‘Hood to His Soul’: James Monroe Iglehart Offers A Raw Look At Louis Armstrong In ‘A Wonderful World’

James Monroe Iglehart, who stars as Louis Armstrong in Broadway’s “A Wonderful World,” believes the revered jazz legend would have no problem fitting in with present-day rap and hip-hop musicians, despite their generational divide.

“This man was hood to his soul, but in the most positive way,” the New York actor said of Armstrong, who died in 1971 at age 69. “He made no qualms about drinking. He made no qualms about smoking weed. He made no qualms about the ladies he loved ― I mean, how many rappers are like that? At the same time, he looked at life in this amazing, positive way at a time when life was not positive for people of color. This is that dude, and that’s what makes him interesting.”

“A Wonderful World,” which opened at New York’s Studio 54 in November, charts Armstrong’s era-defining rise from trumpet prodigy and nightclub headliner to world-renowned vocalist and big-screen icon.

Audiences expecting to hear classic songs like “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” “Hello, Dolly!” and, of course, “What a Wonderful World,” won’t be disappointed, as Iglehart and his castmates deliver goosebump-inducing renditions of about 30 Satchmo hits.

But “A Wonderful World” also probes some of the less palatable aspects of Armstrong’s private life, namely his four marriages to wives Daisy Parker (Dionne Figgins), Lil Hardin (Jennie Harney-Fleming), Alpha Smith (Kim Exum) and, lastly, Lucille Wilson (Darlesia Cearcy). While the musical is told chronologically, it is staged in four distinct chapters, each centered on the woman to whom Armstrong was married to and the city in which he lived at the time.

For Iglehart, it’s the contrast between the rosy vibe of Armstrong’s music and the turbulence of his romantic relationships that makes him such a compelling figure.

“What you see on film is not even a quarter of the man,” he said. “The smiling, happy, older Black man that everybody loves and is so sweet, unassuming and not at all threatening is what America tried to put on a platter, and that’s exactly the opposite of who this man was.”

The show also doesn’t shy away from Armstrong’s firsthand experiences with racism throughout his life. At one point, the musician calls out President Dwight D. Eisenhower for not taking a stronger stance on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s, only to find himself “blacklisted” by Hollywood.

A 2014 Tony winner for his portrayal of the Genie in the stage adaptation of Disney’s “Aladdin,” Iglehart became interested in bringing Armstrong’s life to Broadway after binge-watching Ken Burns’ documentary series “Jazz” during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After hearing “A Wonderful World” was in development at Florida’s Miami New Drama theater company, he contacted his agent.

Yet the actor, whose credits also include “Hamilton” and “Spamalot,” insists he didn’t have his sights set on starring in “A Wonderful World” at first, thinking he might co-produce the musical instead. Still, he noted, “I was in the bathroom when no one was looking, trying to practice the voice and see if I could do it without hurting myself.”

In what Iglehart now describes as “manifest destiny,” he received a phone call from director Christopher Renshaw in early 2023 about starring as Armstrong in “A Wonderful World” as the musical prepared for its pre-Broadway stagings in New Orleans and Chicago that year.

To achieve Armstrong’s gravelly baritone, Iglehart sought the advice of his “Spamalot” co-star Alex Brightman and began working extensively with vocal coach Deric Rosenblatt. He also pored through Armstrong’s two memoirs, 1936’s “Swing That Music” and 1954’s “Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans,” as well as countless recordings and interviews, to capture the gravitas the performance required.

Watch a clip of Iglehart and the cast of “A Wonderful World” perform on “Good Morning America.”

“Without the doors that he knocked down, I wouldn’t be here. Because of him, I get to do the things in the entertainment field that I get to do,” he explained. “He went through so much crap that I don’t have to. So it was important to me that he was portrayed with dignity and honesty, and to make sure that he looked good, even in decisions that we would call questionable.”

It’s safe to say Iglehart’s commitment to the project has paid off. By the time “A Wonderful World” opened in New York last fall, he and Christina Sajous were tapped as co-directors of the musical with Renshaw.

That milestone, he said, is in line with his overall artistic mission, which is to “do my best to find something new to do” in a theatrical career that now spans more than two decades.

“We all have those moments where we’re like, ‘Oh, I wish I was doing this,’ but I have to stop myself and go, ‘James, if 17-year-old you could see you now, they would be flipping out because everything that they wanted to do, you’re doing, especially with this role,’” he said. “Not many people get to do this. We get to make magic every night. It doesn’t get any better than that.”