INTERVIEW: Bryonha Marie Parham stars as Regina Comet in new musical
Photo: From left, Ben Fankhauser, Bryonha Marie Parham and Alex Wyse star in A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet. Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy / Provided by Jorgensen PR with permission.
For accomplished actor and singer Bryonha Marie Parham, everything about A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet has been “different.” For starters, this is her first show back after a year-and-a-half break during the pandemic. Secondly, she didn’t have to audition this time, and finally, her co-stars are also the creators of the musical. “Different,” indeed.
A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet features Parham as the title character, a pop star who employs the help of two novice songwriters to pen her a new hit song. The goal is to have an anthem that showcases her singing skills and her brand of perfume. Parham is joined by co-creators Alex Wyse and Ben Fankhauser, who are pulling double duty as the songwriting team in the show.
“This was a very different process,” Parham said in a recent phone interview. “I actually didn’t know the writers, Alex and Ben, at all. I had seen their work off and on Broadway, on their web series and things like that. I didn’t know them. I had never met them. They had sent the project to my manager to find out if I would be interested in it, so we ended up having a Facetime call. And we chatted about what we thought it was about and where we thought the heart was and who I thought Regina was. Eventually we decided to work together from that Facetime call, so it was really different. I did not audition. They just had been very sweet fans of my work.”
Today, Commercial Jingle is playing an extended run at the DR2 Theatre in New York City, right near Union Square in Manhattan. Performances are scheduled through Nov. 21. For Parham, it was important that she had the chance to bring truth to the character of Regina.
“As a Black woman in this industry, I want to tell the truth,” she said. “And so if you know anything about the show, the show is very zany. It’s silly, but I wanted to make sure that when we were with Regina, even though yes that vernacular for the show was silly, that we did tap into something real because, in my opinion, she is the heart of the show. And so I tried to approach her from a grounded reality, for her story of this woman who is of a certain age in the industry and trying to find her way and find relevance in a place where it brought her so much joy before, and it does not anymore. Yeah, without spoiling anything, I really just wanted to make sure that we told the truth with her, so I tried to approach her from a hyperrealism place.”
Wyse and Fankhauser were both open to her take on the role. Parha said that during that FaceTime call, the creators told her that they were looking for a collaboration and more insight on the title character.
“They had said, this is about our story, about writers trying to write a hit song,” Parham remembered. “We’ve been able to gear these characters to be exactly who we are, and we have not had that ability with this character, Regina. And so we really want to mold her to who Bryonha is, and the great thing is a lot of the writing is in my own language. So I felt immediately pulled to it, and the humor was very much me. But that was a big draw for me to even begin with, that they were so open to my interpretation of who Regina was.”
The rehearsal process for the musical has been the fastest in Parham’s career, which is extensive, including a role in Prince of Broadway. The trio learned the show in 12 days, and they were in their first tech rehearsal within two weeks. After 10 previews, they were ready for opening night.
“So this experience has just been so quick,” she said. “This is our first show back. It’s our first time in the game in a year and a half, so things are not as quick. My uptake is not as quick as it used to be, so it’s been really interesting because when I sing the wrong words, which is often, I sing them into the writers’ faces, which I’ve never done before. And it’s on a consistent basis, so it is very interesting and comical.”
Coming back to live performance has been an important first step for many actors. Broadway and off-Broadway are slowly getting back on track — with many insiders hoping for needed changes in the industry — but there are still many question marks moving forward.
“My husband and I are very lucky that we have saved, and we were prepared,” Parham said. “A lot of my peers, a lot of people I’ve been in the business with, were not, and we could never have prepared to be out of work as long as we have. And a lot of us are still out of work. I’m one of the lucky few who are actually performing live again. Yeah, it was a very tough 20 months and still is. We’re not out of it yet.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, featuring Bryonha Marie Parham, is now playing an extended run through Nov. 21 at the DR2 Theatre in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
