Michelle Williams Takes a Break From Death Becomes Her to Headline Gospel Fest Miami

There's a long-running internet trope about Michelle Williams (the Grammy Award-winning singer) frequently being mistaken for Michelle Williams (the Academy Award-nominated actor). Both performers have acknowledged frequent mix-ups — they recently broke the internet when the former read fan mail for the latter in a backstage meeting on Instagram Live.

It could be said that Williams (the singer) has played just as many roles throughout her career as her namesake. Most people know her as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time and an act that spawned two other multihyphenate stars: Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland. Millions know Williams as one of the most successful gospel artists of the past two decades. Still others have become reacquainted with her recently as the lead in one of the biggest Broadway hits of the season, the ten-time Tony-nominated musical, Death Becomes Her.

Just two days after presenting at the Tony Awards, Williams took a break from the stage to speak to New Times about her upcoming performance at the Arsht Center's inaugural Gospel Fest Miami Weekend. And if she was justifiably tired from her punishing eight-show-per-week schedule, Williams' effusiveness obscured that exhaustion.

"It's so cool that I don't feel like I'm sneaking to Miami," Williams says about working extracurricular projects like Gospel Fest into her Broadway contract. "They know my whereabouts, and I am so happy. Gospel music is home for me, so I'm coming home when I come to Miami."

That's not a platitude. During the interview, Williams mentions several deep connections to South Florida, from her friends Dr. Amira Ogunleye and Amira's husband, former Dolphins player Adewale Ogunleye, to pastors Joel Tudman and Latasha Tudman of the Faith Center in Sunrise. The Tudmans will join Williams onstage at the Arsht, as will gospel singer and pastor Hezekiah Walker, Miami's gospel/hip-hop artist Otis Kemp, and the local Caribbean music-influenced Gamaliel Fleurantin and Community Sounds Choir.

"Miami isn't necessarily known for gospel music," Williams explains, "but there are so many great people there who do great gospel, whether it's through pastoring or their music."

Williams, who's based in Atlanta when she's not starring on Broadway, says it would have been easy to bring down collaborators from Georgia or New York for the show. "I was like, 'No, we're going to showcase what's hot and what's amazing in Miami."

Williams released her first solo album, Heart to Yours — a gospel record — in 2002, just two years after she debuted with Destiny's Child in the polychromatic "Say My Name" music video, making her the first member of the group to release solo material. More than two decades later, she still leans on worship music to fortify her during busy or stressful times.

She says it happened the night after the Tonys, on her Monday night off from Death Becomes Her, when she attended Soho Bible study with Pastor Chris Durso in New York City. "I instantly was getting filled up," she says, "because I've been drained, if I'm being honest, emotionally drained, physically drained."

Now that her cup has been refilled, she hopes to pour back into others at the Arsht. "There's probably going to be somebody coming to the first-ever Gospel Fest in Miami who's feeling drained, who's feeling lost, who's maybe anxious, who's probably worried about their tomorrow," she says. "Hopefully, I can provide something that gives them hope because, at Bible study, I was like, 'I feel so good. I feel invigorated. I'm excited to do an eight-show week."

Williams, who has been open about her struggles with depression, says letting go of her instinct to please others has also helped her avoid burnout. She mentions one recent example, when she cut her Tonys night short.

"I went to the official Death Becomes Her party, and then I was like, 'I think I'm gonna rest. I don't want to be at these parties with a migraine," she remembers. "Everybody who is at these parties knows that Michelle Williams loves them, and I don't have to go to a party to prove that."

That kind of discipline frees her to follow her artistic bliss. She'll have some days to rehearse in Miami with local musicians, leaving room for onstage spontaneity — Williams says gospel naturally lends itself to improvisation. "Growing up at church, a lot of things that happened in church or at a gospel concert were not planned, which is the beauty of gospel music. I do have songs that I want to sing, but I'm also gonna follow the flow of what I can feel or sense is needed in that room at that very moment."

And although she has friends in town, her Saturday night visit to Miami won't necessarily be a party: She'll be back on the Broadway stage the following Tuesday. "When I do theater, my social life is nada — nothing," says Williams. "I might go out to eat, but even when I go out to eat, I'm not doing a lot of talking. I'm enjoying the company, but doing Broadway is isolating — I don't mean from a depressed standpoint — it's isolating for preservation."

Gospel Fest Miami With Michelle Williams, Hezekiah Walker, Otis Kemp, and the Gamaliel Fleurantin and Community Sounds Choir. 7 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at the Adrienne Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-949-6722; arshtcenter.org. Tickets cost $36 to $77.