NeNe Leakes Goes From Evil Stepmom to "Mama" Morton in Her Second Broadway Turn

In stage years, she's still a newcomer, but this time, as NeNe Leakes takes up residence at the Ambassador Theatre (where she'll perform through December 20), she returns to the Great White Way a bona fide Broadway veteran. Her talent for dramatics first became apparent on the popular reality series The Real Housewives of Atlanta, which led to regular roles on TV's The New Normal and Glee. Broadway then came knocking in 2014 when Leakes was recruited to take over the role of the evil stepmother Madame in Rodgers Hammerstein's Cinderella; at the same time she was asked to join Chicago as Matron "Mama" Morton. She opted for the fairy tale over the cell block a year ago, but the winds of Broadway have given her a second chance to show off her onstage "Class."

Welcome back to Broadway! How long after you did Cinderella did this opportunity in Chicago come to you?
They [first] called me around the same time as Cinderella. I was just really happy that they still thought of me a year later to say, "Hey, you've still been on our radar. Are you available?" So I was excited to come back.

Is Broadway something you decided to actively pursue or did these roles just start coming to you?
They just called me up. People feel like I'm dramatic as hell and so I'll be just perfect stepping out there on the stage and there's a little bit of truth to that. I'm big. On television you can bring it down some notches, but onstage you have to be kind of big. So I think that people think I can be big, and I can. Last year I had three shows reach out, and we ended up doing Cinderella. They were probably watching me on TV [and thought], "Now she will be a great evil stepmom." And then they looked and were like, "You know what, I think she would be a great Mama Morton." I think they're all watching the same scene. [laughs]

When were you first introduced to Chicago?
I knew the movie. And of course everybody knew that Queen Latifah played the part, so I went back and looked up some of her stuff to see what she was doing. I didn't see [the show] until after they called me last year. Of course I've seen it several times now. Here onstage it's a lot different from the movie. I'm singing "Class," and I don't think I remember "Class" from the movie — and "Class" got a lot o' little dirty words. [laughs]

What do you enjoy most about playing Mama Morton?
What I love about Mama Morton is that she is a big lady that's tough [but] she has a heart of gold. From the moment I learned that, I was like, "OK, I see me in her." Because I'm totally that person. I'm totally tough on the outside but I'm really a cool person. And I know my heart is big. I feel like Mama Morton is that person. She's a good lady at the end of the day.

People were introduced to you on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but do you hope audiences see you as an "actress" rather than a "reality star?"
I want them to see me as an actress. I actually saw the poster on the sidewalk last night [that said] "NeNe Leakes: 'The Real Housewife.'" I was like, OK, I'm not sure I wanted to say that. They could've just said "actress and reality star." But I get it. It's the one thing that made me famous. so I have to just roll with it. People know me from that show…so I'm OK with it.

Following in the footsteps of nearly twenty years of Mama Mortons, how do you hope audiences remember your Mama Morton?
I want to make her funny. I want them to remember the laughs.