Interview: Jackie Burns of IF/THEN at Bushnell Theatre

Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if you had made different choices? Would you have a different job? A different love? Would your life have been better, or maybe worse? In the first show of Hartford's 2016-2017 Bushnell Broadway Series, IF/THEN, one woman finds herself at the intersection of choice and chance, and takes audiences on a journey guided by the whims of fate. Playing, Elizabeth, the woman whose life splits into parallel paths due to one fateful choice, is Jackie Burns, a Connecticut native who is returning to her home state to bring this contemporary musical to the Bushnell stage. I caught up with Jackie to talk about the show and hear how it feels to return home with IF/THEN.

BWW: Jackie, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me today. We are really looking forward to IF/THEN in Hartford!

Jackie Burns: Thanks for having me! I am so excited to come to Hartford. I can't believe I am going to be performing at the Bushnell. I used to go see shows when I was a little girl. I saw Rent there. It is just so exciting to be starring in a show there.

So it's a homecoming of sorts for you?

Yes, I am originally from Ivoryton, CT, but, I've never played any other theater in Connecticut other than the Ivoryton Playhouse, so this is really awesome.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you got started in the theatre?

Since I was a little girl, it was all I ever wanted to do. A lot of kids go to college and don't know what they want to do, but my entire life I always wanted to be on Broadway and to perform.

And you went to school around here?

Yes, I went to The University of Connecticut and studied acting. It was great. I did a lot of CT Rep at the Jorgensen, I think I did two summers there.

IF/THEN is a new musical for many people, so maybe tell our readers a little bit about the show and what they can expect?

I think IF/THEN is super special because it is a completely original musical. Nowadays, we are in a period of revivals and movie musicals. It's really quite daring and courageous on the producers' side to put up a brand new musical. It is a completely new musical about my character, Elizabeth, moving back to New York City after nine years of living in Phoenix, Arizona in a bad marriage and starting her life over again. It is an amazing concept. In the show, you meet two of my friends in the park, Anthony Rapp and Tamyra Gray, and they both want me to go in two different directions. One wants me to go to an activist street rally and the other wants me to go listen to music in the park. For the rest of the show you watch how different the circumstances of my life would change by making that tiny little decision of going with one friend rather than the other. It's a show you have to sit up and think and watch and pay attention. The writers are genius, Tom [Kitt] and Brian [Yorkey] in that they seamlessly go back and forth between worlds. In one world I'm Liz and in the other I'm Beth, as Liz I wear glasses, and as Beth I don't, so that helps the audience understand where you are in the story. It goes back and forth between these two lives. It's wonderful because it's a completely contemporary musical, dealing with everyday issues that we all deal with. Every person that leaves the theater is going to be touched by some part of the show. Eveyone knows someone who has gone through a divorce or lost someone, or even fallen in love. I don't know one person that leaves our show and doesn't think about their life.

Tom and Brian do have an uncanny way of conveying complex, real emotions in a contemporary style.

Yes, they know how to touch your heartstrings like no one else. They can play you like a fiddle!

What do you like most about playing Elizabeth?

I feel so grateful for the fact that I am one of two women that has been able to play this role. It's one of the best roles for a woman in musical theatre. I get to, as an actor, run the gauntlet of every emotion every night. It's by far the most fulfilling journey I've ever had in the theatre. I am just honored that I get to do it every night.

You played Elizabeth for a time on Broadway. What's it like taking the character on the road? Differences?

Being able to do it every night is so much more enriching for me. When I was on Broadway, I was the standby for Idina [Menzel], it was very sporadic. I might go on four shows in a row and then not at all for three months. Getting to do it every night is just great. Also, I didn't really have a rehearsal period on Broadway, but for the tour I got to have three weeks with Michael Greif, our director, who is a genius, and with my Josh, Matthew Hydzik, who's amazing, and with Tamyra. We got to really forge these relationships.

So, as the show is about different paths your life can take, do you ever think about what path you would have followed if you hadn't decided to be an actor?

I think about it all the time. I first moved to the city when I was 21 and I didn't really audition for two years because I went to one audition and I had never been in a room with so many women before. There were 200 musical theatre girls in the room, and we all had on the same dresses holding our books, and I got super-overwhelmed and didn't really audition for two years. So I often wonder what would have happened if I hadn't run away. What if I had started my career then? But I do think that we are who we are in the time that we get there. It is fun to think about those things, but I am totally grateful - I wouldn't be who I am without those experiences.

What do you look forward to the most before you step out on stage each night?

I have to say it changes every day because of the place I am in that moment. There are certain days when I am feeling really angry, so "I Love You I Hate You", is what I look forward to the most. And there are moments where I am super happy, and can't wait to sing "Here I Go", and others when I am super silly and can't wait to sing "What the F***."

With a tour, you are constantly on the road from city to city - what is the hardest part about that life?

I think the hardest thing is constantly being in a new bed. Another big challenge is that I am blind as a bat so in every new hotel, I walk into the walls in the middle of the night. Usually you get the lay of the land by Saturday and have to leave the next day!

So thinking toward the future, do you have a dream role that you would one day like to play?

Elphaba was a dream role when I was younger and getting to play that was epic and so exciting for me. And this role has been just amazing. The next thing I want is to create something for myself. Start something from the ground up and get to watch it grow. That is what really interests me now. Getting to be part of something new.

Do you have any advice for young performers looking to make it into professional theatre?

I think it is really important in this business to have outside interests and to not make this business everything. You have to take class and work hard and really prepare for auditions, that's the most important. Prepare 120% because when you get in the room all of that is going to go away due to nerves. But you are going to get told no a lot, and it hurts, so if you don't have outside interests and this business is all you care about, then you are going to be unhappy and you are going to burn out. You have to have something else that will feed your soul.

So, the tour finishes up in four weeks. Do you know what's next for you?

IF/THEN runs at the Bushnell Theatre in Hartford, CT August 3 - 7. Performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Ticket prices start at $25.50. Tickets are available online at www.bushnell.org, by phone at 860-987- 5900, or at The Bushnell box office, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford or visit www.bushnell.org

Photos by Joan Marcus