In ‘R.E.S.P.E.C.T.,’ ‘AGT’ veteran assumes throne of Queen of Soul

Christina Raé’s classical music training has taken her on some unlikely paths, including “America’s Got Talent,” Broadway’s “The Wiz” and now performing the songs of Aretha Franklin.

“Aretha is definitely a challenge, because I’m naturally a classical soprano and Aretha is like a churchy, soprano alto,” she said. “I’m having to remember all of my training that I’ve gone through over the years and trying to maintain my voice the entire time, because I am singing from different placement in my voice. Because I’m a different vocalist, my voice is in a different spot.”

The Nashville native began touring as the Queen of Soul in “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: A Celebration of the Music of Aretha Franklin,” six weeks ago, and is coming to Century II on Tuesday as part of the Broadway in Wichita series.

“I love her music, and I try to see how close I can get to it with her nuances and everything and sometimes a little mixture of mine,” the 37-year-old said. “Aretha is definitely a challenge.”

“R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” takes the audience decade-by-decade through Franklin’s career from the 1950s to 2000s. Franklin died in 2018 at age 78.

“It’s telling the story while giving a timeline of what particular things happen around this time – who she was in relationships with, who she was in friendships with,” Raé said in a tour stop in Wenatchee, Wash.

“I am paying homage to her through her music, but I am also making sure I stay true to how her music felt – not making it too modern, keeping it close in the timing as far as the year it was put out,” she added. “Music was different in the 1950s opposed to the 1970s.”

Raé said she avoids adding any vocal gymnastics to Franklin’s earlier work.

“It is very easy to do a lot to the older songs, just because they allowed the songs to breathe back then,” she said. “Nowadays we don’t let the song breathe at all. It’s definitely a learning experience there, and I enjoy the challenge.”

While “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” tackles Aretha classics such as “Natural Woman,” “Think,” “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me,” “Chain of Fools” and the title tune, Raé says the most challenging song she performs is far from Motown.

It’s “Nessun Dorma,” from the Puccini opera “Turandot,” which Franklin was called upon to sing with little notice, subbing for Luciano Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammy Awards.

“That is the most intense, not just because it’s a classical song, but it’s lower than I’m used to singing in my classical voice, so I’m almost mixing it in a Gospel fashion and just remembering to keep the spin of the song, the operatic spin,” she said. “If I don’t, I’m going to sound like I’m singing Italian in church.”

Raé gained national attention competing on “America’s Got Talent,” performing Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” and eventually earning a Golden Buzzer from judge Heidi Klum.

She eventually placed third on Season 15 in 2020 and is still hearing from people who are just discovering her videos on social media.

“It let me know people are definitely not only excited about hearing my story but my voice and they’re still excited about my voice,” said Raé, who was a single mother and at one point living out of her car before walking onto the “AGT” stage.

Without the TV exposure, “I think I would still be here, I just think a lot more people would know my name, not just in America but all over.”

She made her Broadway debut in “The Wiz” a year ago as part of the ensemble and filling in for any of the three witches and Aunt Em.

“I did not realize how we really are athletes when it comes to performing eight shows a week. It’s a lot, and we did it with smiles on our faces, sometimes heartbroken,” she said. “We did it no matter what.”

Raé grew up in Nashville, the mecca for music performers, most of whom are country or gospel. Living there had its advantages, she said, including picking up work for various awards shows and functions, including the Country Music Association, Country Music Television and Stellar Gospel awards. She brags of a check after the CMAs for $1,800 for three minutes of singing.

Her resume and “AGT” performance didn’t come into play getting the “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” gig, she said. A friend had awoken her with a direct message about the audition opportunity, and she told her mother to grab her phone to record a video audition, where she sang Franklin’s “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You).”

Now, she said, she gets to face the challenge of performing the music of a pop-soul icon.

“Ooh, Aretha was powerful,” Raé said. “A different level of power that not everyone gets access to.”

Audiences are taking to the show better than she or the producers expected.

“We had audiences screaming, ‘Encore, encore!’ and we hadn’t even rehearsed an encore,” she recalled. “We didn’t even know what we would perform. That’s a different kind of conversation, because our creative team thought when the show was over, it was over. (The audience) wanted more, even when we gave them a two-hour show.”

‘R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: A CELEBRATION OF THE MUSIC OF ARETHA FRANKLIN,’ PRESENTED BY BROADWAY IN WICHITA

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 18

Where: Century II concert hall, 225 W. Douglas

Tickets: $35-$85, from the Century II box office, BroadwayWichita.com and Century2.com, or 316-755-7328