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[0:09] Lauren Van Hemert: Time for you to step into the sun. Lady James will go into shine. Time for you to step into the sun. This is the fine top play and it's called when you're time for you to step into the driver go window. The stage was always open. Time for you to step into the sun. Time for you to step into the line to Broadway.

[0:41] Two years ago this month, a new original musical began previews on Broadway. Shucked with music and the lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McNally, and a book by Robert Horn, won over audiences with its laugh-out-loud comedy, toe-tapping score, and heartfelt themes of community, self-discovery, and acceptance. The show earned a Tony Award for Alex Newell, who became one of the first two openly non-binary performers to be nominated for and win a Tony Award. Miki Abraham understudied the role of Lulu on Broadway and now plays the fan favorite full-time in the national tour. I spoke to Miki during the tour stop in Durham. Here's our conversation.

[1:46] Lauren Van Hemert: Can you talk about the evolution of the show from those early days to Broadway to now?

[1:52] Miki Abraham: Yeah, absolutely. So what's really interesting about this show is that, you know, it's had a really, really long life. Um, so it's been in development for about 12 years. And while I've been with it for um like three years now, it almost seems like that's just like a little fraction of the time. Um, there's just so much life to this show. But when I just from when I joined in um Salt Lake City, Utah, uh, that version of the show has morphed so much from Utah to Broadway, from Broadway to Tour. And I think what is really, really great about it and what makes it so um it's kind of a testament to how great our creative team is, is that it has changed so much because a lot of the people that are playing the roles have changed, um, just from like the evolution of like who was playing Storyteller One in Utah or Storyteller Two on Broadway.

And so Robert has really taken um a chance to shift the the uh lines and the jokes and the way that the story goes, depending on who's playing the character, which I think is really cool. Um there's uh one one guy, uh Kevin Cahun, uh, who was Tony nominated for his portrayal of Peanut on Broadway in Shucked. So great. He and such a nice and like sweet human. Um, but he actually was the only person to ever play Peanut other than the guy now that's on tour. So there's only ever been two Peanuts in the history of Shucked. So Kevin Cahun had been with the show since the very, very beginning. So he was, you know, the only, the only Peanut there had ever been. And so when Tour came around and Mike Knappy joined the company, just as another brilliant, equally as brilliant um Peanut, Robert Horn, you know, shifted a lot of uh the jokes so that they would fit Mike Knappy as opposed to them being Kevin Cahun jokes, which just from being in this industry for as long as I have, that's just something that is not super common.

Um and also, you know, on the same vein, I mean, Alex Newell won the Tony for Lulu on Broadway, and my Lulu could not be more different um than Alex's. And I understudied them on Broadway as well. And I was just kind of given the freedom to create my own version of the character, which is just um really exciting and something that's not super common in the industry.

[4:17] Lauren Van Hemert: I love that.

[4:19] Miki Abraham: And you know, it's interesting when I met Robert Horn, he was standing in back of the Broadway theater and the show was pretty far into its run. Um, I know one of your cast members told me that he was there last week. And so I love that he's kind of checking in on the show and morphing it, and you really feel that.

[4:40] Absolutely, yeah. He would be at our show a lot in New York. Like he would come and and we always just kind of knew that he was there, which is something that's cool that I kind of, you know, like I think I kind of took for granted, but like who gets to perform a show for the writer so much, you know, and it kind of it actually also kind of took the nerves out of it. Like obviously, yes, whenever I see the writer of the show that I'm doing eight times a week, I'm kind of like, oh, I want to show up and do a good job. But it's also kind of like we're all a part of a team. And because he is there so often and because he is so involved, it's kind of like, oh yeah, the writer of our show is here, but also like, oh cool, Robert's here, you know, like it very much feels like a cohesive, like um team project as opposed to like, oh my gosh, the writer's here, I'm so nervous, you know. So that's um that's something that's really cool about our team.

[5:32] I love that so much.

[5:34] Miki Abraham: You, as you said, you play Lulu, who describes themselves as liberated, underrated, complicated, emancipated. I love that song so much. Um, and what struck me last night, and maybe because it's like it was National Women's Day yesterday, is really the show is so much about um empowerment, and I don't even want to say female empowerment, I'm just gonna say human empowerment. But what has portraying Lulu affirmed for you about being a black non-binary performer in this industry and showing up?

[6:21] It yeah, absolutely great question. It's uh honestly kind of my number one response to that question whenever I get something similar, it's just that Lulu has taught me to take up more space than I ever thought I could take up. Um, and I kind of had this uh this thing, you know, as artists and as actors, you know, sometimes it's hard to believe in yourself and show up and and do this job. It's a tough job. And I think my journey in playing Lulu full time eight times a week on this tour is it's something that I I kind of like tried to count myself out of, you know. I actually joined the company of Shucked before Alex Newell was Lulu. So I booked it and I was understudying uh another person that was that was going to be playing Lulu, and um, and so and that person was more close to my type than Alex Newell was.

And so then, you know, when Alex joined, I was like, oh, I can't sing like Alex Newell. No one can sing like Alex Newell. I was like, this is interesting. I don't know if I should still be understudying this role. And it was just kind of all of this negative, like counting myself out type of thing. Uh, and the creative team saw something in me and they were like, no, actually, you can play this role. We'd love to see you play this role. We want to see you, you know, take this on. And getting to understudy it on Broadway and then finally getting to now do it every night, it's something that it's kind of like every day I'm reminded that I'm capable of things that I thought I wasn't capable of.

Uh, and it's a reminder to not count myself out before other people do. And then on the other side of that, I think, especially with the way that things are right now in the country, showing up as a black non-binary person is uh an act of rebellion in and of itself, um, being on stage across the country in a different state every week. Um, I think that showing up and just unapologetically being myself is something that um hopefully is resonant to people in the audience, whether it is young people or older people that are set in their ways.

[8:25] Miki Abraham: And a lot of times when I'm on stage, some people will be like, oh, well, I saw like a really strong woman on stage, and then they'll be like, oh, but you're non-binary. And I'm like, but I want you to see what you see, you know, like as an artist, I want to show up and I want people to see what they need to see on stage. So if you see Lulu, you see a strong woman that is running this town and is existing in this empowerment space and saying what she wants to say, then like I hope that does something for you and you can take it away and you can do that. And in the same vein, if you're someone that is showing up and you're a non-binary person, you're queer, you're gender fluid, you see me as an actor on stage doing that and living in that power, I hope that you take that and you can do something with that.

So it's just kind of a I'm just really thankful that I have this opportunity to exist unapologetically in this space and take up the space that Lulu requires and I think to your point it's a testament to the brilliance of the show that this is really a show that meets the audience wherever they are and that's what I think the brilliance of it actually is.

[9:47] Lauren Van Hemert: In your bio again love this you share your pronouns they/them and I honestly wish that was just standard best practice across the board rather than an anomaly. But yeah in this current political climate where pronouns and the LGBTQ community is being so attacked why is sharing pronouns so important for you?

[10:17] Miki Abraham: Oh goodness well I would I think it became more of a big deal and more important for me when joining this tour of putting it loudly in my bio, you know, I think that I mean, my social media, I'm pretty loud and open about really everything. That's just kind of the way I was raised. I've just kind of always been like, I'm gonna say how I'm feeling and this is it, take it or leave it. But I think something that was really important to me about putting my pronouns in my bio on tour, because you know, a lot of the places that we tour to, I mean, I grew up in western Kentucky. I grew up in Paducah, Kentucky. There's a small performing arts center there. And other than that, I wouldn't have known what even professional theater was.

And I think that tours are really important to like bringing culture and bringing art into spaces that maybe that's not super readily available. And also being able to see someone on stage that is existing, especially for queer youth. I think that it's really important to see queer adults. I think knowing that queer people grow up, and I think that is tough sometimes when you're a kid and you're existing in a space where maybe there's not a lot of people that look like you or identify the same as you. So I made the decision to put my pronouns in my bio from like day one. I was like, this feels super important before knowing anything that was going to happen with the political climate at all.

It was just like this will be there. And so now it's even more important to me. I get messages all the time, and people at the stage door that are like, hey, like I, you know, a lot of them are queer youth, which is really exciting. You know, I'll have I'll get DMs from people that are like, hey, I came with my parents, and like we were sitting there and I got to point to your pronouns and that they were the same as mine, and you were my parents' favorite character. You know, so there's something in that that I think is really, really empowering to just kind of be like, hey, this is someone who is a successful person, and maybe that'll help start a conversation, or I think Lulu's one of the, you know, I might be biased, but I think Lulu's one of the best written characters in the show.

So the chances of someone coming and being like Lulu, I like Lulu, and then being like, oh, this is a non-binary person. What does that mean? And then, you know, hopefully that opening up a conversation or a little bit of mind opening is kind of my whole reason for putting it in there.

[12:49] Miki Abraham: If you could go back and give seven-year-old Nikki a piece of advice or share words of wisdom with them, knowing what you know now, what would you say to them?

[13:01] Miki Abraham: Oh, I would tell little Mickey that it's not gonna happen. Like your success is not gonna happen as quick as you think it will, but it is going to happen. I think something that is really hard in this industry as an artist, I mean, as an artist in general, but is you know, you're always kind of chasing that idea of success, whether that is being on Broadway or whether that is, you know, being able to like financially support yourself through creating art or whatever it is. And yes, I've been doing theater since I was seven, but I made my Broadway debut when I was 31. And I think that is something that is tough for people sometimes, you know, like they graduate from college and they see their friends, you know, do showcase and make Broadway debuts at 20 years old, 21, and something that was really important for me is to find joy in creating just for myself, and then believe that it's gonna happen when it's meant to happen.

And while I made my Broadway debut when I was 31, I, you know, there are national tours I did, and this is my third national tour that I've done. And it's just kind of I would just tell little Nikki to like just enjoy the ride and like trust your skill and trust that you can do it and that you are meant to be here and just take up that space.

[14:23] Miki Abraham: So, what do you hope people will get out of seeing this show as you're touring it around the country? Oh, I hope that I hope that the show, first of all, because the show is an original musical, it's not based on anything, and it was only open, I think we were open for like 10 months on Broadway, nine or 10 months. There's still a lot of people that don't have any idea what the show is about. And so I think in and of itself, the idea of going to see something that you have no idea what it is about and just trusting that you're gonna go in and just like laugh for two and a half hours, which is something that I think we all need. I hope that people just go in and realize that maybe things that you're not familiar with are not as scary or deserving of as much judgment as you give them.

You know, I think just existing in a space of singing about corn can actually mean so much because going in and not knowing what something is, people are very quick to judge things now. So my hope is just that people will let their guard down a little bit and try something new and open their minds to just seeing that everything doesn't have to be exactly the way you think it is all the time, which is kind of the underlying story of Shucked and the people of Cobb County.

[15:46] Miki Abraham: I've got to tell you, I love Shucked so much for its humor, but mostly for its heart, and I cannot recommend it enough. Shucked is currently on tour through 2026. You can find the complete tour schedule online at Shucktmusical. If you like what you've heard on this episode, please consider subscribing to this podcast. Follow us on Blue Sky, TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram at Beltline to Broadway. Or visit us online at www.beltlinetobroadway.org. Until next time, I'll see you at the theater.