Ethel Waters the Sparrow

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from North Carolina Public Radio WUNC by Frank Stasio and Lindsay Thomas: here

Ethel Waters is often remembered for her rendition of the spiritual "His Eye is on the Sparrow" and for being the first to sing the jazz tune, "Stormy Weather." But Waters was also a successful stage performer and film star in her heyday. Her humble beginnings as a singer on the black vaudeville circuit eventually took her to Broadway where, in the 1930s, she became the highest paid performer on the Great White Way. A new production at Greensboro's Triad Stage brings Ethel Waters' rise to superstardom to life in a one-woman show penned by playwright Larry Parr. He, along with actor Cassandra Lowe Williams and director Donna Baldwin-Bradby, join host Frank Stasio to talk about the talent and the legacy of Ethel Waters.