Staying Fit
Tony Award-winning actress Renée Elise Goldsberry can’t help but be inspired by her Girls5Eva songstress, Wickie. “It is the message that I want to sing out the loudest in our show,” the 51-year-old says. “However crazy it might seem, you should still be able to ask yourself, ‘What do I want to do when I grow up?’ and not put any limitations on the answer,” she says. “That’s why we’re cheering for these women — because they are still dreaming.”
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On the Peacock hit, whose second season just began streaming, Wickie reunites with her one-hit-wonder girl group from the ’90s — played by talented singers Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps and Paula Pell — after a Girls5Eva pop hit gets sampled by a young rapper. Goldsberry’s Wickie, whose solo career has reached new lows, is nostalgic for the days when she was the glamorous, fierce diva of the group.
In reality, Goldsberry’s star couldn’t be brighter after a string of Broadway hits, including her Tony Award-winning role of Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway musical Hamilton, a turn as Nettie Harris in The Color Purple and as the final actress to play Mimi Márquez in Rent.
A nostalgic look back at the 1990s
As for the ’90s, Goldsberry looks back on the decade — even the fanny packs and scrunchies — with fondness. “I had a great time in the ’90s,” she says. “Ironically, I was not as successful as Girls5Eva, so I guess the advantage of that is there was nowhere to go but up for me.” Goldsberry marked the decade as a 20-something playing “Backup Singer No. 1” to Vonda Shepard on Ally McBeal.