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Andr茅a Burns, who made her Broadway debut in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, was most recently seen bringing a magnetic charm to the role of Gloria Estefan鈥檚 mom, Gloria Fajardo, in the critically acclaimed new musical On Your Feet!, which continues to play Broadway鈥檚 Marquis Theatre. The fiercely talented singing actor also created the role of the outspoken Daniela in Lin-Manuel Miranda鈥檚 Tony-winning In the Heights, and her Broadway resume also boasts The Nance, The Ritz, and The Full Monty.

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I recently asked Burns to pen a list of her most memorable nights in the theatre; her responses follow.

Beauty and the Broken Foot

I was onstage being thoroughly enchanted by Lumi猫re (the late Patrick Quinn) and the spoons, knives, and forks that were singing 鈥淏e Our Guest鈥� all around me. As Belle, I participated in a charming cancan routine with all of the dancing napkins. That鈥檚 when my shoe caught a track, and I broke my foot. Right in the middle of the number. I knew something was wrong, so when it was time for Lumi猫re to grab my hands and spin me very fast, I tried to ask him to go slower, because I thought I might be injured. He misunderstood me and said, 鈥淔aster?!鈥� and spun me with all his might. I braced myself and kept smiling all the way through that kick line at the end. Somehow I finished the act. When I was taken to the emergency room on crutches during intermission, Pat was pretty mortified, but we had a good laugh about it.

Sunday in the Museum with Seurat
This moment wasn鈥檛 necessarily on a formal stage, but during my run as Dot in Gary Griffin鈥檚 landmark production of Sunday in the Park With George at Chicago Shakespeare, Robert Petkoff (George) and I were asked to sing 鈥淐olor and Light鈥� at a private event at the Chicago Art Institute.聽 It was evening. The museum was closed to the public, and a special reception for donors took place in the room where Seurat鈥檚 masterpiece, 鈥淪unday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte鈥� hangs in all its resplendent glory.聽 We sang 鈥淐olor and Light,鈥� and then I sang 鈥淐hildren and Art,鈥� in front of the actual painting! The spirit of Seurat and all of the muses of his canvas seemed to be present. Actors and audience were in a communal state of awe while it was happening, knowing the moment was larger than any of us.聽

The Nance: A Burlesque
Acting in a play for Lincoln Center with Nathan Lane felt exciting and right. 聽However, performing the burlesque stripteases required of my character was definitely outside of the box for me. The brilliant Ann Hould-Ward was wonderful in helping me bring my sense of humor to these with her costume design. Regardless, the first time I 鈥渟tripped鈥� in a Broadway house, I was terrified, even though I could hear the audience was enjoying the number. When I came offstage, though, I was still shaking 聽(this time not my booty, just internally shaking). 聽And, then I got that feeling a kid has after going on a scary rollercoaster. My heart said, 鈥淭hat was crazy! Can we do it again?鈥� By the end what was scary had become liberating, and I had a ball!

In the Heights Closing Night

We鈥檇 spent most of the weekend fighting tears, but for this final performance, we were ready to just savor every moment of our last night in the barrio. The audience broke into entrance applause for every character and then just didn鈥檛 stop. Phones lit up during the blackout, the flags flew during 鈥淐arnaval.鈥� That night was just a passionate love affair between audience and company. They screamed, and we just gave them everything we had.聽

The Old Red Hills of Home
We opened the national tour of Parade in Atlanta. Alfred Uhry, an Atlanta native, took us to see Mary Phagan鈥檚 grave (still adorned with fresh flowers and stuffed animals in remembrance). David Pittu (our Leo Frank) had been affectionately referred to as a 鈥淵ankee Jew鈥� in this old-timey restaurant we鈥檇 attended the day before. The Mary Phagan murder still seemed so personal to the town that David not so humorously joked, 鈥淚 hope someone doesn鈥檛 shoot us during the curtain call.鈥� When the performance was over, the audience was silent for a moment, David and I squeezed hands, a bit terrified. The audience rose to its feet and burst into applause. We just stood there, stunned and relieved.

Senior editor Andrew Gans is also the author of the monthly Their Favorite Things column.