Broadway actress Jennie Harney-Fleming had just starting singing the encore at her solo concert in the New York City area when she heard a little voice yell: “I want to go home!”
The heckler was none other than Harney-Fleming’s 3-year-old daughter Olivia, who was up past her bedtime.
Without missing a beat, Harney-Fleming said, “Come here, baby. Come here, Olivia. Come to Mommy. It’s too loud, I know.”
Wearing a fitted sequin dress and heels, Harney-Fleming picked Olivia up, returned to the mic and restarted the classic song “Feeling Good.” The video of Fleming singing the entire song while holding her daughter with one arm has garnered more than 2.7 million views on Instagram in 10 days … plus the attention of celebrities.
But in the moment, Olivia only wanted attention from one person: her mom.
“When I came back and started singing the second song, my daughter was like, ‘Girl, we got to wrap this up!'” Harney-Fleming tells TODAY.com.
The concert began at 8pm and it was only an hour long, but that was way past bedtime for Olivia and her 5-year-old sister Ella. “They did very well sitting through that show,” Harney-Flemming shares. “But I think my little one just reached her breaking point.”
The actress has grown used to changing plans on a dime. After all, before she played Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway company of “Hamilton,” she became the “universal swing” for the Schuyler sisters on tour in 2017. That meant that if any one of the actresses playing Angelica, Eliza or Peggy were sick in any production across the country, she would grab her suitcase of costumes, hop on a plane and perform on stage that evening.
So when she heard Olivia complaining, Harney-Fleming says she “didn’t give it a second thought. I think if we tried to deal with it any other way, she might have had a meltdown and caused a scene. I just knew what needed to be done and told her she was safe to come stay with me while I finish up the show.”
Another familiar face was on stage that evening: Olivia’s father, DeWitt Fleming Jr., who was playing the drums.
The actors first met β where else? β while starring in an off-Broadway show. And in late 2024, the couple enjoyed a musical dream: performing in principal roles in Broadway’s “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical.” Ella and Olivia spent every Saturday hanging out with their mom and dad backstage at the theater.
“It was important for them to see Mommy and Daddy on stage,” Harney-Fleming says. “We feel that it’s very important to keep our children in the loop of what it means when we say we’re going to work.”
Theater is in the girls’ blood: Harney-Fleming’s father received the Tony Award for his role as Curtis Taylor, Jr. in the original production of “Dreamgirls.”
“He went on to have a really wonderful career, but ultimately made the decision to leave the industry, both for ministry as well as for his family,” says Harney-Flemming. “That really left an indelible mark on me in terms of how I move through the industry now, and how we prioritize our time and our relationships in these professional spaces.”
Many notable performers expressed support for Harney-Fleming’s viral video.
The original Angelica Schuyler (and fellow Broadway mom) RenΓ©e Elise Goldsberry wrote, “Thank you for the master class!”
Natasha Bedingfield commented, “I love this so much. β€οΈ Incredible mom and incredible singing.”
Holly Robinson Peete added, “I needed this today,” and Amy Schumer reposted the video.
Questlove commented, “I did this to my dad at MSG once in 1973 β¦ Did not end like this lol.”
Harney-Fleming says she feels incredibly grateful for the support, and to answer the question everyone seemed to be asking: she’s not sure how she sang a song with such incredible breath control while holding her daughter in one arm.
“Sometimes as a mom, you look back on your day and you’re like, ‘How the heck did I get all those things done?'” she says. “You rise to the occasion, and you don’t give the workload a second thought. You just do it because it needs to be done.”
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