let them try it. These are the best actors in the world. Let's get it." He's such an incredible inspiration and truth teller, and I just think he's such a great leader. So it was great.

How much of a fan were you of Mahalia? Is there any particular song that you you have as a favorite?

Joaquina Kalukango: Yes, I'm an absolute fan. My favorite song is “How I got over." Always, always a rotation on my playlist. The lyrics go, “How I got over. How did that make it over? You know, my soul looks back and wonder how I got over.”I think it's so true to what we're all dealing with, with this pandemic year, with this year of social unrest. Just with everything in life that's happened to us. I just am so thankful that I'm alive. Thankful to be here. Thankful that I survived and that song pretty much just touches my spirit each time I hear it.

In Regina King’s One Night in Miami, you play Betty X. What was that experience like?

Joaquina Kalukango: It was great. I came in there for about three days. These guys are masterful. They were doing it a long time and I just came in for the week. We've been on set for three days and I only really got to work with Kingsley (Ben-Adir) of the three and he's such an incredible artist and craftsman and Regina King is is amazing, as we all know. It was just such an honor to be able to play Betty Shabazz, I think she's an incredible woman with an incredible story and to be able to see that their relationship which you don't normally get to see people living inside their homes, these icons just as human beings, I thought it was a beautiful interpretation of their relationship in the side that you don't really get to see. So it was an honor.

Congrats on the Tony nomination. Have you heard any news about when the Tony Awards are gonna happen?

Joaquina Kalukango: I’m in Tony purgatory? No, I don't know when it’s going to happen. I am forever a Tony nominee. So for me, that's the win. 

What has Slave Play done for you as an actress?

Joaquina Kalukango: What Slave Play did for me was one, give space for a Black woman to express her thoughts as complexed as they were. I literally speak the whole third act. It’s just this black woman speaking and you had to just listen. I never saw that on the stage, to be able to understand that how racism and systematic oppression is so embedded in our society, even in our relationships, as we've all seen, with the multitude of microaggressions that we've experienced from being black and birdwatching, to being black and shopping, being black in your dorm room, police being called on you, and literally to murders. I think it was ahead of its time for the Broadway stage. It was a very daring project for people to do. The one thing I'm very proud of is just that it sparked this great conversation.

That's a testament to great work. So much of what's on Broadway is fluff quite honestly. It's set to make you feel good and give you this Disney Princess ending. Slave Play didn't give you any answers. But it provided you with a lot of questions and gave you a blueprint of being able to work, process and exercise your demons and so much of it was put an emphasis is on you to do the work. That's what that show did for me. It got me on this journey of decolonizing my mind and fighting for rights for students going into institutions to where they feel like they don't have the tools to voice the microaggressions that they're faced with. So that's the work that I'm doing now. That's what Slave Play did to me was just put me on this radical journey. It's a beautiful piece. I'm very proud of the work that we did and all of the artists are incredible.

With the Mahalia film playing during Easter weekend, what’s a good reason for folks to tune in?

Joaquina Kalukango: Her story is a story of resilience. This was a woman who was born in New Orleans and survived the Great Flu of 1918, the Great Depression, Jim Crow, Civil Rights movement, and still was able to become the Queen of Gospel and still is able to arrive to this pinnacle of success. What this shows is that no matter what adversity is thrown your way, you still can rise. It's about accepting your gift and not compromising for anyone because your gift will always make room for you. That's an important message for people to hear at this time.