At around two in the afternoon, this Broadway star could be spotted riding the train downtown among average, everyday New Yorkers, unfazed by the glamour that comes with being associated with numerous theater awards.
"You never talk about them," said Danny Burstein, Queens College class of 1986, a Tony-nominated Broadway actor, who shied away from revealing too much information about an upcoming audition.
This past year has been a whirlwind of excitement for the Danny Burstein, a Queens-raised actor, who is also the son of philosophy professor Harvey Burstein.
It was last May that the Tony organization announced Burstein's nomination for his role in the musical "South Pacific," in the category of Best Featured Actor.
"It was terrific," said Burstein. His first Tony nomination was for his role as Adolpho in the Broadway production of "Drowsy Chaperone."
Away in Pennsylvania at the time, he first heard the news from a friend over the phone who called to congratulate him.
It added to what Burstein called "a very special year." His other nominations for that year included a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award, which are considered the major theater awards in N.Y.
"You just try and do good work and the rest of that kind of stuff just happens," said Burstein.
Though he did not win for his role in "South Pacific" that night, the musical took home seven Tony Awards, including Best Revival. The recipient of the Best Featured Actor Award, Boyd Gaines, also gave Burstein an honorable mention in his acceptance speech.
"I was humbled to get that kind of a shout out in front of a national audience," said Burstein. "He's an old friend of mine and a wonderful actor."
He said it was also a special surprise because his two sons, who have grown up watching him in the theater, were watching at the time.
His kids' entire lives have been spent growing up in the theater.
"You know, I brought them with me to auditions for years," said Burstein.
The two boys, Alex and Zack, were toddlers at the time and soon became distractions, once costing Burstein a theatrical role.
"It might be something very serious, then they'd be behind the camera trying to make me laugh," he said.
He said his kids, now older, are accustomed to seeing their father in shows and spending time backstage.
"My wife and my sons are the greatest things that ever happened to me," he said.
His wife, Rebecca Luker, also acts on Broadway and stars as Mrs. Banks in Disney's "Mary Poppins."
"South Pacific," the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical that Burstein stars in, takes place on a South Pacific island during World War II.
Before it was a popular film in 1958, it was play that toured in the late '40s.
"The fact that they're talking about race relations and people falling in love in 1949 is pretty heady, trippy stuff," said Burstein.
Burstein's character is Luther Billis, who he describes as a "wheel or dealer." As someone who runs the black market on the island, Billis is also desperately in love with the lead character. Burstein said that, at the end, Billis turns out to be a decent character when he risks his life for her happiness.
What Burstein said he loved most about performing in musical theatre is that it is uniquely American.
"It was a whole new genre of theatre… all of a sudden, you're caught up in an emotion and you just want to burst out singing," he said.
When aspiring actors approach him on how they can break into the business and get an agent, he said he tells them to "work on being the best actor that you can be."
True success to Burstein is when an actor can change the world in a positive way based upon the quality of work they have done.
Burstein was born in Mount Kisco, lived in the Bronx and then moved to Flushing when he was five. At this point, his father started teaching at QC.
"Queens is in my blood," said Burstein. "To me, Queens means home."
His mother teaches art at senior centers throughout the borough and his brother is a partner in a Queens law firm.
Growing up, he said, "we were encouraged to be exceptional."
Burstein also accredited a lot of his personal development to his time at QC.
Ralph Allen and Ed Greenberg were Burstein's favorite professors when he was studying theater at QC.
"He [Greenberg] taught me many things, about musical theatre, about being a professional and about being a better human being," said Burstein. Greenberg helped Burstein get his first theatre experience in St. Louis.
Burstein went on to get his MFA in acting from the University of California San Diego and taught courses in the arts at QC.
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