Interview: Miki Abraham of SHUCKED at Broadway San Diego

If you like your musical theatre with heart, hilarity, and a whole lot of corn puns, SHUCKED is about to butter your biscuit. The Tony Award®–winning comedy hits Broadway San Diego August 12–17, serving up a laugh-out-loud tale of small-town secrets, big-time heart, and the healing power of community.  Miki Abraham stars as Lulu, the sharp-tongued Best Friend and cousin to Maizy, as the town of Cobb County deals with an unexpected crisis to their beloved corn. A member of the original Broadway cast and now leading the role on tour, we caught up with Miki ahead of the San Diego performances to talk touring, storytelling, and showing up fully both on and offstage.

For Miki Abraham, stepping into Lulu full-time on the SHUCKED tour is a creative homecoming. After years with the show, starting as far back as the pre-Broadway time in Salt Lake City, when Alex Newell also joined the show and had a stint as Lulu’s understudy on Broadway, they finally get to bring their full self to their version of this character.

“I joined this company at the same time that Alex Newell joined the company in Salt Lake City, Utah, so I've been with the show for three years at this point, pre-Broadway, Broadway, and the tour.  So there's been like this little part of me that has been Lulu for so many years.

So now to finally get to make this my Lulu is so, so special.”

Even all that time with the show and the character, Miki was excited to create this tour, Lulu as their fully fleshed out version.

“Doing this show on Broadway, I was understudying a role that was already created, because you can see little sprinkles of my Lulu now, like in that version.  But I was playing a role someone else had created, so I needed to fit into the mold.  I think this is one of the hardest things about being an understudy, because you want to stay true to the show that has been set, and not change it for everybody who's doing the show. Your job is to step into the shoes and do the show, while also sprinkling in a little bit of your own thing.

Now I get to just full send into this character, and I think one of the biggest shifts, and it's so funny, because it's a costume shift that has changed for me, and is so symbolic of the type of character I created.  On Broadway, Lulu's main costume was these little flouncy shorts that looked like a little skirt when she was standing.

We took away the flouncy shorts. They gave me these carpenter jeans that have all these pockets and all these things on them. So it's just, it just feels very grounded and rewarding. This is my Lulu. 

There was a little piece of Lulu inside of me that was trying to grow, and I'm just so happy and grateful that I was given the opportunity to let her grow to fruition that she's in now.”

Having done multiple national tours, Miki Abraham knows every city has its unique rhythm and sense of humor. Now, taking SHUCKED  on the road, they’re seeing firsthand how this delightfully quirky show lands differently across the country — from laugh-out-loud familiarity in the Midwest to surprising fan-favorite jokes in Texas.

“I've always thought that this show would be great touring. This is my third national tour, so I have some familiarity with the vibe of what jokes and what things hit in different parts of the country. And I've always thought this show would do so well touring.

I think something special is when you're in these different places, traveling across the country, you have moments where people are laughing, but they're laughing because they know somebody who talks like we are talking.

I think that it's one of the most fun parts of touring the show is the Tuesday night show in every city, because that's our opening night in every city, and we get to see what part of the country thinks what things are funny. So it's always fun to try and gauge what different states think different jokes are.”

Miki is also happy to tour, knowing that it means bringing a new original musical to people in places that may not be easily accessible to New York. I think some of the things that make it so special to tour are that it's an original musical, and those are few and far between. So this gives people the opportunity to open their minds and see something new.

“Touring is hard, but it's really rewarding. I think that if anyone can come and see the show and take something light into their world, then maybe they will show up in a lighter, brighter way when they leave the theater.”

While Miki Abraham has dazzled in shows like BEAUTIFUL and ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, SHUCKED Once on This Island, Shucked taps into something a little more personal. As it turns out, before musical theatre took center stage, they grew up singing country music, making this quirky corn musical a surprisingly full-circle moment in their artistic journey.

“I grew up singing country music, and I think I was in my first country music competition when I was like 12. I was just out here singing 'Fancy' by Reba McEntire, and I was doing Gretchen Wilson stuff.  I was a country singer through and through, while also wanting to do musical theater, and doing musical theater at my community theater.

I was on season one of the Glee Project in 2011,  where I met Alex Newell, and I was the country singer on that TV show.  I remember helping my husband with a self-tape audition for this and thinking that the script is so funny, these songs are so good. Fast forward a year, and I had an audition for it.

So, the fact that this was my Broadway debut, and I'm also touring the country, and I'm playing my first full-time lead role eight times a week, I get chills.  The fact that I got to be a part of the creation of it, and the timing was right, and I've been singing about corn ever since.”

In addition to commanding the stage as Lulu, Miki Abraham is also the founder of Castle In The Sky, a self-esteem and career coaching practice for performers. Their work offstage is all about authenticity, transparency, and tearing down the gatekeeping that can cloud the path to a creative career — values that deeply inform how they show up as both an artist and a mentor.

“I think the way that it influences me as a performer is that the entertainment industry can be gatekeepy and feign exclusivity, and I think that is so stupid.  

 I'm a big social media person, and it's a lot of fun to pull back the curtain on what it is to be a performer. Let me tell you all these things about what being on Broadway is and what it seems like.

When I'm in New York, I do a lot of workshops that end in a showcase with many young people interested in theater.  I have different guests come in, like casting directors that I've met along the way, and other coaches.

It doesn't matter if you've been in five Broadway shows or if you've done, like, a regional production of Legally Blonde that you got paid $100 for.  We're all here to do this thing because we all love it; we're artists. I think that, unfortunately, a lot of the industry has made it seem like people are better than based on their resume, and I think that's so silly. We're all theater kids, and we were all weird and didn't fit in.

So it shows up a lot of just showing up authentically, and I think that helps me on stage as well.”

Miki is no stranger to San Diego and is excited to be back to perform here and explore the city, especially as Lulu in this show.

“I am so thankful, I love to be a resident of Cobb County.”

How To Get Tickets

SHUCKED is playing at Broadway San Diego August 12 - 15, at the San Diego Civic Theatre.  For ticket and showtime information, go to www.broadwaysd.com