Caffey is the creator, director and choreographer of 3 Mo’ Divas, a sort of female counterpart to another show of his invention
called 3 Mo’ Tenors, which he’d put together some seven years ago.

“It was always in my head, even when I started with the tenors,” Caffey said on the phone from Florida, “that if [Tenors] became a success I surely would do it with women as well. We found success and I went ahead with the second installment.”

Well before he turned to writing and directing back in 1997, Caffey had been a song and dance man in New York. For 14 years. He owes this career change to a badly ripped tendon in his Achilles Heel that put a quick end to any more thought of dancing for a living. “I went home to heal—which is Gainesville, Florida—when I was still in my leg cast,” he said, “wondering what I was going to do with my life. And it was lucky that I found the thing that I was supposed to do—my next contribution. I went over to the local community playhouse figuring that, since I had New York credits, I’d be welcome there, even if my leg was still in a cast. “I had done Ain’t Misbehavin’ so many times I could do it in my sleep; I told them I wanted to choreograph and direct Ain’t Misbehavin’—and I did, never having directed or choreographed anything in my life. It went really well, which made me think, well, maybe this is it; maybe this is what I’m supposed to do. So I went back to New York and proclaimed that I was a director,” he said with great peals of laughter.

“I became a self-proclaimed professional director. I figured people knew me as a performer and it wasn’t that strange for performers to segue into directing. And then I started writing my own stuff, thinking, if no one hires me as a director, I’ll hire myself as a director. At least we’ll work together well!”

A year later Caffey had put together his first piece as writer and director: Cookin’ at the Cookery: The Music and Times of Alberta Hunter, a two-person show that told singer Alberta Hunter’s unusual story with a nice balance of her own songs, songs she made famous, plus some traditional material. It found critical favor, blossomed and proliferated. “It’s still running today,” Caffey said, “ten years later, in Washington, DC.”

Fast forward to 3 Mo’ Tenors. The inspiration for that show was sparked when Caffey saw The Three Tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras) do their thing at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. “That’s when the whole concept of what I call ‘Mo’ Music’ started in my head.”

3 Mo’ Tenors hit the stage in 2001 and three years later, as promised, Caffey launched his 3 Mo’ Divas at the San Diego Repertory Theatre.

“But doing a show like that takes development time,” he explained, “time to decide if I had the right idea, so it took a couple of years to fine tune it, and I got a great opportunity to do that in the summer of ’06. We did three regional productions: one at Washington, DC’s Arena Stage, then at Buffalo’s Studio Arena Theatre and finally at The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Canada. “That was almost 12 weeks of running time altogether, so I got a chance to do all the good work I wanted to do and get the costumes I wanted and so on.”

About the costumes: “Yesssssssss,” Caffey enthused. “You can’t have divas without great costumes!” (More peals of laughter.) “Beautiful, beautiful classical gowns, beautiful lighting, great Broadway stuff…!

“This is probably one of the most vocally demanding shows ever created,” he offered, “because it’s asking the human voice to do what most human voices can’t do. These are classically trained women. To ask an opera singer to sing jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, spirituals and soul is unheard of. We have to be careful about not damaging their [vocal] cords. We’re very interested in their having careers long after 3 Mo’ Divas. We’ve had two of our divas go on to operatic careers: Hope Briggs is one and Janinah Burnett, who just left New York City Opera to go to the Met. We’re really excited about that.”

Asked if he thought their personal success is a direct result of being in 3 Mo’ Divas, Caffey demurred. “I don’t think there is such a thing as a direct route to The Met or a lot of people would be on it. No, I wouldn’t take credit for that, I wouldn’t be so arrogant, but certainly everything you do along the way helps to prepare you.”
So does he have a number of performers on whom he can call?

“They sort of come and go. We’ve been through 14 women so far, because, you know, when you’re ready to put on a show doesn’t mean that someone didn’t go get another job. They don’t sit around waiting for you to call. When we set another production I try to see who’s available and interested and I also hold auditions, because there’s no specific three [women] who ever do the show. I think Jamet Pittman, who is coming to Denver, has actually been with the show since ’04.”

As for the show itself, “Well, it’s somewhat different from what the Broadway tenors do. First of all, it’s unprecedented to have classically trained performers cross seven to ten different styles of music, so I think we reign as the most vocally versatile. That is what this show is: a celebration of female vocal versatility. People have never seen anybody sing Puccini and Ellington and the gospel of Mahalia Jackson. From Puccini to Tina Turner is a long way and they do it very well.

Where we succeed,” he continued, “is that these are not opera singers having a lark singing other material. The opera doesn’t come out sounding like jazz. Jazz sounds like jazz, opera sounds like opera and blues sounds like blues. We take very seriously the integrity of each style.

Audiences have been ecstatic and in very diverse markets—from Washington, DC, to Edmonton—with the same results everywhere. And this is a family-oriented show. Children, mother and grandmother can sit and watch together and be okay with it. We love for people to come out and have a great time, not to sit there with their hands folded and politely applaud. “We invite people to get up and dance and sing and sing along if they know the tunes and, surely out of seven genres and 200 years of music, somebody will know something. We try to inspire a lot of joy.

“These are crazy times and it’s a great diversion from CNN.” And yes, you do believe him.

Reprinted by permission of The Denver Center for the Performing Arts

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