Ebere even sought out black voices in the theatre world for her daughter to look up to, steering her to videos of the Broadway doyenne Audra McDonald – ‘legend, queen, everything!’ – and, years later, when Okereke couldn’t be present to collect her award for Recent Graduate at the Black British Theatre Awards (she was also nominated as Best Supporting Female in a Musical for her role as Cosette), it was Ebere who went in her place. I don’t know anyone who is rooting for me more,’ she beams. Meanwhile, her mother, Ebere, has always been a fan – ‘A fan of theatre and a fan of my work. Her father came round in the end, especially when the awards started rolling in, including the Stage Debut Award for Best Actress in Les Mis. I don’t know, but I am willing to take that risk.”’ Okereke laughs. ‘My dad said, “What? You’re going to have a job doing this?! How do you know you’re going to have financial security?” And I had to sit down with him and say, “Well, that’s part of it. But after joining the National Youth Music Theatre at 15 and taking part in the semi-professional production of 13: The Musical, directed by the composer Jason Robert Brown, she’d felt such ‘joy’ on stage that she decided to abandon her plan of university and go to drama school instead. For a while, everything was in order: she was clever, a grammar school kid with good GCSE grades, who had selected maths and science at A level. Proving to people that I deserve to be here.’Īctually, the six-year-old Okereke thought she’d be a doctor like her parents. My whole life I’ve been fighting for my space in the industry. It had to make people rethink everything. Yet, a self-avowed perfectionist, she kept thinking: what next? ‘I felt like the next thing I did had to be better – or life-changing. Lead roles followed in Oklahoma! and The Boy Friend, as well as Spring Awakening at the Almeida.
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The reviews – ‘she is outstanding… full of energy and joy’ – the praise, the garlands, all said enough. I didn’t want to just be known as “the black Cosette”.’ So Okereke turned off her social media. ‘I knew people were going to have those views, but to be bombarded with them was overwhelming. She was the first black Cosette – a seminal moment for British theatre – and was lauded by many, but criticised by a racist minority online who considered it ‘not the way it’s meant to be’. In the theatre world, Okereke was already making her way: fresh out of drama school, she’d had award-winning roles on the stage – most notably playing Cosette in Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre in London. Nearly 20 years later, that feeling came back. It was a feeling in the pit of my stomach.’
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It became an obsession.’ Her real obsession, though, was with Julie Andrews: ‘She just had such a phenomenal voice and was a beautiful presence.’Īnd if online was where it all began, then Okereke’s first visit to the Grand in Leeds, to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, only entrenched her love of theatre: ‘I barely remember the play, but I do remember walking into the old-fashioned music hall and feeling like I was in a movie or something.
I went through a phase of watching that film every single day. ‘Because I was growing up when the internet was becoming a proper thing, you could watch anything,’ she says. The parasol has a dowel in the center with a wood knob glued to the end.As a child, she would study videos of Judy Garland, Debbie Reynolds and Liza Minnelli on YouTube.
The hand bag and parasol are made from remnants of the dress. Then I glued and sewed on silk flowers and feathers. Then I hand sewed the ribbons and bows on to the dress while my daughter stood ( watching TV) for several more hours.( Be careful what you ask for). It took several hours just to make the ribbons.Īfter the ribbons were finished, I fashioned a couple of bows in the right sizes and dimensions for my daughter. I folded all the edges of the ribbons and ironed them flat before fusing, so there would be no frayed ends. The ribbons and bows on this costume were made by fusing strips of black and white satins together using fusible interfacing. It is not possible to find a ribbon this size or one stiff enough to hold shape. The most challenging part of the costume and the part I felt was absolutely critical for the costume to look good was the stripe ribbon. I pinned and tucked the fabric over my daughter to get a very form fitted look. The basic dress was made from satin with a lace overlay. My daughter is a fan of musicals and asked me if I could make this Eliza Doolittle Costume from My Fair Lady for her one year.
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