NEW YORK (AP) – Rehearsing a Broadway musical is a stressful time for any actor. There are long hours and last-minute changes. Now imagine undergoing daily radiation burns at the same time.
Such was the unenviable position Krysta Rodriguez found herself in this summer as she prepared for the return of “Spring Awakening” while also battling breast cancer.
But the 31-year-old veteran of TV’s “Smash” and Broadway’s “The Addams Family” gets uncomfortable if anyone calls her an inspiration.
“I’m not doing what anyone else wouldn’t do. You get cancer, you try to cure cancer. I don’t really know many women my age at least who would be like, ‘Oh, well. Guess it got me,'” she said. “That’s not in our nature, anyway. So I don’t really feel like I deserve any sort of accolades for that.”
The new production of “Spring Awakening” represents a homecoming for Rodriguez, who was in the show’s 2006 Broadway premiere as an ensemble member and understudy. This time, she plays Ilse, a free spirit who runs away from home.