JADAR

Hours before the world premiere gala night of Burlesque – the hit new musical based on the iconic film – I had the pleasure of sitting down with Todrick Hall and Jackie Burns for a candid conversation about the highly anticipated new show and their electric careers. As the gala night was near the end of the premiere run, we decided to wait until the show’s return to Manchester – following its Scottish premiere in Glasgow – to release this article. But we also had to wait until episode 3 of Beyond the Stage was released a few days ago before releasing this article – and now Burlesque is days away from closing!

Snippets of both interviews can be found on my Burlesque post on my Instagram (@jaydarcy7) – and snippets of the Todrick interview can be found in episode 3 of Beyond The Stage on the Palace Theatre and Opera House’s socials (@palaceandopera on Instagram).

Jackie Burns

First I interviewed Jackie Burns, a Broadway diva known for roles as varied as Elphaba in Wicked (she is Broadway’s longest-running Elphaba!) and Celine Dion in Titanique. Sat in the dimly lit auditorium of the Opera House, she kindly offered to move to her well-lit dressing room so that I could get better footage (and because “I don’t want to look like shit” – I knew, from that moment, this was going to be a fantastic interview).

In Burlesque, Jackie plays Tess, the secondary protagonist but arguably the most iconic character because she was originally played by Cher. As the meta tagline of the film goes, “It takes a legend to make a star.”

Indeed, such an icon is Cher that Jackie brought a little Cher to the role.

She revealed that she is playing “A new, reimagined Tess with a peppering of Cher” because “you can’t not give the diva her dues” and “for the fans.” These sprinkles include some swagger and intonations but Jackie did not want to imitate or parody Cher.

I told Jackie that she is significantly younger than Cher was, even when she was in the movie (Cher has been old forever!). “Just a little bit,” laughed Jackie, before explaining that de-aging Tess changes the dynamic between Tess and Allie, and that the stage musical’s storyline is different to the film’s, especially insofar as Tess is concerned – you will understand the reason for the change when you see the show!

Whilst Jackie has had an electric career, this is her first time originating a role on this scale, after originating smaller roles in the US in the past few years. She admitted to feeling daunted because the film is so “big” and “important.”

Jackie then segwayed and explained that she was on tour with Wicked in 2010. Burlesque was released on US Thanksgiving, when Wicked was in Toronto, Canada. She was feeling homesick so she and some colleagues went to see Burlesque during the day, ahead of their evening show. She said that Burlesque “infused us all with such joy to be performers.”

“Burlesque has been this massive deal for me. So, if you had told me then that one day I would be playing Tess in the musical, I would poop myself. I would be like, ‘Absolutely not – this is not happening!’ So it’s kind-of a massive deal for me.”

I told Jackie that stories like this just go to show that even people who have had huge success have all these other dreams and ambitions.

“Right now, at this point in my career, I am so interested in just creating my own characters, so this is the kind of work that I want to do, where things get decided because I’m in the room. My input on the character is what’s helping shape this character, and that is, I think, as an actor, the dream and the goal.

“Working period is amazing, don’t get me wrong, but to be in the room from the ground level and see how the puzzle gets put together – there’s nothing like it; it’s the most magical experience. So, this is exactly where I wanna be right now; I couldn’t be happier.”

This is Jackie’s first time ever working in the UK, and she is loving it.

“I was offered two other shows. My very first show – my Broadway debut was Hair – in the revival, not the original,” she said. “I’m not that old,” she said, jinxing me as I said, “You’re not that old,” prompting us both to burst out laughing.

“You look great,” I said. “You must have sold your soul.”

“I know, right?” she laughed. “I’m pickled. I’m 90 years old.”

She then told me that the Broadway production of Hair transferred to the West End but she got cast in the lead role of Wicked so she could not come.

“And then I was supposed to do this show called Bat Out of Hell – it was a Meat Loaf musical,” she told me, seemingly oblivious to the fact that we were sat in the very theatre where that musical premiered (the musical has had much more success over here in the UK than the US).

Jackie was supposed to play Sloane but, again, got another role. With Burlesque, it was a case of “third time’s the charm” because “I had been dying to come here and do something – so, literally, ‘I couldn’t be happier,’ as Glinda says in Wicked.”

However, she did complain about having to wear a winter jacket in summer – until this week when it got really hot (more on that later).

I ended the interview with a fun task: I had Jackie imagine that two productions of Burlesque are running concurrently – which is a very real possibility, given the success of the musical so far – one of which she is starring in whilst she has been asked to cast the other… “Who are you casting as Tess?”

“Oh, my God!” she exclaimed, falling back into her chair. “I don’t know!”

“All of your friends are gonna be like, ‘Why didn’t you say me?!’”

“I know! You just put me in the most uncomfortable situation!”

I told her that she can name several.

“Two of my best friends are fellow Elphabas, and they also were Chers in [The Cher Show]. So my best friends are Dee Roscioli and Teal Wicks. We are always up for the same parts, and so, obviously I wanna give my girlfriends jobs too – but they’re both working right now.”

“They’re booked and busy.”

“They’re booked and blessed.”

However, Burlesque could very well come back in the future!

“So, I’m gonna say, if you would like to put Teal and Dee in as well, I would be really, really excited. In fact, actually, Dee, my best friend – I just finished doing Titanique as Celine Dion – and now she is the new Celine Dion,” she said (with the iconic accent).

(At the time, Teal was in Les Mis at The Muny in St Louis, Missouri, and now she is starring in the US tour of & Juliet).

I suggested another Elphaba/Cher for the role – Stephanie J. Block! I’m not sure how she’d feel in all the risqué costumes and doing the provocative routines – she’s very Christian! – but she’d be perfect as a more traditional Tess, similarly to how Cher played her in the movie.

“Oh my, God, well, of course – she’d be brilliant! It’s Stephanie J. Block. She’s busy doing Kiss Me, Kate [in the West End] right now. She’s quite busy, isn’t she?”

“She’s quite busy.”

“She’s always busy,” Jackie laughed. “Always!”

Todrick Hall

I was then taken into one of the bars, where Todrick was sat patiently, looking as fabulous as ever. I told him that I might be acting cool but I am fan-girling inside.

“Oh, my God, stop, stop stop – I’m fan-girling over this outfit and everything,” he told me. “You walked in and I was like, “I definitely need this top.”

I told him that the jumper was roasting – as aforementioned, it was a very hot day, and I’m a total heat whore, but my top was practically a sweater, and I was sweating.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s giving fashion. It doesn’t matter that you’re hot,” he said.

Todrick plays Sean, Tess’ right-hand man, who was played by Stanley Tucci in the film. In the musical, the character has been expanded into the third most notable character, after Ali and Tess.

In three words, Todrick described the musical as “big, sexy and heartfelt.”

Like Jackie, Todrick went to see the film when he was starring in a musical – The Color Purple on Broadway – he went in between shows but had to leave early to do his second show so he went back to see it again. He described his involvement with the stage adaptation – not only as Sean but also a composer – as “a full circle moment.”

I proceeded to ask Todrick about his involvement as a composer: the film has preexisting songs, which are so iconic, and he and Jess Folley (who plays Ali – originally played by Christina Aguilera) have written new songs which have to be fresh but must also have a similar vibe to the original songs.

“You’re doing such a great job on this interview already because nobody’s asked that question,” he said, excited to finally talk about this challenge. “That’s one of the hardest things to do. When you’re, I wouldn’t say competing, but you’re putting songs sandwiched in between songs that are iconic cult classics by Cher and Christina Aguilera, written by Diane Warren and all these incredible, iconic people” – e.g. Sia! – “When you’re sandwiching songs in between those, the songs have to be as big, as punchy, as memorable, as anthemic as those songs.

“That’s a tall order but I am very proud of the work that I’ve done and the work that Jess Folley’s done, and I think it’s a pretty cohesive score. I’m really grateful but that is a very intimidating ask but it’s been so well-worth the labour that we’ve spent to write the music.”

Todrick told me that he was originally brought on board just as a composer. One of the songs he wrote for Sean, ‘Big’, explains the history of burlesque and how it has involved into what it is now – of course, the burlesque in Burlesque is not burlesque in the traditional sense, à la striptease, but neo burlesque, i.e. dancing sexy in lingerie and latex!

“I was recording the song, and in the middle of recording it, I have to say, I was like, ‘I feel like, when they hear this demo, they’re gonna ask me to do this role,” and within like an hour after they got the demo, they were like, ‘We love it, it’s approved, it’s gonna be in the show.’ It’s now one of the taglines for the show – Burlesque: ‘A Big New Musical’. And they asked me to do it, and I was like, ‘Absolutely. I would love to.’”

Stanley Tucci is an icon but so is Todrick Hall, and a lot of people have seen, and will see, the show specifically to see Todrick – so can fans expect to see a bit of Todrick in the role?

Todrick thinks so but he clarified that he is a very different in person to what his persona is online – people have told him this. However, if you are a fan of his music and art, you will be happy with what Sean does in the show.

“There are elements – especially in ‘Big’, there’s a moment that feels like it is perfectly timed for Pride Month, which this is” – this was back in June, people! – “And this show kind of has this underlying message about finding your own tribe and finding a place where you belong, sometimes having to create a chosen family, which is what Pride is often times all about – one of my favourite things that RuPaul teaches on her show – and I think that this show really encompasses a lot of that.”

Whilst Todrick has previous experience in musical theatre, this is both his first time originating a role and being a composer, which he described as “a double debut.”

He has enjoyed having the script as “a guideline” and being able to suggest things in the rehearsal space. The previous Saturday, he had gone back to the States for a Pride gig, so his understudy, Ian Oswald, went on for him, and he got to tell Ian what he was doing but Ian got to run with it himself.

“Sean is such a fun, loveable character that I’m excited to see how the show evolves and how [other] people bring themselves to the character. He’s a lot more present in the stage version in the movie. He sort of serves as a narrator, MC sort-of person. He’s one of the only people onstage that can break the fourth wall, address the audience, and so it’s just a really, really good time.”

Like Jackie, Todrick has played some incredible roles, such as Lola in Kinky Boots, but I wondered if there are any other roles he would love to play.

“I would love to be Fiyero in Wicked – that’s my number one because I’m the biggest Wizard of Oz fan ever,” he admitted, without even having to think.

“Yes – Straight Outta Oz!” I said excitedly, referencing his iconic album (more on that in a bit).

“So, hopefully that will happen,” he said. “I would love to play the Scarecrow or the Tin Man in a Production of The Wiz – also Wizard of Oz-themed – and I would also love to be Simba in The Lion King because I love that show.

“And also, my mom is very dear to me, and every time I see Simba climbing up Pride Rock at the end of the show, and he nods to Sarabi [Simba’s mother], I like photoshop myself into that moment. And I just know how much my mom would love that – she loves the story, she loves the music – and so those are like my three dream roles.”

“You’d be incredible as all of them,” I told him. “You’d be incredible as anything – you’re Todrick Hall!”

“Oh, stop, stop, I can’t take it, I can’t take it,” he joked, gesturing with his hands for me to keep the compliments coming.

Whilst he is hopeful that he might get to play those roles, he has stopped trying to be the “puppet-master” of his own life because things never end up working out the way you planned.

“I always wanted to be on Disney Channel when I was growing up,” he admitted. “I never got to be, and now I play a character on Muppet Babies – and I’m like, ‘Well, technically I got what I wanted.’”

“You’re a Disney Princess!” I said.

“I’m a frog on Disney Channel – but I’m still on there,” he laughed. “It’s just a really cool thing to watch how you can dream and wish and manifest, and things happen in the way that they’re supposed to.”

Speaking of The Wizard of Oz, Todrick had just had an anniversary – the 8th birthday of his sophomore album, Straight Outta Oz.

“There’s a girl in the show who was like, ‘I danced to your music when I was like 11 or 12 years old,’ and I was like, ‘That’s not possible because I’m only 16,’” he joked.

“So many people in the cast were like, ‘We were teens to your songs,’ because my songs are pretty popular in like the dance competition circuit,” he explained.

“It just feels very surreal that it has been almost a decade of my favourite album. It was a labour of love, like a huge risk that I took; [I] spent a lot of money on a project that I didn’t know would have any return, and I’m so blessed. And I didn’t even know until my fans started tagging me in things. I’m very grateful. Happy anniversary and happy birthday to Straight Outta Oz – for any of you who watched it.”

Todrick had recently performed at Chaka Khan’s Meltdown. Meltdown is the UK’s biggest artist-curated festival, held at the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre, Europe’s biggest arts venue.

Todrick called this experience “surreal”. He does eight shows a week in Burlesque but his slot happened to land on a Sunday so he got to hop on over to London. He said that the audience showed so much love, and it had been awhile since he had done his own thing because he has been so immersed in Burlesque.

“Chaka Khan and I go way back,” he revealed. “We did The Color Purple together in 2007 – she was Sophia, I was in the ensemble, and then she started coming to my shows; we have a song together called ‘FABULOSITY’. I was just so grateful that she chose to have a queer artist there, and somebody that she knows and has collaborated with.

“It felt like her list of people that she curated for this festival was really handpicked by her, and I think that’s when it’s at its finest – when you’re like, ‘I think this person actually curated this group of people intentionally.’”

I told Todrick that I got to meet Chaka after her opening show and my “wig” (a faux bun) fell off as I walked off.

“That makes it more iconic, honestly,” he replied.

“She’ll remember me.”

“Yeah, shell never forget that.”

At the end of the interview, Todrick said,

“Oh, my gosh, you are so good at your job. You’re so good. I’m not even joking. I do so many interviews, and I’m so tired, and you just like lifted my spirits up. You’re gonna be there tonight? I hope that you love it. But kudos to you, everything that you’re doing. You’re so authentic with how you ask your questions, and I just see big things for you in the future. I’m honoured. You’re well on your way. You’re really great at what you do. Congratulations.”

After a little hug, with my eyes watering up, I told him off for ruining my make-up!

You can catch Jackie Burns and Todrick Hall in Burlesque at Opera House Manchester until November 2, with a West End run soon to be announced.