We are here with the one and only Dr. Dawnn Lewis. You Might Know Her From A Different World, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Young Rock, Major Crimes, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Star Trek: Lower Decks, The Wood, Dreamgirls, and the Broadway production of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. We talk to Dawnn about writing the theme song for (and starring on) A Different World, how she'll be involved in the Netflix revival, and what it was like when Jaleesa went to Africa AKA Hangin' with Mr Cooper. From her almost-runs on Broadwa–in Sister Act as Dolores and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opposite Matthew Broderick–to her Hurricanes connection to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, we got into it all.
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Discussed this week:
Tap dance Kid tour
Won the NY audition for replacing Jodi Watley in Shalamar at Leviticus Club
Michael Bolton concert show on Broadway
Did How to Succeed in La Jolla, but she didn't transfer it to Broadway
Jaleesa double dutching in credits for A Different World
Wrote theme song for A Different World and demanded 50% cut
Anne Beatts brought into A Different World (old Square Pegs plots)
Dawnn and Sinbad became defacto parents on the show
Poor Jaleesa "went to Africa"
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)
Angela Honig on New Rock
Like Dwayne Johnson, Dawnn is an alum of Univ of Miami (Hurricanes. He DID his coverage
Bill Condon complimented Dawnn on her performance in Dreamgirls
Voice of Captain Carol Freeman in Star Trek: Lower Decks
Played a detective opposite Angela Bassett in 9-1-1; played the head of an accreditation council on Grey's Anatomy and people told her "Jaleesa shut down the hospital"
