Broadway’s Andréa Burns on celebrating – and discovering – the legendary Joan Baez

The radiant and reflective Andréa Burns, Drama Desk Award winner for In The Heights and whose Broadway work also includes The Notebook, On Your Feet!, and more, is the force behind and onstage in the new Lyrics & Lyricists’ show DIAMONDS AND RUST: The Artistry and Activism of Joan Baez (Nov 7-9).

The music of Joan Baez, the “Queen of Folk,” did more than fill the airwaves in the 1960s. It became the soundtrack for an era through songs of protest and social justice that not only spoke to the moment, but fueled a new direction in music, introducing an unknown Bob Dylan to the world, and more. We sat down with Andréa ahead of the show to talk about her unexpected immersion in Baez’s story and music and all she has emerged with. Our conversation moves from Julia Louis-Dreyfus to Martin Luther King, Jr., Dylan to Springsteen, artistry to activism to hope.

How familiar were you with the life and music of Joan Baez before you began working on this show?

I had known Joan Baez was an icon. She was the woman with a guitar at Woodstock, singing about peace and love. I knew she’d been involved in the Civil Rights movement and that her message was important, but that was where it stopped for me. Then something very magical happened. A day or two before I was approached to lead this show, I was listening to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ wonderful podcast Wiser Than Me, and Joan Baez was her guest. It was quite extraordinary. Just days after hearing that interview, I got the call. I hadn’t been listening through my own lens at all, simply out of curiosity: Who is Joan Baez really?

Who did you learn she is? What were your main takeaways from the podcast?

It’s interesting – even with nothing connecting me to Joan at that moment, the interview spoke to me very personally – both as a singer and as a human. I was very struck by her saying, “I can speak about my voice as a gift. I don’t take credit for it. I say my job has been maintenance and delivery. It was something given to me, and my charge has been just to take care of it and offer it in service.” That really spoke to me. And then late in the interview, Joan asked Louis-Dreyfus, “Would you like me to sing to you?” You can hear how audibly moved Louis-Dreyfus was. “Would you do that?” she asked, and Joan said, “Of course.” And she sang the spiritual “Wade in the Water.”

So what I came away with was the feeling, “Whoa, my own voice can be a gift.” Not only a gift to me, which I have always felt, because being given a voice truly gave me direction in life. But my voice could be a gift that could also serve. It may seem egotistical to think of it that way, but hearing Joan ask, “Would you like me to sing to you?” turned it into an offering – something to administer to soothe the listener, stir the listener, connect with the listener. That all hit me on a very deep level.

In diving into Baez’s life and work since that day, what else has made a deep impression on you?

There was so much about the spell she cast on people that was completely new to me. I learned that an angelic voice could be dangerously revolutionary – that was a surprise. Joan broke all the rules. Her politics were uncompromising, but she wasn’t edgy. She had this beautiful crystalline voice, which we appreciate in finer arts but generally not in pop. And although she is part Mexican, she presented as a white woman – a white woman singing Negro spirituals.

I think one of the things that is so powerful about Joan is that, while she is steely, she is steely with sweetness. In the music industry people love the edgy, messy, roaring songstress. And that’s just not what Joan was and is. She defied all of that. How does somebody like that break through?

How do you think she did break through? And what made and makes her so exceptional?

Joan was an outlier. A unicorn. She had these incredible feminine virtues, and she approached her songs as a nurturer. It’s so counter-cultural in entertainment – we like our divas to “slay” and “destroy” and we call them “divas” with an expectation of their own self-importance – Joan was the opposite. She connected with people and stirred them. Her famous quote is, “Action is the antidote to despair.” Her “action” was promoting nonviolence without compromise. Nothing she did had any kind of show biz edge. She may have been a folk music legend, but what she was able to do with her soft, divinely feminine ways made her totally punk rock!

I kept listening to her thinking, how did she get away with this? Why are two of the biggest songs she’s known for Negro spirituals? Why was she always singing sweetly in this soprano range? She would so beautifully couch her political dissatisfaction in what were essentially lullabies. Her concerts left people with a feeling of joy, community, and purpose.

Another thing that is singular about Joan: she would never bow to the dollar. A lot of the colleges were segregated. So she would only play Black colleges to allow her to have an integrated audience. She knew that was going to cost her – that there would be a portion of white concertgoers who wouldn’t buy tickets to those concerts. But that wasn’t of interest to her.

Where do you think all of that came from – who she wanted to sing to, the tender delivery of stark messages?

Joan came from a Quaker family that was very passionate about non-violence. Quaker values were part of her DNA growing up. Then she went and saw Martin Luther King, Jr. speak, and the story goes that he noticed her because she was sobbing the entire time! It was at a three-day Quaker conference in 1956. She was 16 years old. Dr. King was the conference’s keynote speaker – he spoke about the Montgomery boycott. Joan’s whole Quaker upbringing had been based on non-violence, and now this preacher was actually living that gospel. Years later, Baez became a close friend and traveling companion to Dr. King, performing at the 1963 March on Washington and marching alongside him from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Dr. King would joke that he would prolong his speeches on non-violence just to watch her cry. She was and is an incredibly sensitive soul.

Joan Baez’s first performance in New York wasn’t at a folk club or a Greenwich Village coffee house, it was on 92NY’s stage on November 5, 1960 when she was just 19, following a breakout performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. How does it feel to be celebrating her on the very stage that introduced her to NYC?

It’s an incredible honor to know that I’ll be stepping into a space where she has already spread her magic. It’s tremendous. This evening is going to be a beautiful celebration of Joan, and all she has taught me – all she has taught the world. That empathy, generosity, and compassion – shown in small actions, as well as large – can be enough. You can make a huge difference in people’s lives by engaging in acts of generosity and compassion.

Joan’s music helped shape the soundtrack of the 1960s. And now 60 years later, those songs – not only the ones she wrote, but the ones associated with her – remain relevant and resonant. Why do you think that is?

I think it’s because human kindness never goes out of style. We need one another. We’re humans, and we’re hard-wired for connection. And even though we currently live in an age of greed and self-promotion, there is no amount of money in the world or mirror large enough to make up for the life blood of human connection. We need it to survive. So many of the songs we associate with Joan are about creating change. She wanted to create change without our losing our humanity.

It’s almost impossible to talk about Joan Baez without touching upon Bob Dylan. Will Dylan’s role in her life/Joan’s in his be part of the show?

Absolutely. She wrote one of the world’s best breakup songs about him, “Diamonds and Rust.” Though their romance ended, their creative marriage never faded, and the two remain forever intertwined in the songbooks of American history.

I’m incredibly lucky to be joined onstage in this show by legendary Broadway artist Terrence Mann, who is known not only for his prodigious gifts but for his magnetic energy. We are great friends and it will be a joy to make music together. We’ll be performing “It Ain’t Me Babe,” one of the iconic Baez/Dylan duets.

Can you share some of the other songs that will be performed? Is there one that stands out to you in some way?

There are so many amazing songs, reflecting so many dimensions of Joan. In addition to “Diamonds and Rust” and “It Ain’t Me Babe,” people will hear “House of the Rising Sun,” “Birmingham Sunday,” “Forever Young,” and many others.

“Forever Young” is very special – it’s a blessing on the audience. The lyrics are literally a benediction: May God bless you and keep you always / May your wishes all come true / May you always do for others / And let others do for you. It’s quite remarkable. Joan is 85 now, and earlier this month she sang with Bruce Springsteen at the pro-democracy Power to the People Concert at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland. They sang Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom.” Springsteen called Joan one of his great inspirations.

Joan is a great example of someone who has stayed forever young. Not in the traditional ways – her voice isn’t soprano anymore – which she fully embraces and cherishes for what it is (and I love her for that!), but she has stuck by the ideals of her youth without exception for her entire life. How many people can say that?

What do you hope audiences leave this show feeling?

I want them to be inspired by what Joan Baez did and is continuing to do. Ultimately, what I think we’re celebrating most in this show is Joan’s generosity. She gives me – and so many others – hope that unity is possible, that discourse is possible, that empathy is possible. She has opened my eyes, she’s opened my ears, and she’s opened my heart. It’s my hope that she does this for our audiences. And that they leave feeling not they’ve not been sung at, but that they’ve been sung to – with love. And a call to action.

DIAMONDS AND RUST: The Artistry and Activism of Joan Baez. Featuring Andréa Burns. Performances Sat, Nov 7 at 5 PM; Sun, Nov 8 at 2 PM; Mon, Nov 9 at 7:30 PM. Tickets and details here.