Drag Race alum Tina Burner turns her life into a cabaret
RICH LOPEZ | Staff Writer
rich@dallasvoice.com
Tina Burner (nee Krisitan Seeber) is following in the footsteps of her friend Bianca Del Rio. Both competed on RuPaul’s Drag Race (season six for Bianca and 13 for Tina), but that’s not the immediate comparison Burner makes. Burner is on the road with her Maybe This Time Live cabaret show and, like her friend and inspiration, is determined to get her fame the old-fashioned way.
She’s going to earn it.
“Bianca taught me how to treat this like a business,” Burner said by phone. “She was the first person to call me and tell me to do the work. I’ve worked my ass off since I got back from [Drag Race] and continue to do so. Bianca is a great example of that success and how to do it.”
Burner will headline the Rose Room on Nov. 14.
The New York City-based queen created an autobiographical show set to classic show tunes as well as stand-up comedy and stories about her life.
“Who isn’t a sucker for show tunes? Theater is my first love, and it was important for me to use songs to tell my story,” she said. “On Drag Race, people saw what was there related to a challenge or story, but now they can see where I really come from and who I am today. That was my main reason to do this.”
In fact, Burner was inspired by her own experience playing the “em-shee” in her season’s Ru-sical.
“I loosely based it on that format, and it was great to tell my own side and write the show and create this tour,” Burner said. “Now there are more opportunities because of this tour. I’ve done the bar gigs and wanted to elevate that and create something special.”
In a press release for the show, Burner said about that experience, “It reminded me how performing live is my passion and how I needed to get back to my roots.”
Maybe This Time Live is not a traditional drag performance. With orchestrations and arrangements by Blake Allen, Burner’s show is more theatrical production with Broadway standards and comedy that tell the story of Burner’s personal life, from today backwards to the first time she realized she was gay.
Songs Burner selected touched on her personal experience about coming out, family relationships and life stories. Numbers include A Chorus Line’s “What I Did for Love,” La Cage Aux Folles’ “I Am What I Am” and Gypsy’s “Rose’s Turn” reimagined as “Tina’s Turn.”
“The message of the show is to never forget where you come from, never lose sight of where you’re going and never give up on your dreams. … oh, and world peace,” Burner quipped.
The queen sings all her songs complete with piano accompaniment. “But otherwise, I am a one-woman production. There are six costume reveals; I’m singing live the whole time — comedy and stripping down. But I think I’m offering something that people may not have seen much of before and I hope they are surprised by it.”
Before Drag Race, Burner had worked in New York City for 11 years. She had the national title of Miss National Comedy Queen before heading to television, and she built a strong following in the Big Apple. She was called the Manhattan Monster with a heart of gold.
“I have these long legs — I’m six-foot-three — and I look like I’m just coming at ya,” she said. “But I’m really just a gentle giant.”
After the show, Burner found a new audience, and through Drag Race, she found the opportunity to create this show and go to the people.
Even prior to drag, as Krisitan Seeber, Burner had a theatrical background and mindset: “I was a champion tap dancer. I loved old-school Hollywood. So all that brought me into theater, and I was doing plays growing up before moving to New York at 16,” she said.
And then there was Seeber’s stint in the boy band Fifth Ring. At 19, he auditioned and landed one of five spots in the band in the early aughts.
“The height of boy bands had kind of gone, but we were performing at the Miami International Mall and opened a bunch of shows,” Seeber said. “We went to Stockholm to record our first single and even had a deal with Universal.”
But the near-fame ended when Seeber was around 22: “I ended up working on Broadway next to a Virgin megastore where my record was in a bargain bin,” Burner laughed.
But the experience had a silver lining: “Oh yeah, that definitely prepared me for what it’s like to be around the industry and to just be around so many people.”
And now there’s Tina, who Seeber described as an elevated version of himself.
Burner doesn’t wax on about being famous, but as a singer and performer, she wants to get her name out there to perform and entertain. “I’ve become a much more open person in drag. I feel more and more comfortable as a performer, and I’m always learning,” she said.
Tina Burner performs Maybe This Time Live at the Rose Room, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. For tickets, visit tinaburner.eventbrite.com.
