Interview: Jennifer Nettles of BROADWAY UNDER THE MISTLETOE at Town Hall December 15 at 7:30 pm

Fresh off the heels of finishing her smash-hit run as Jenna in Waitress, Jennifer Nettles has hit the concert circuit. Is she singing her most famous country tunes from her solo career? No. Is she singing her biggest hits from her Sugarland albums? No. Jennifer Nettles is still singing Broadway. This time, though, the multiple Grammy Award recipient is singing a variety of musical theater compositions relating to her 2021 CD of Broadway covers titled ALWAYS LIKE NEW. That's not all, though, because it is, after all, the season of holiday celebration, so Nettles has been mixing it up on the concert stage by adding in some of her favorite holiday music as well, hence the concert title BROADWAY UNDER THE MISTLETOE. After playing Nashville and Atlanta with the special production, the country singer turned Broadway actress hit the East Coast with shows scheduled for Boston and D.C., but tomorrow night Jennifer Nettles is booked into New York City's Town Hall, where fans can help her celebrate a year filled with artistic expression.

As Jennifer ramps up to take the Town Hall stage at 7:30 pm tomorrow, we had a chance to spend a few minutes on the phone, talking about her journey to Broadway, her new show, and why country singers make such smooth transitions into the acting game.

For tickets to the December 15th, 7:30 pm performance of BROADWAY UNDER THE MISTLETOE click HERE.

This interview has been edited for space and content.

Hi Stephen.

Jennifer Nettles! How are you today?

Hi, I am just fine and fabulous, how are you, today?

Well, it's quite warm in New York city. Are you in New York? You've got a show in two days.

I live here.

Oh, you're living here now, I didn't know that!

Yes. I've been here for a while.

Well, I guess when you keep doing Broadway plays, you kind of have to live here, huh?

That's right. That's right, baby!

On the subject of Broadway plays, you just finished your second one, and you have an album out of Broadway show tunes and your new show is Broadway Under the Mistletoe. So, tell me about your relationship with musical theater.

I was blessed and lucky enough to have grown up both loving and participating in theater and musical theater as a kid. For as much as I sang in church and at community functions and weddings, I also made my way into community theater... I did all through school, high school, college as well, and just loved it. I love the form and I love the stage and grew up loving it - I always wanted to be able to continue to do it and I really had a point in my life where I was (towards the end of college): "Okay, what do I want to pursue here? Theater or music proper?" And I had had some traction in music at the time playing out in clubs and doing some original material that I had been writing. So, I thought, "I'm going to focus here, where I have this traction." And thankfully I did because I was able to be blessed with such wonderful success as a singer-songwriter. HOWEVER... the entire time, I always wanted to be able to do everything. (Laughing) I want to eat the world. So, I always wanted to be able to do everything and was lucky enough, through the success that I had as a musician, to be able to reenter my love affair with the stage at such a wonderful, exciting level on Broadway. And I haven't looked back since, I have been enjoying all of it at the same time, in terms of the performing arts where music, songwriting, singing, musical theater, TV, and film, where all of that is concerned.

You kind of have to ride the train that wants to take you.

You do! I definitely try to manifest and do pretty well with that, overall, in terms of what I want and what I can dream. But at the same time that there are dreams, and the path - as you said, the train - is there in front of us, we can either get on board or not. It definitely makes a world of difference when we do.

Your show on Wednesday night at Town Hall, Broadway Under The Mistletoe, sounds like a mixture of holiday music and your new Broadway album, right?

Yes, it is a celebration of both, and it has been so lovely - for the shows that I've done in the couple of weeks before now - celebrating both the music of the theater and the music of the holiday season. And they go both so well together, sonically, and the wonderful arrangements that Alex Lacamoire and I did for the album itself, the instrumentation for that, the orchestration really lends itself to some beautiful holiday music that I've been performing for a while. I's a fun show and has a little bit of something for everybody.

You were singing "She Used to Be Mine" in your concerts and the YouTube videos of it took on a life of their own. Did you have an idea that it might bring you back to Broadway to play Jenna?

Mostly, for me, that was just celebrating my friend and this fabulous song that she had written. Sara Bareilles has been my husband's friend for over ten years now and the success that she had with Waitress and that song, it's all so brilliant, but that song is so very special. To be able to celebrate that music and celebrate her success on Broadway was really my inspiration in performing that. Getting to be a part of the show as Jenna was something that she and I both wanted to happen for a long time and tried to make happen, it couldn't happen because of busy schedules, calendars filling up. Luckily one of the fruits of this crazy wild pandemic was a more open calendar. So, when the text from her came and said, "Hey, can you do this now?" I was so thrilled to be able to say, "I think I can move some things around" and say yes.

You are such a wildly successful touring artist, and doing a Broadway show is a big commitment, so your Broadway runs tend to be limited engagements. Is there a chance that a longer sit-down on Broadway might be in the works by way of an original Jennifer Nettles musical?

Sure! That is something that is happening. I've been writing and developing a musical now for a couple of years, and I am really enjoying the process, loving the process. As a matter of fact, over the pandemic, I was able to really dig in and write the majority of the rest of the music for the show. So, keep your ear to the ground because something will be coming sooner, rather than later.

Roxie Hart and Jenna are two completely different ends of the spectrum.

(Jennifer laughs heartily.)

Tell me about your relationship with each of those ladies.

I love both of them for very different reasons because they are very different characters. I think, for me, I found Jenna to be much more enriching just because her arc is much deeper, the stakes are - the tone of the stakes... even though the stakes in Chicago are those of life-or-death, the tone with which they are handled is much more humorous than the life-or-death stakes that are a part of Waitress. So, for me, the rich and steep arc of Jenna, I found to be really rewarding and really enriching. Plus, there's fantastic music in Chicago, yet the dancing, the Fosse, is such a star feature in that show. I enjoy doing the dancing, but for me, as a singer, and especially for Sara, my friend who had written the music and lyrics on this show, Waitress, I really found it rewarding to get to be in that show.

So, I guess we're not going to expect any Fosse dancing on Wednesday night at Town Hall...

(Laughing uproariously.) Maybe I'll have to dust the old girl off and maybe I can put her in there. That would be fun.

With all the work, are you going to be able to enjoy the holiday season?

Yes. Sir! I have three more shows... the New York show on Wednesday will be the penultimate. I have Boston, New York and then DC, and then I'm done for the year.

What is a holiday tradition that you know to be exclusive to your family?

I don't know if we have any that are exclusive, we tend to be flexible and go with the flow. Sometimes we change locations, sometimes we're at one person's house, sometimes we're at another. The biggest tradition, the biggest ritual that we have is just to get together in some way, as a family and to enjoy each other. We just want to be together.

Are you the Christmas cookie baker at your house?

I do love a good Christmas cookie. I do love a good chocolate crackle cookie. I like a good sugar cookie.

Why do you think it is that country music singers make such great actors?

I think that country music is about storytelling, and I think developing a character as an actor is the same - it's about storytelling as well. For me, an artist overall, that has definitely been the common thread, the absolute pervasive theme for me is that of a storyteller. If I'm writing a song, it's about telling a story and creating a character. If I'm performing a song, even of my own, it is about performing that moment for that character. If I'm on the stage, it is developing and exploring and expressing that character. If I'm in front of the camera, it's the same. So, I think where country music specifically is concerned, it is all about storytelling. It is such a storytelling genre, and a lot of times when we think about pop, we know this is for the young people, and this is puppy love, but country music can get wildly more expansive and diverse because it does span more than that puppy love age. So, I think the storytelling aspect of that genre really allows for good storytellers.

Jennifer Nettles, thank you for chatting with me today. Have a wonderful time with CHRISTMAS UNDER THE MISTLETOE at Town Hall on Wednesday night!

Thank you so much, Stephen. I look forward to reading what you write, and I hope you have a happy holiday.

Visit the Jennifer Nettles website HERE.

Visit the Town Hall website HERE.

Read about the album Jennifer Nettles Always Like New HERE

To post a comment, you must register and login.