More than just another jukebox musical, "Little Girl Blue" dives deeply into two aspects of Simone's life and music. In the first act, she is depicted at the piano during at 1968 gig at Long Island's Westbury Music Fair. Despite her colossal talent, she laments her inability to break the color barrier of the classical music world. She also deals with the heartbreak of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. a couple of days beforehand.
In the second act, Michelle portrays Simone at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, where she reflects on her influential role within the civil rights movement.
"Much of her life, there were so many road blocks that prevented her from achieving her dream, pressures of career, society, racism, an abusive husband, loss of a baby, mental disease," Janki said.
Michelle and Jenki came together while working on "The Family Resemblance," a musical that he had developed for Live & In Color, which produces new plays and musicals that celebrate diversity.
The show lost its lead actress, and Michelle was recommended, Jenki said.
While working on "The Family Resemblance," Michelle mentioned that she wanted to develop a musical about Simone. Jenki and music director Mark Fifer were sold and spent the subsequent year in the director's living room mapping out the production.
Michelle then began studying the music and collaborating with Fifer, who leads a three-piece band in the show. The band's members, bassist Saadi Zain and drummer-percussionist Kenneth Salters, play characters who not only interact with Simone musically but with dialogue.
Michelle said Fifer helped arrange the classical pieces so that she could perform them on piano, particularly Bach, Simone's favorite.
"Laiona is a force of nature and crazy talented," Jenki said.
"Before these two years began for us, Nina Simone was such a source of energy that gave me life and pumped blood into me," Michelle added. "She has been that for me all my life. I struggle with stepping out. I think right now of the 'Me Too' Movement. Women are now stepping up to the plate and have a voice. Nina was doing that, so I think there is a lesson there. She empowers us to be fearless, to do it my way, color outside the lines and live life in fullness despite hardships, despite skin color.
Artistic Director David Saint said he thought coinciding the world premiere of "Little Girl Blue" with Simone's 2018 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was appropriate timing, having seen a reading of it around the same time.
In November, Michelle also sang select pieces from the show at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in a special preview performance.
She and Jenki said they were grateful that George Street opted to premiere their work.
Denied acceptance to Philadelphia's esteemed Curtis Institute of Music, the sixth child of a North Carolina preacher turned to "the devil's music" of jazz, R&B and soul in Atlantic City nightclubs. "Little Girl Blue" is the title of her 1958 debut album, which spawned a hit with "I Loves You, Porgy" from Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess," the film version of which was released that year.
While Simone may have been difficult to deal with, "Little Girl Blue" provides insight into that behavior, Jenki said.
A native of Springfield, Massachusetts, Michelle made her Broadway debut in the principal role of Nanna in "Amazing Grace," following her performance in the first national tour of "The Book of Mormon." With "Little Girl Blue," she makes her debut as a writer, but it's not the first time the multi-talented performer has portrayed a singer. In "Dinah Was," she played jazz singer Dinah Washington.
The Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions that went on to Broadway, including the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning "Proof," "It Shoulda Been You" and "Getting' the Band Back Together." Michelle said she is confident "Little Girl Blue" will go to Broadway. Simone deserves nothing less, she said.