Zurin Villanueva was starring in the national tour of “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” when news broke in May that the music icon had died at age 83. A week later, while performing the scene in which Turner’s mother dies, Villanueva was overcome with emotion.
“I was a wreck,” Villanueva tells PvNew while in Los Angeles for the show’s run at the Pantages Theatre. “I thought I was okay. I felt like we grieved last week so I was fine. But then mama dies and I’m like, ‘I’m not fine.’ And right after she dies, I start singing ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome).’ So I’m crying and it’s like you have to either sing through it or you let it impede you. I was like, ‘No, relax. There can be snot everywhere, but you can still sing.’”
Villanueva is still on tour, belting out Turner’s classics every other night of the week. She is in every scene of the production, meaning she’s on stage for almost three straight hours of singing, dancing and acting. On her off nights, Naomi Rodgers takes on the role.
“You have to take your breaths while you’re on stage,” Villanueva explains. “It’s a different kind of experience, keeping your mind focused from one moment to the next but also keeping your mind present.”
Villanueva, whose TV and movie credits include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Murder Mystery 2,” grew up in Brooklyn. She’s a graduate of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, also known as the school that the musical “Fame” draws its setting from.
“I was a dance major my freshman year but then I auditioned for drama,” Villanueva says. “I was like, ‘I must be an actress!’ My mom wanted me to be a dancer. I promised her if she let me switch I will be in dance class every single week. I promised I wouldn’t stop.”
Villanueva’s next move is into writing – but not for a script. “I’m working on a book about the untold secrets and rules and traditions of Broadway,” she explains. “It’s basically what I’d want to tell my little sister when she books her first Broadway show. Basically it’s, ‘You’re about to do this. This is what you do and this is what you don’t do.’”
What’s the number one rule not to do? “Don’t piss off the stage manager!” Villanueva says. “Your stage manager is your best friend.”
The interview with Villanueva took place before the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike on July 14.
