Jordan Tyson, Gypsy's Dainty June, Is a Rising Broadway Star with New Tricks Up Her Sleeve

Momma Rose is a difficult character to say no to. The Gypsy matriarch tramples on her loving enabler Herbie and pushes shy daughter Louise onto the burlesque stage. Only younger daughter June, who spends years belting versions of “Let Me Entertain You,” manages to escape Momma’s clutches at a relatively early age. Jordan Tyson plays this big-voiced young heroine with a clear-eyed spunkiness that leaves little doubt June will be OK.

In real life, Tyson is more than OK, having jumped to Gypsy after a radiant Broadway debut performance as Young Allie in The Notebook. She and Joy Woods (her co-star in both shows) strike just the right sisterly vibe when Louise and June sing of a happier life in “If Momma Was Married.” Tyson fell in love with singing and acting at her Long Island, New York, high school, and she’s currently writing and recording songs for an upcoming EP. “I want to do everything,” the effervescent rising star tells Broadway.com. June would approve.

You’ve spent six months in what many people consider the greatest musical ever written. Has the experience lived up to your expectations?

Well, I came into the show never having seen a full production of it, so I didn’t fully understand what I was getting into. It became very clear to me very fast that every member of the cast is there to serve Rose’s story and to drive her to the edge. She brings chaos wherever she goes. She’s like the center of a storm—the farm boys, the girls, Herbie, all these people are swirling around her, and she’s trying to control them.

What’s your view of June, who is the first person to “wise up” and make her own way?

First of all, June was a real person [actress June Havoc, the younger sister of Gypsy Rose Lee], and [director] George [C. Wolfe] helped me get it: She is the only one with the awareness and the guts to say, “This is a terrible act, and what you’ve done to me is so wrong, I cannot stay here anymore.” She’s as smart as her mother, and that’s why she’s the first to leave.

A couple of things about the two Broadway shows you’ve done seem striking: first, the fact that you and Joy Woods co-star in both. That must feel like a built-in support system.

Oh, yeah. With The Notebook, we had the privilege and the benefit of working together for multiple years. So, with this piece, we could make big choices in the rehearsal room and not feel afraid to fail in front of each other. Joy has a dancer’s brain, which is very regimented, and that has been her gift to me. I’m very much a play play play kind of person, and I need someone to give me a little structure and make things repeatable. I think we balance each other out in that way.

Second, you’ve worked with four amazing veterans, [Notebook stars] Maryann Plunkett and Dorian Harewood and now [Gypsy stars] Audra McDonald and Danny Burstein. Can you share something you’ve learned from them, or something you observed that impressed you?

Oh my gosh, it brings tears to my eyes to even think about that. It’s been the gift of a lifetime to learn from them, not just as an actor but as a person. Two big things come to mind. One is that they all listen really well. And the other thing has nothing to do with acting. These people allow themselves to be seen. They throw their entire bodies at whatever they’re inhabiting without worrying about how it’s received. You can have all the technique in the world, but if you’re self-conscious, the audience knows. They allow themselves to disappear so that their characters can live.

They are the essence of what it means to be a great stage actor.

I completely agree. The commitment to putting aside Jordan Tyson to become something else—that’s the difference. Audra abandons herself in order for this other person to take over her body for three hours, or six hours on a two-show day. Nobody does that in the way she does.

Did you see many musicals growing up? What got you interested in performing?

I saw my first Broadway show, The Lion King, at nine, and I thought, “Oh what is this?!” I didn’t even know what a musical was. Then in high school, we would take field trips in from Long Island, and I saw Les Miz, Wicked, Pippin, a bunch of the mid-2010s shows. That’s when I fell in love with musicals, and I was also doing choral music competitions and shows at school. I knew I had a passion for music, I just wasn’t sure what kind of music I would pursue.

You and Joy recently sang together in a “Ham4Ham” pre-show honoring the 10th anniversary of Hamilton. Does Lin-Manuel Miranda know you played Carla in the Malverne High School production of In the Heights?

He does know that! That’s literally the musical that made me go, “I think I could do this for the rest of my life.” It’s crazy that I now know him. I got to meet Christopher Jackson the other day, and I was freaking out. [laughs] I’ve tried to play it cool and not fangirl too much.

Your voice could lend itself to pop, jazz or singer/songwriter-type music—did you feel you had to decide to concentrate on musical theater?

It’s funny you ask that. I’m at the point in my life where I don’t want to choose. I am writing my own music, and I’m going to release an album that is a whole different style than anything anyone has heard me do on stage. I love acting and I love singing, and I don’t think I always have to do them at the same time.

Tell us more about your music.

I actually just got out of a [recording] session. By the end of this year, I’ll have a few songs out on an EP, released by me and two collaborators. I love interpreting all kinds of songs, but since I decided to focus on musical theater, most of my time has been spent interpreting other people’s music. I don’t always get to sound how I feel most comfortable, so I want to make sure I’m expressing my full self. That’s why I write my own stuff.

For now, you’re sharing 44th Street with a lot of talented young actors in Hell’s Kitchen, Sunset Boulevard, BOOP! and Gypsy.

I’m a New Yorker and I love working at this level on Broadway. I also want to do plays and concerts, and to tour with my own music; I want to do TV. I don’t think I can be pegged as one thing. I just want to work at the highest level that I can, anywhere that I can.