Interview: Andréa Burns in PAMELAS FIRST MUSICAL at Two River Theater

Two River Theater opens their 2018/2019 season with the world premiere of Pamela's First Musical. Written by Wendy Wasserstein and Christopher Durang, the show features music by Cy Coleman and lyrics David Zippel. The production is directed and choreographed by Graciela Daniele, with music supervision and arrangements by Kevin Stites.

Pamela's First Musical tells the story of Pamela (played by 12-year-old Sarah McKinley Austin), an unhappy, imaginative young girl whose mother has died. Her father (Howard McGillin), though well-meaning, doesn't fully understand his creative, unusual daughter. When Pamela's eccentric and fabulous Aunt Louise (a modern "Auntie Mame" played by Carolee Carmello) sweeps her away on her birthday to see her very first Broadway musical, Pamela meets many of the colorful personalities of the New York Theater world, including musical comedy star Mary Ethel Bernadette (Andréa Burns), producer Bernie S. Gerry (David Garrison) and director Hal Hitner (Michael Mulheren). In meeting them and watching a clever musical-within-a-musical, Pamela discovers her tribe and the place where, as she sings, "all the pieces fit"-the world of musical theater.

Broadwayworld.com was pleased to interview Andréa Burns about her career and her role as Mary Ethel Bernadette in Pamela's First Musical at Two River Theater.

Burns is a Drama Desk Award winner and earned an Outer Critics Circle nomination for her show-stopping performance as Gloria Fajardo in On Your Feet!. Broadway audiences also know her as Daniela from the original cast of In the Heights. Also on Broadway: The Nance, Beauty and the Beast, The Full Monty, The Ritz. Off-Broadway: the original casts of Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World and Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night. Film: Akron. TV: Blue Bloods, Kevin Can Wait, Jessica Jones, Law & Order: SVU, The Electric Company, Rescue Me, and Mindhunter.

What was your earliest memory of performing before a group?

A first grade performance of Alice in Wonderland. I played Alice and my grandmother made my costume from scratch. I still have it in a box somewhere.

Is there someone in particular who inspired your career?

Too many to count! But most of them are alluded to in this musical!

Do you have any advice for people wishing to have a career in the performing arts?

Worry less about auditions and Instagram followers, and work more on honing your actual craft. Pros make it look easy, but you have to be able to deliver in ALL ways on stage and sustain it. That takes really training your singing, your speech, and your body for physical expression.

What makes Pamela's First Musical unique in the realm of musical theatre?

Our protagonist is a 10 year-old girl with the cultural taste and appreciation of a savvy 40 year old.

Tell us about your role as Mary Ethel Bernadette.

Lovingly named by the authors for Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, and Bernadette Peters, she is the ultimate in fabulous Broadway royalty (and she knows it!)

We'd love to know a little about your fellow cast members and the show's creative team.

In our musical, the protagonist, Pamela, puts on shows during imaginary fantasy sequences in her bedroom where she collaborates with her creative heroes.

This is pretty much how I feel every day creating a character with Wendy Wasserstein, Cy Coleman, David Zippel and Christopher Durang. It's outrageously fantastical.

I've been dreaming about being in a rehearsal room with the glorious Graciela Daniele for my entire career. To say she was worth the wait is an understatement. Grazi is passionate, exacting, wickedly funny and there is storytelling in every move she choreographs. She is a queen.

Also, I've been obsessed with the dreamy, golden-throated Howard McGillin since I first listened to him on the original cast album of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood". Though still dreamy, Howard also happens to be hilarious. Sometimes I have to pinch myself that we are partners-in-crime in this show, especially under the ardent, brilliant music direction of Kevin Stites.

What would you like metro area audience to know about the show?

Though it's fun and zany, Pamela's First Musical tells a poignant story about how a smart, creative oddball finds her place in the world.

Can you share any of your future plans?

I'll be in New York this Spring playing Judy Holliday in the Off-Broadway premiere of "Smart Blonde"- a play about Judy Holliday's fascinating life as a movie star, Broadway comic and blacklisted entertainer during the McCarthy era.

Andréa Burns' solo album, A Deeper Shade of Red, is available at http://www.psclassics.com/cd_burns.html.

Pamela's First Musical will be performed at Two River Theater from 9/8 to 10/7. The theater is located at 21 Bridge Ave, Red Bank, NJ 07701. For ticketing and information, call (732) 345-1400 and visit https://www.tworivertheater.org/.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Andréa Burns