In the Heights Tony-Winning Broadway Musical - Time Out New York

RED HOT Burns, left, belts out a number.

Andréa Burns provides much of the comic relief in the new Broadway musical In the Heights as Daniela, a flashy, over-the-top salon owner. Sporting colorful outfits as loud as her voice and a Puerto Rican twang as thick as summer humidity, the thirtysomething actor routinely stops the show with mispronounced one-liners (“Well, that’s a chitty piece of news”) and exuberant, belty numbers (“No Me Diga” and “Carnaval del Barrio”). Backstage in her dressing room, by contrast, Burns is modest and soft-spoken, without even the hint of an accent. This performer has built a career on such surprising versatility.

While many musical-theater troupers pick a persona and run with it, Burns’s résumé is remarkably varied. She has played ingénues (Belle in Beauty and the Beast) and character parts (Vicki Nichols in The Full Monty); Latinas (Eva Peron in Evita) and Jews (Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof). She partly credits her chameleon-like talent to her eclectic background.

“My mother is from Venezuela and my father is Jewish,” Burns explains. “A few years back, I did a Jewish role in Sondheim’s Saturday Night at Second Stage. In many ways, she was very similar to Daniela. She was funny and no-nonsense. So that time I was doing an aunt from one side of my family. With Daniela, I’m doing an aunt from the other side.”

Although Burns has played a handful of Hispanic parts in the past—she began her career at 18 as Maria on a European tour of West Side Story—her ethnically ambiguous name and looks have caused her to lose out on Latina roles. “When I first came to New York and went up for those kinds of parts, I’d get a lot of, ‘Well, she’s not Latin enough.… She’s not tough enough.… She’s not street enough,’ ” she recalls. “One of the many blessings of In the Heights is that I’ve gotten to play a Latin character in a show with an entirely Latin cast. It’s also the first Latin role I’ve played that’s written by a person of Hispanic descent, so it seems very authentic.”

In the Heights enjoyed a successful Off Broadway run last year before transferring uptown, and while changes have been made (a couple of scenes were added; two numbers were cut from the second act and replaced with new, plot-advancing songs), the show’s infectious energy and many of the characters have not wavered since composer, lyricist and star Lin-Manuel Miranda began working on them as a college sophomore. Burns’s own involvement dates back to 2004, when she was invited to participate in a reading of Act I. “Lin knew he wanted a gossipy hairstylist, but he wasn’t sure what to do with Daniela,” she says.

After perusing the script, the actor had an idea of how to play the part—but she wasn’t sure everyone was going to like it. While the other characters spoke English as fluently as Spanish and seemed very rooted in urban American culture, Burns opted to play Daniela as a newer immigrant, with all the language barriers that go along with that experience.

“Just before saying my first line I remember thinking, I hope it doesn’t come off as some kind of Saturday Night Live parody,” she recalls. “But I threw it out there and everyone laughed!” The moment he heard Burns speak, Miranda knew she was Daniela. “The character is actually based on two very specific women in my life, my Titi Yamilla and Titi Aurea,” he says. “What’s amazing is that the accent Andréa created is a dead ringer for Yamilla’s. I love the choice because it represents an essential missing link in the stories we’re representing: Most of the other characters came to New York at a very young age and romanticize a land they scarcely knew. Daniela came here when she was older, so she paints a clear-eyed picture of her homeland.”

While Burns understands Daniela’s comic function in the show, she always tries to keep it real. “Whenever I feel seduced by the laughter, I’m in trouble,” she says. “What’s funny about Daniela is that she is genuine. She’s like so many immigrants who come to this country hoping for a better life. She always makes the best of every situation. She’s a survivor. I want Latinos watching this show to see her and say, ‘Oh my God, I know who that is! That’s my mom’s friend. That’s my aunt. That’s me.’ ”

In the Heights is at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.