Jackie Burns is an adventurous performer.
She looks for and prefers to be cast in the new and untried.
Although Burns is known widely as one of the “green girl” alumnae in “Wicked,” having assayed Elphaba for four years on Broadway and on tour, her current role as fictional country music superstar, Jenny Dixon, in the Bucks County Playhouse’s world premiere musical, “Hard Road to Heaven,” marks the fourth consecutive untried show in which she’s played the lead.
Based on Saturday’s opening night, Burns is putting a personal, hard-to-follow stamp on Jenny.
“Other than ‘Wicked,’ which I enjoyed doing, I prefer to be in a new work, part of the creative process of taking a script and music and putting it on its theatrical feet.
“To quote from another recent Broadway hit ‘Hamilton,’ being involved in an original musical, puts you in the ‘room where it happened.’ You don’t have to wonder about how this choice or another was made, or whether it was the director or performer who made it.
“You know why a sequence is staged as it is, where a line came from, how one scene was crafted or changed. You’re involved or get to witness all of the decisions, small and large, that turn an idea into a finished product.
“It’s a lesson in appreciation but also the chance to influence and help construct what the show is going to be.
“That’s exciting from every point of view, especially the creative point of view.
“In ‘Wicked,’ I wasn’t there from the beginning. Of course I was individual in ways from the other Elphabas, but we were all to an extent bound to choices made by Idina Menzel and everyone who built ‘Wicked’ in 2003.
“It’s great being part of a success and having room to make a role yours, but it is not the same as the exploration, the trying of different approaches, the adapting to daily changes, and the certain knowledge of why you’re doing everything you’re doing that comes with a new work in a role you are the first person to do.”
As Burns and I spoke, a turn in the conversation sparked an idea. Talk about what constitutes Jenny Dixon and what might cause her to behave in a given way lead to Burns coming up with something she wanted to add to Jenny’s motivation, the thoughts in Jenny’s head that inform and trigger her choices.
It was fun feeling as if I, for a nanosecond, was part of the creative process.
The four new roles Burns has taken, along with a sojourn playing Celine Dion is a spoof, “Titanique,” of a certain classic movie, could not be more different.
Her “Hard Road to Heaven” country star was preceded by a Jewish housewife dealing with an awakening during a summer in the Catskills, a bank robber who eludes capture by disguising as a woman, and a Cher-type character in a show called “Burlesque.”
The last was done in Glasgow, Scotland, and Manchester, England.
Burns’ penchant for theater began in a typical way, when her mother took her to Hartford’s Bushnell Theatre to see a musical. She doesn’t remember the show, only that her not being able to totally focus on it indicated she needed glasses.
She says she began as a dancer, a “tapper,” and then someone realized the quality of her voice.
Remember, she just played Celine Dion. That requires pipes, also evident as Burns plays Jenny and does wonderfully with the score of “Hard Road to Heaven,” which shows a woman trying to save her family and a career.
While Burns has appeared on television and looks to do more work, she says she loves the immediacy of the stage and the response of a live audience.
Tom Llamas replacing Lester Holt
Tom Llamas has been named to replace Lester Holt this summer as the anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” seen weekdays at 6:30 p.m. in the Philadelphia market.
Holt remains with NBC News and will continue to be a part of the network’s primetime news magazine program, “Dateline,” with which he has been associated for 15 years.
Holt’s departure and Llamas’ succession extends the bout of musical chairs national TV news outlets have been playing this year.
Norah O’Donnell relinquished her anchor chair at “CBS Evening News” to John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois in late January.
MSNBC has seen major shake-ups that involve the dismissal of program host Joy Reid and the juggling of other roles within the network.
The shifts at CBS and NBC elevate ABC’s David Muir to the dean position among national early evening news anchors.
At a time when the blockbuster news anchor has faded from sight, Tom Llamas is an excellent choice to take over from Holt.
In his years with Muir at ABC before he signed with NBC in 2021, Llamas covered numerous large stories, including some of the toughest and most complex from all over the world.
He continued that role and that talent for reporting key events when he joined NBC, where his current title in senior news correspondent.
He is also authoritative at the anchor desk, where he’s sat in several times for both networks.
I know it’s superficial and against current mores to say so, but it doesn’t hurt that Llamas is handsome to a matinee idol degree.
I’d have to go back to look at the last five years or so of Llamas’s reporting to confirm the impression, formed upon learning of his promotion, that he has been relatively free of the subjective partisan bent that has tainted television news on all fronts for much of this century.
While I’ve seen Holt, Muir, and certainly Norah O’Donnell transgress by skewing a story to a biased point of view, sometimes by the wording or tone of their lead-ins, I can’t remember Llamas going beyond what I call the “Dragnet” approach to news: the facts, ma’am, just the facts.”
Of course, I could be mistaken on that. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be looking at his stories to gauge his even-handedness, especially when he presents news in his featured segment, “Top Story with Tom Llamas,” one that will continue when Llamas takes NBC’s anchor chair.
Once upon a time, the legacy networks fielded longtime anchors who created a tone for their newscasts and gave specific personality to their news operations.
The days of a triumvirate such as Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather are gone, vestiges of the 20th century.
Llamas, Muir, who proved during his recent inauguration coverage he can control himself in an objective news situation — saving his commentary for later — and Dickerson and DuBois have the mettle to create a new, much needed era of probity in television news.
I have strong doubts about whether they will, but they show potential I haven’t seen in a while. All of them, I know, are capable of being fine journalists.
The question is whether television news’s penchant for ideological pandering or wanting to appear cool to a certain demographic will override a possible return to normality. I loathe the word “normalcy.”
I found it interesting that Llamas’ elevation was announced by Janelle Rodriguez, the NBC News executive vice president of programming.
That last word, “programming,” is the one that sings loudly to me. One of the problems I see with newscasting in the 21st century is the emphasis on programming it rather than letting the news be whatever the facts of the news dictate.
Appeal to a specific audience, often chosen for their expected political leanings is exactly what created the news mess that renders almost all television news as biased and unreliable.
One could say useless.
News, in the days when the founders of broadcasting, such as Bill Paley and Robert Sarnoff, was regarded as a loss leader. Its accuracy and middle-of-the-road approach was considered sacrosanct.
“Lucy,” “The Golden Girls,” or “The Brady Bunch” could generate the ratings that maximized ad revenue. News was let alone to be news.
Awards shows pretty good, for a change
Things are looking up for show business award programs.
The Screen Actors Guild Awards, aired two weeks ago on Netflix, ranked as the best award show I’d seen in years.
Last week’s Oscar presentation joined it in quality.
Apparently, after years of overproduction and attention to the wrongheadedly flashy material, someone at ABC learned how to mount an award ceremony that was not only entertaining but included genuine wit, a frequent 21st century casualty.
The opening with Ariana Grande at her best doing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz,” followed by Cynthia Erivo singing “Home” from the 1975 musical, “The Wiz,” and capped off by a Grande and Erivo duet from their current hit (and hit to come) “Wicked” was a masterful touch.
Conan O’Brien was a marvelous host. His well-honed humor hit a mark the clumsy, ham-handed jokes in most opening monologues missed by a mile.
O’Brien was clever all the way through from his self-effacing approach to being host to his running bits, such as “Ball in your court, Estonia.”
Even the art moderne set, kindling old-time Hollywood glamor was perfect.
Politics arose but not to any egregious or annoying degree.
About the only miss of the night was the deserved but overlong tribute to James Bond movies. The segment wore out its welcome faster than a “Saturday Night Live” skit and was marred indelibly by the wretched singing of two of the warblers trilling Bond theme songs.
Margaret Qualley’s dance to Bond music was awkward enough, but Lisa mangled Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die,” as if she was opposed to sing any note McCartney wrote and doing it on key, and Doja Cat was even worse, costume aside, assaying John Barry’s sultry “Diamonds Are Forever.”
Thank goodness that the home stretch baton was given to Raye, who redeemed her wanting colleagues with a great rendition of Adele’s “Skyfall.”
One worry I have is whether the Oscars and other entertainment awards need to find more of a balance between the excellent and the popular, especially when they intersect in movies such as “Wicked,” “A Complete Unknown,” and if it was in English rather thanPortuguese, “I’m Still Here.”
I agree with most of the recipients of last week’s awards.
“Anora,” as Best Picture, and its creator, Sean Baker’s, wins for editing, writing, and direction were a surprise.
I grant the editing award as it roars along, and even the writing award, is plausible.
I also grant “Anora” is an excellent movie, its editing and strong performances giving it a non-stop yet seamless verité energy that retained interest through occasional annoying sequences.
I believe that the “best” should be rewarded no matter the other contenders. I fit neatly into today’s meritocratic initiatives.
While rewarding the best, I fear Oscars are leaving the average moviegoer, the one who never heard of “Anora,” behind.
“Anora” deserves to be known, but it will not last the test of time the way “Wicked” will and cannot match the classic structure of “The Brutalist,” another unknown to a lot of the public but a more solid work of art than “Anora.”
Its star, Mikey Madison, was in a Best Actress field so strong, no one could complain about any the of five being given the Oscar.
Or even Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie or Pamela Anderson, who gave nomination-worthy performances but were crowded out by the quintet that received the nods.
So, congratulations instead of cavils to Madison, but the Academy and its future following may have benefited from a fan favorite such as Demi Moore or a more lasting performance such as Cynthia Erivo’s in “Wicked” being rewarded.
Hey, the vote is the vote, so all hail to “Anora.”
Dems made fools of themselves
Forget politics for a moment. Even grandstanding politics of different stripes. Let’s talk optics.
Opposition parties exist to oppose, sometimes dramatically or even hysterically.
Democrats in the audience for President Donald Trump’s national speech last week may have thought they were being cute writing protests on auction paddles, but that was just babyishness as usual.
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene filled that bill last year when President Joe Biden spoke.
It’s one thing to oppose, protest, and dramatize. It’s another to be so partisan that politics keeps one from applauding or participating in a standing ovation for the 95-year-old mother of a freed Russian prisoner, a hero among border patrol agents, or most despicably, for a 13-year-old survivor of brain cancer who is enjoying the thrill of an honorary appointment to the SecretService.
Yes, President Donald Trump was being strategic in citing these attendees and others in his speech, but the question one must ask is if those singled out rate recognition and approval whatever one’s politics.
They do, and to fail to stand, cheer, or even applaud politely for these people who showed valor or overcame hardship shows pettiness beyond any point a purposely withheld response can make.
Source: Berkshire mont