♪ Big wheel keep on turnin', turnin' ♪ - [Lisa] When we last caught up with Adrienne Warren, the world was in the middle of a pandemic, and this talented actress had just been nominated for a Tony Award for her role as Tina Turner on Broadway.

The talented Portsmouth native not only brought that statue home, but received a second one the very same night for her community service work.

(gentle music) - I co-founded Broadway Advocacy Coalition in 2016.

It's a nonprofit, and we work to show people who don't necessarily think they have a voice, how to use the arts to tell their stories.

- [Lisa] Adrienne gives back whenever she has the opportunity, like when we caught up with her as she spoke candidly to students as a proud alum of Norfolk's Governor's School for the Arts.

- If you are not studying your weakness, do it.

If you are an amazing dancer, study singing.

If you are an amazing actress or actor and you can't sing, but you want to, study and focus on that.

If you wanna dance, but you're like, "I'm not quite there yet," get in dance class.

Because it was doing that, that gave me the strength, and gave me the courage, and the confidence to move forward as an actress, to move forward as a singer, and as a dancer.

- [Lisa] Adrienne didn't hesitate to share the highs and lows, like the numerous workshops and TV pilots she was involved in that didn't blossom into a job.

- In those moments, I really started to get depressed and sad, because I was putting my worth into my work.

There were times where I was like, "I can't pay my rent.

I'm just gonna eat these hot dogs and I'm gonna do the best that I can."

(audience laughing) - I never thought she would be a struggling actor in New York.

I never thought she would be a starving artist.

- And the first time she called and asked her dad how to fill out the paperwork for what?

Unemployment?

- Yes.

- Oh my god, he had a fit.

He was like, "What?"

- Like, "What?

All right, you're coming home."

(both laughing) - I had to find what made me, Adrienne, happy outside of, like, this career, because this career makes you think that that is your worth, your worth is what you are in this career, and that is not true.

Your worth is in who you are as an individual on this planet, and I want you all to know that and, like, own that.

(audience clapping) (gentle music) I had the pleasure of being invited (laughs) to learn from Tina Turner.

When I met her for the first time, and so I was kind of like, "It's cool, it's cool.

Just do your job, get in front of her, do the show and you'll be fine."

I am really grateful that I've had the opportunity to tell stories of women that have been here who have made such a cultural difference in our world, and I'm honored that I've had that opportunity.

♪ I left a good job in the city ♪ - [Lisa] She's also had the opportunity to come home and perform twice in the last six months to sold-out shows.

♪ Big wheel keep on turnin', turnin' ♪ - Recently I've been doing a lot of concert work and I got to headline Carnegie Hall with a show, and it's a show that I built to honor Tina Turner.

After she passed, I knew I needed to do something.

And so, in a way, it feels like my love letter to my hometown, because I'm bringing, in a sense, my Tony performance home.

- [Lisa] What's on the horizon for this luminous star?

- [Adrienne] This spring on Broadway, I will be starring opposite Nick Jonas, in a show called "The Last Five Years," that is going to be at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway, yeah.

- [Lisa] As far as venturing into other genres, this talented performer says she's up for it.

- Music, I wanna try as much as I can while I'm here, you know?

Right now I'm really doing a lot of jazz.

It was very different for me 'cause we just did jazz music and holiday music, and I had so much fun kind of branching out and doing just a different style, just completely different thing.

And it was so nice to have a lot of my fans who did come, just go along on the journey with me and we just had the best time, and I wanna try it all.

Like, that's what music is for.

- [Lisa] And for Adrienne, that also includes spending time with family and friends and hosting things that bring people together.

- I'm a girl from the 757, just like everybody else.

And I'm so grateful to be from here, because this place shaped me.

And every time I come home, I'm like, "Oh yeah, that's right, this is where I'm from," and everywhere I go I take 757 with me.

♪ Do I love you, my, oh my ♪ I'm just a grateful, blessed girl to be from this great community.

♪ Mountain high, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ If I lost you would I cry ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you, baby ♪ ♪ Baby, baby, baby ♪ (upbeat soulful music ending) (audience cheering) (audience continues cheering) (audience clapping) (audience continues clapping)