Interview: Jenna Rubaii

A native of Clearwater, Fla., Jenna Rubaii has been singing professionally since the age of six. That love of performing has led to degrees in music and musical theater at the University of Miami, and booking such roles as Extraordinary Girl in the international tour of Green Day's American Idiot and Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar — the latter of which comes to the Peace Center, April 26-May 1.

Prior to the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical’s Upstate residency, Rubaii spoke with Asheville Stages about returning to the production after a lengthy pandemic-induced hiatus and what make this particular version distinct from past interpretations.

…on not working for 18 months

There was really no safe way of coming back and producers knew that. It costs so much money to put on a production and there's so many individuals behind the scenes — there's just so many cogs in the wheel that people don't even know...that I don't even think about sometimes, until a pandemic happens and then you realize how much work goes into actually putting on a show. 

Not having that work for 18 months was devastating, but also, we couldn't offer it at half capacity. It just doesn't work without the option of full capacity. So we feel very fortunate to have our jobs coming back into it. And also, it was scary for us because we didn't know...we felt confident about our show for the most part, because this is the 50th anniversary tour and it was selling well before the pandemic, and we know that this musical is beloved and iconic, but we still learned how fragile the industry is.

…on the “new normal” of musical theater

I always kind of imagined the comeback as a celebratory event, and everyone like, "Oh my gosh! We're seeing live theater again!" But it was a very, very slow burn to feel comfortable. We're testing every day and we're scared to get sick and we're taking all these safety precautions all the time. But then we're having to miss shows if you get sick, and the isolation of that — what does that do for your mental health? 

And also your physical wellbeing: how sick are you're going to get? We have to use all of our body for this show, so if you're sick...there's just so many challenges to face coming back into it. But definitely, the foundation is gratitude.

…on preparing for an iconic role

For the most part, I personally don't like to watch past performances [by other actors]. I like to approach any performance with my own perspective of it. And in particular, this production — the 50th anniversary tour, which came from London in 2017 — they very specifically wanted us to kind of strip away any idea of who we thought these people were and just come at it authentically as ourselves.

So, It's more challenging in that sense, because we, every single day, have to live completely authentically in the moment in what we're feeling, how we're reacting to the music. The same intention is behind every song, but we as individuals are different every single day. We might be feeling something slightly different, so as long as it was truthful, they wanted us to bring that to our performance every night.

That's the challenging part because we're doing the same thing eight times a week, and to make it feel fresh and new and still get that story across, even though you've sung it 350 times. But, then it also kind of makes our jobs easier in a way, because we are just living authentically in where we're at. So, it's this interesting mix of the two.

They wanted to start with the music because it's a celebration of that original “Brown Album,” and it is so well written that they were like, "The music tells the story." And the production does as well. The choreography plays a huge role in storytelling. I would say it's a mix between a visual and sonic experience. The foundation was the music — listening to the music, hearing the lyrics, and bringing forth the story.

…on finding new inspirations

During the pandemic, I discovered the book Mary Magdalene Revealed. And I'll shout out Meggan Watterson, who is a feminist theologian and wrote this beautiful book. I started to learn about the Gospel of Mary, which is fascinating, and learning who Mary actually was and  her as an apostle and who she was to Christ and not just the idea of who she was, because they have many ideas of who she was over the centuries. So that has infused my performance in a very unique and personal way, but I don't think that it changes how I've approached [the role]. I think it's just enriched my personal experience and connection to it.

It's a little meta, but they really did just want it to authentically come from us. This production is very different from any of our experience with musical theater. They didn't want us to portray these characters; they wanted it to feel like a human experience. And the story we're trying to tell is that [Jesus] was just a man, and I think that they really wanted to portray this story as being about human beings.

…on her part’s most challenging song or moment

I think that the entire show is a challenge. It’s such an intense, emotional story, and when you do that night after night and try to live in it authentically, that's really the challenge. Nobody in the show gets off the hook easily. It's very much an ensemble piece, this version of it. 

And especially when you bring in the elements of tour life —  moving cities every week, climate change, the exhaustion of COVID and dealing with the mental and emotional toll of that on top of missing your family and friends. The heaviness — that, as a collective unit, because we have to tell this story and it's coming from all of us, it's probably the most beautiful experience I've ever had and also the most challenging experience I've ever had. But I think that everyone feels the same way.

…on the possibility of a new movie version of Jesus Christ Superstar

I wish! I don't know the actual behind-the-scenes talk of what they plan on doing with it, but I think that this is a really unique production and perspective of this show, so I hope they would be up to filming this interpretation. But they did the NBC Live [version] a few years ago and you have to get people on board to want to do that and spend that money. I don't have the insider scoop, but it would be really neat.

Jesus Christ Superstar runs April 26-May 1 at the Peace Center. For details and tickets, visit peacecenter.org.

(Photos by Matthew Murphy, Evan Zimmerman - MurphyMade)