The songs of music icon and 25-time Grammy Award winner Stevie Wonder fill the soundtrack of our lives. As Lyrics & Lyricists gears up for IN THE KEY OF LIFE, a celebration of Wonder’s extraordinary songbook and legacy, the show’s artistic director and featured performer, Broadway’s Darius de Haas, talked with us about his deep connection to Stevie Wonder’s music, its place in the American Songbook, the song that’s particularly meaningful to him, and more.
Stevie Wonder is one of the musical giants of our time. Creating a production in celebration of his artistry and work must be both compelling and daunting. What is it like taking on such a towering figure?
You hit the nail on the head. Stepping into Stevie’s music is daunting for sure, but it’s also a great honor. Stevie Wonder has been part of my world for as long as I can remember. I grew up with his music, and I’ve been singing it forever. Like so many others, I feel a very personal connection to Stevie Wonder. That connection is through his joy, his acumen, his philosophy, and what he has given the world. Stevie is not only a musical giant, but an advocate for so many causes: his role in making Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a national holiday, his support for civil rights, for human rights. So yes, it’s overwhelming to be paying tribute to someone who has given so much to our humanity. It’s also a privilege.
Stevie Wonder’s career spans six decades. His music has earned him 25 Grammy Awards, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame, and more. How do you begin to address such a rich artistic legacy in a 90-minute show?
I decided early on to focus on the period when Stevie was coming into his own – that incredibly fertile stretch in the 1970s that gave us Music of My Mind, Innervisions, Songs in the Key of Life, and more. It’s been called the greatest run in the history of popular music, and it’s essentially the music I grew up with. It was a period that found Stevie claiming his independence as a musical artist, and really finding his voice. I want to shine a light on his craftsmanship, how he expanded his genius as a songwriter, and how his music captured our struggles coming out of the civil rights movement and the turbulence of the post-Vietnam era. We’ll venture into the ‘80s maybe, with a tip of the hat to the ‘60s, and look at the impact Stevie made in that time with his music and the power of his writing. The most challenging thing is going to be what to leave out!
Stevie Wonder’s songs span so many styles and genres, from R&B, pop, and soul to gospel, jazz, and funk. His music is expansive, yet distinctive. Can you talk a bit about the Stevie Wonder sound, the factors that shaped it, and if there is something you think all of his music shares?
Stevie Wonder was brought up in the Motown machine. He was able to work with amazing musicians who were the backbone of that sound – musicians so well versed in jazz and R&B, they provided the motor of what became the Motown Sound. And Stevie Wonder, being the musical prodigy he was, soaked that up. He was mentored by a great many of those musicians and became proficient on so many instruments. He also became one of the earliest users of the synthesizer. It all expanded his God-given talent.
The Beatles, the Motown Sound, rock music greats like Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis fusing jazz, rock, and R&B and finding new things to say with his own musical expression – Stevie Wonder was a great student of all of that, and you can hear the influence in his music. At the same time, the 1970s brought the rise of the singer-songwriter: Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Elton John, Carole King, James Taylor – Stevie is right up there, producing the most fertile, most amazing writing. Coming out of the civil rights movement and the turbulence of the post-Vietnam era, it all informed some of the greatest songwriting and artistic expression we have. This era also brought the sensibility of Black expression, the Black arts movement, and the ideal of Black is beautiful – Stevie embraced all of that, and it’s reflected in his music.
Thinking about what his music shares, there’s a thread of humanity and gratitude throughout Stevie Wonder’s songs. No matter what side of the pendulum you’re on politically, socially, morally, Stevie Wonder’s music opens up your way of looking at a particular issue, of looking at the world. That’s the power of art at its best.
You last joined us at Lyrics & Lyricists with “You Send Me: The Songs and Soul of Sam Cooke,“ which people talk about as one of the greatest shows in the history of the series. Both that show and this new one help expand what we think of as the American Songbook. Can you talk about why it’s important that this body of work include the contributions of artists like Stevie Wonder and Sam Cooke and Joni Mitchell?
For any arts program to survive, there has to be expansion. You have to understand what the past is, what our history is, but you also need to expand the conversation. The way I look at it, one has to be open to how the art and craft of songwriting and the artistry of performers like Stevie, like Sam, like Joni have informed generations. We can’t stay stuck in what has traditionally been seen as the Golden Age of American song (and I’m a great fan of that music – how could one not be?). But it’s important that we build upon that. Songwriting, the best of it, encompasses what is “of your time” – how you look at love, at relationships, at the state of the world, at the issues of the day. Like Nina Simone said, “An artist’s duty is to reflect the times.” I think Gershwin and Ellington and others responded to what was in their time and managed to lift it. Stevie Wonder does the same thing – he takes what is in our time and elevates it, so that everyone can relate to it. He’s also able to translate a universal feeling with such seeming simplicity. He’s a master of it: “Isn’t she lovely, made from love” – there is such an open, vulnerable sense of joy there in the birth of a child. To open yourself to what that love is – when something opens us up to love – well, Stevie Wonder has been able to articulate that in ways that are astonishing, and his songs are as timeless as George Gershwin’s or Leonard Bernstein’s.
Lyrics & Lyricists is unique in its approach to songs and songwriters. What does a Lyrics & Lyricists show allow you to explore and reveal about an artist that a traditional concert doesn’t? What do you think audiences gain?
Lyrics & Lyricists allows us to delve more deeply – not only into the art and craft behind songs, but into the heart of the artist being celebrated. I love the challenge of conveying not only my love of a body of music, but what its deeper messages are. With Stevie Wonder, I want to share with the audience the many things that fuel his songs. They’re fueled by joy, by anger, by passion and urgency, all wrapped in this very charismatic package. I want people to think, “Wow – we’re getting more than we even thought we were.”
I’m really looking forward to stepping into Stevie Wonder’s energy, his philosophy, his great heart, his musical prodigiousness, and giving the audience an overall embrace of his music and spirit. Many people who come to the show will have a built-in love of Stevie’s music – I want to expand on that and make it deeper. I might treat a song or two a bit differently from the tracks everyone knows so people can really hear the genius in them. It’s my hope that people leave the show experiencing Stevie Wonder’s music more fully, and perhaps in a way they haven’t heard it before.
Finally, can you share a few of the songs we might expect to hear? Do you have a personal favorite from the Stevie Wonder songbook, and if yes, what makes it so?
I always hold song titles close to the vest because I may want to change or add something – I’m going to make my artistic team crazy! But yes: “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” “Sir Duke,” “Isn’t She Lovely,” “Too Shy to Say,” “I Wish” – there will be many more. Stevie Wonder’s songs are so extraordinary, and I have a deep love for so much of his music.
In terms of a personal favorite, I had the great honor of recording Stevie’s gorgeous “If It’s Magic.” I’m very proud of that recording, and the song has kind of followed me. Its message is such a beautiful one, and I love its questions: How can we hold onto things when they evolve and change? “If it’s magic, then why can’t it be everlasting?” And its message of being able to hold on even when things do change; when people leave us, not to despair, but to have great gratitude for having had what we did. “If it’s magic, why can’t we make it everlasting/Like the lifetime of the sun/It will leave no heart undone/ For there’s enough for everyone.”
Join us for IN THE KEY OF LIFE: The Genius of Stevie Wonder – Saturday, December 2 at 7:30 PM, Sunday, December 3 at 2 PM, and Monday, December 4 at 7:30 PM. Additional details here.