Vocalist Julia Nixon has reinvented herself several times since arriving in Washington 30 years ago. Her latest recording, “Keepin’ on Track,” is a solo debut that explodes with gospel, jazz and her own thoughtful compositions. Her live concert at George Mason University’s Hylton Center revisits the numbers she sang in “Dreamgirls” and her days at D.C.’s Mr. Henry’s. “I’m excited about performing at the Hylton Center on my comeback trail,” she said. “I’ll sing Thelonious Monk’s ‘?’Round Midnight,’ some jazz standards and things I’ve written. I love a great mixture because I grew up listening to Motown, R&B, the Beatles, Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and never locked in on one style.
| If you go |
| Julia Nixon |
| Where: Hylton Center for the Performing Arts’ Gregory Family Theatre |
| When: 8 p.m. Tuesday |
| Info: $30; 888-945-2468; hyltoncenter.org |
“I started out studying opera because I helped my mom clean people’s houses. While we were cleaning one house, I heard the lady playing a recording of Leontyne Price singing ‘Un bel di’ (from ‘Madame Butterfly’) and began singing along with her. The lady heard me and was so impressed that she started paying for my voice lessons. Later on, she got me into the North Carolina School of the Arts.”
Although she excelled in classical works, Nixon could not lose the grip of soul and Motown. Fortune struck just as Jennifer Holliday was leaving the Broadway company of “Dreamgirls” for Los Angeles. Holiday’s understudy, Lillias White, was assigned to the Chicago company, and Nixon won the prize position on Broadway.
Initially, she followed love to Washington and soon married. After Broadway, she returned to Mr. Henry’s, where Julia & Company became the resident group. From there she toured with Smokey Joe’s Cafe before taking a dramatic plunge, the title role in the Tony Kushner/Jeanine Tesori musical “Caroline, or Change” at Studio Theatre. For that she received both rave reviews and the 2007 Helen Hayes Award for outstanding lead actress in a musical.
“Winning the Helen Hayes Award has made me open to taking other dramatic roles. I’ve always had a great relationship with the D.C. theatrical community and was offered ‘Sophisticated Ladies,’ but I’d already signed for ‘Porgy and Bess’ with Virginia Opera.”
Music is Nixon’s passion, so it’s not surprising that she is already in the process of refining another CD that was recorded live at the Bowie Center for Performing Arts.
“I want the Hylton audience to come away with a sense of the comfort I feel onstage,” she said. “Here I am at this stage in life looking for the impossible dream and being able to think about the future. There’s great comfort in that and a joy in being free, able to perform and loving what I do.”
