Getting to Know 'West Side Story' Manila’s Maria: Jenna Burns

At the outdoor area of a coffee shop Jenna Burns, lead actress of “West Side Story”, is drinking a tall glass of iced coffee. I apologize for the humidity but quickly, she waves me off. “No, no,” she says. “I like this weather. I don’t like cold, so I like to ‘thaw’.”

Jenna plays “Maria” in the world tour of one of the most enduring Broadway musicals of all time. The Manila production of "West Side Story" is ongoing until August 27 at The Theater in Solaire.

The musical is set in the 1950's, about a love affair between Tony and Maria, caught between a gang rivalry between The Jets and The Sharks — a rivalry based on culture and ethnicity.

“Our show cross the lines,” the American performer says. She is a product of a mix of European ethnicities (German, Scottish, French), and "West Side Story" Manila is a multicultural mix  of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, AUstralian, Greek, and British cast.

Jenna plays a Puerto Rican character, and she reassures that she does speak some Spanish. “I’m not fluent but it’s the language I know the most other than English. I started learning it when I was in kindergarten. But sometimes I ask Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva who plays the character of Bernardo, because he speaks with that accent in normal life, if I’m pronouncing everything as I should be. And he says I’m dong okay,” she laughs.

I could not help but ask Jenna how she thinks these issues are still relevant to the present day. “In light of recent events that have been happening in the States, also all over the world, just in the past couple of days, it hits close to home. We’re always going to have differences — whether it’s the color of your skin, religious beliefs, disagreement about random things in life. We have to figure out how to live with each other with respect and love, and not let the fear of someone different from you become hatred or violence. You get the contrasts of The Jets and The Sharks, that shows you what not to do: letting fear of the unknown become violence.”

Jenna has been doing musical theater since she was eight years old. "From then til I was 18, I was part of 22 different productions.” She's played a variety of characters: Vivienne Kensington in “Legally Blonde: The Musical”, Cinderella in “Into the Woods”, and Millie Dillmount in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” before she started playing Maria.

This Centennial World Tour commenced in Bremen, Germany in November 2016 and have since toured Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand. They just came from Japan before landing in Manila. “We’re going everywhere,” she says.

The tour will end in October and after that, Jenna says, she’s ready to start something new. “I’m excited to see what’s next. I love Maria, but I’m ready to mix it up a little, to sing something different.”

The 25 year-old had previously aspired to become a kindergarten teacher. “Ever since I was in kindergarten until I was 17, that’s what I said I always wanted to do. I think deep down, I knew I wanted to perform for a living, but I was also thinking ‘That’s not a real job! You can’t do that!’ I didn’t realize I could go to school for it.”

She ended up pursuing musical theater in Belmont University in Nashville. “I love kids, maybe I would want to teach musical theater, voice. I still do have a heart for teaching and for kids.”

“Some people do this business and they do it for their entire lives, some people do it for a season, then, they end up teaching, or they have a different passion that comes up in their life. I have no idea what I’ll be doing next, but for right now, this is where I wanna be, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. I will go wherever God leads me.” — LA, GMA News

One thing’s for sure, this Kansas native has gone a long way. “West Side Story” is performed 8 times a week Tuesday to Sunday at the Theatre at Solaire. The show will run until August 27, 2017.