Sharon D Clarke Talks Tony Nomination, Next Moves & The Powerhouse Moment In ‘Caroline, Or Change’ That Divided Audiences – Tony Watch Q&A
Sharon D Clarke’s performance of the showstopping musical number “Lot’s Wife” in the second act of Caroline, Or Change will almost certainly be among the Broadway highlights weighed in the minds of Tony Award voters when they cast their ballots for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. The number, and the performance, are harrowing: Clarke’s character Caroline, the Black maid in an early 1960s Southern White Jewish household, has reached a breaking point of sorts, her years of struggle and loss erupting in one exchange of words with the young Jewish boy she’s all but raised, and the words of hate and cruelty that emerge from deep recesses of characters that had long shared real moments of connection and affection have shaken Caroline to her core.