R&B Divas: L.A. seems like it only started a short while ago—eight weeks to be exact—but, alas, we’ve reached the end of season one. In just a couple of weeks—again, eight—we learned that Lil’ Mo was made for reality TV, Miche’le still speaks with a squeak and has kept her big singing voice in tact, Claudette Ortiz has really had a rough life, Dawn Robinson remains somewhere swinging near the rings of Saturn, Chanté Moore is hilarious, and Kelly Price is so horrific on camera you would think Walt Disney created her. I’m sure a few of the women would take issue with those characterizations, but don’t blame me, blame yourself and the folks working in the edit bay.
On the season finale, the four of the divas are doing last minute rehearsals for their Divalogues stage play. However, their already frazzled nerves are further rattled once they discover that the two fleeing divas, Kelly and Dawn, have opted to do their own production, Not Your Mama’s Monologues. Will Divalogues best Not Your Mama’s Monologues? Will Tyler Perry totally rip these women off in a musical called Madea’s Big Musical Meltdown? The answers might surprise you. On second thought, no they probably won’t, but the finale was good TV all the same. —Michael Arceneaux (@youngsinick)
Say You’re Ready, Tell Me If You’re Ready
All of those past rehearsals that were concentrated on cursing each other out more so than rehearsing caught up with the divas, with 24 hours before they were to take the stage. While Fred the embattled director (hey, Kelly Price) impressed the ladies by revealing that a top-notch venue was booked for the play (thank you, TV One), we find out soon after that none of the women have performed any of their songs with the live band. Considering that music is a large focal point of Divalogues that raised some obvious concern among the group as to exactly how well-prepared the women were to take the stage.
Another problem hovering over the four divas was the wave of uneasiness affecting some of the cast members—particularly Claudette Ortiz. In the opening scene of the finale, Claudette meets with Chanté Moore to talk about her lingering reluctance to open up deep emotional wounds before a live audience. While being comforting to Claudette at the time, Chanté later fessed up about her anxieties over sharing her personal business on opening night. In between all of this, it was discovered that Kelly and Dawn were doing their own play. The women rolled their eyes and I imagine most of the viewers back home joined in unison.
