Karla Burns, greatest recognized for her function as Queenie within the musical “Present Boat,” has died. She was 66.
Burns’ sister, Donna Burns Revels, confirmed her June 4 passing in Wichita, Kansas, following a sequence of strokes, in accordance with The New York Instances.
Burns, a Wichita native, started pursuing musical theater whereas enrolled at Wichita State College. She first clinched her career-defining function in “Present Boat” when she auditioned for a regional Wichita manufacturing of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s 1927 musical.
which earned her an Olivier Award and a Tony Award nomination,
She would go on to reprise Queenie on the Lyric Theater in Oklahoma Metropolis and for dinner theater productions in Ohio. Ultimately, Burns discovered herself in New York, auditioning amongst a whole bunch of different girls for a nationwide tour. After hitting the street for months, by 1983 she discovered her manner again to New York, the place she portrayed Queenie in a Broadway revival on the Gershwin Theater. Her portrayal garnered her a Drama Desk Award for Excellent Featured Actress in a Musical, in addition to a Tony nomination for Greatest Featured Actress In A Musical.
Lower than a decade later, in 1991, Burns reprised the function as soon as extra for a West Finish manufacturing with the Royal Shakespeare Firm, for which she earned an Olivier Award for Supporting Actress in a Musical. She was the primary black performer to obtain an Olivier.
Although particularly well-regarded for “Present Boat,” Burns moreover appeared in a 1987 Broadway manufacturing of “The Comedy of Errors,” in addition to a Shakespeare within the Park model of it reverse Marisa Tomei. Her different theater initiatives included “South Pacific” (1986) and “Measure for Measure” (1993), amongst others.
Burns toured the nation to painting “Gone With the Wind” actress Hattie McDaniel within the one-woman musical “Hello-Hat Hattie,” which documented the Oscar winner’s life. The portrayal of McDaniel is especially vital, as performed Queenie within the 1936 movie manufacturing of “Present Boat.”
In 2007, Burns obtained an emergency thyroidectomy on account of a big development on her neck, which claimed her voice and sidelined her profession. She underwent remedy to regain using her vocal cords and was capable of carry out on stage as soon as once more in 2011.
