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[0:01] ♪ Musical number ♪

[0:20] Marc Tumminelli: Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Little Me: Growing Up Broadway. My guest today is an Olivier nominated actress who's regarded as one of Broadway's most beloved ingenues. She is best known worldwide for reinventing the role of Christine Daaé in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. She portrayed the role in the Broadway, in the West End, and the televised 25th anniversary concert production of Phantom. She made her Broadway debut as Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid, receiving a Drama Desk and Drama League nomination. Her additional Broadway credits include Masterclass, It Should've Been You, and School of Rock. In the West End, she appeared as Fantine in Les Misérables and originated the role of Christine in Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom of the Opera.

She has toured the world performing sold-out concerts. She's appeared on multiple Broadway cast albums, as well as her live solo recording, Awakening, Live at 54 Below. She's one of the greatest teachers we have ever had at Broadway Workshop. I love her very much. Please welcome my friend Sierra Boggess.

[1:20] Sierra Boggess: Hey, Mar! This is a good one.

[1:23] Marc Tumminelli: Hi, bud. How are you?

[1:25] Sierra Boggess: I'm good. How are you?

[1:27] Marc Tumminelli: I'm very good now that you're here. We're celebrating Thanksgiving today.

[1:30] Sierra Boggess: I love that.

[1:32] Marc Tumminelli: And we love Thanksgiving.

[1:34] Sierra Boggess: We do.

[1:34] Marc Tumminelli: Give thanks.

[1:35] Sierra Boggess: We do love Thanksgiving.

[1:36] Marc Tumminelli: We're gonna give some thanks a little later in the episode. I'm giving a little thanks to you because you have been like honestly one of the greatest people I have known through this Broadway Workshop journey. And I'm so grateful to know you and have you in my life. And so I can't think of a better way to say happy Thanksgiving than with Miss Sierra Boggess.

[1:54] Sierra Boggess: That makes me so happy because I feel the same. I feel so fortunate that we know each other and that we met through a mutual friend too. The reason I know about you is Marissa McGowan. Shout out to Marissa McGowan.

[2:06] Marc Tumminelli: Shout out right away.

[2:08] Sierra Boggess: She's the best. We grew up together, and I was like, "Oh, you're the most talented person I've ever met." And like the most beautiful. And pretty gorgeous.

[2:15] Marc Tumminelli: Okay. So now you weren't a Broadway child star, but you were a child star in your own right. There's no way that that light and that spirit was walking around Denver, Colorado, and not being the star of everything she did. So take me back to the Boggess family living room. What were you doing as a kid? Were you like sopranoing all over the house? How do we know that we had some talent, that we had a gift?

[2:40] Sierra Boggess: I mean, I grew up in a really musical household. So my parents, they're both musical but not musicians. Both of my sisters are exquisite musicians. The three of us grew up playing instruments. So I played the flute, my sister plays cello, and my other sister plays oboe and piano. So what I remember about growing up and actually specifically in my living room is performing in trios with my sisters. And performing, I mean like when guests come over and it's like, "Guys, do something, you know." Company, I love company. In comes company, and we're now performing for them. So we were definitely the three sisters that performed together all the time. We also sang together, even though both my sisters would never sing in public now because they're both introverted too. So you only think I was like the star running around because I was the only extrovert, you know.

[3:38] Marc Tumminelli: What were you singing? Were you singing like folk songs?

[3:40] Sierra Boggess: No, I didn't grow up singing folk songs. I mean, I was in the Colorado Children's Chorale, which is, I don't know really how to explain it, but it's a singing choir in Colorado and you start when you audition to get into it when you're like in second or third grade and then you graduate in eighth grade. And like boys, if their voices change before eighth grade, then they have to leave, you know. It's a very— they got to go. Which is, I mean, that's tricky, but it was a really amazing choir to be a part of. So I was a part of that choir from third grade till eighth grade, and so I was singing always. I loved singing in harmony with people; it made me so happy to sing with people. I never really was like, I don't know, I wasn't really singing a lot of solo stuff. I was always singing with people, which is I think part of why I love what I do so much because it was just always about being with others and creating music with others.

[4:51] Marc Tumminelli: And did you know you were better than most of the other kids in the chorale?

[4:51] Sierra Boggess: Oh absolutely. Like, "Oh, I have a beautiful voice. I'm gonna be Sierra Boggess." Well, of course, no, Marc. Like that's the thing is no, I didn't think that I had anything special at all. I just loved being in front of people. I knew that I wasn't afraid of that made me really, really excited. Like when we got to perform and stuff, it made me excited to audition for like special parts in the choir or whatever. I absolutely was never afraid of performing in front of people, and in fact, I mean that goes back to these little house concerts I would do with my sisters. I remember my parents asking us all the time, "Can you sing together?" Like we would sing— the three of us would sing Andrews Sisters stuff like "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."

I love like, you know, so it's like all in harmony. But I remember my sisters both didn't feel like doing it. They never wanted to perform; they were really— they didn't— they were nervous about it. And for me, I remember being confused of why they would be nervous about it.

[6:00] Marc Tumminelli: So that's like, "Why don't you do this great thing?"

[6:03] Sierra Boggess: Yeah, I'm like, "Yeah, let's do it! This would be great! Like applause, sure!" So that's all that I knew for sure, but I didn't think that my voice was anything special. I mean, I can go into that deeper if you want. I mean, what are you thinking?

[6:20] Marc Tumminelli: Well, I mean that takes me to like my even my high school and my college years. Like I never thought of myself as the best one, the one who had the most talent or anything like that. I can point to a number of things in which I felt— I remember going to the Broadway— what was it called? Broadway— it was that group or the— it was the workshop that Anne Ranking ran.

[6:52] Sierra Boggess: Oh, that's the— yeah, yeah, in Florida.

[6:54] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, well I can't remember what that was called.

[6:54] Sierra Boggess: Brabbit Project.

[7:01] Marc Tumminelli: BTP. I remember going there and you auditioned when you auditioned for that, which was would have been my the summer in between freshman and sophomore year of college. And I remember auditioning to get into that workshop. And the groups that you got put in, if you made it into the workshop, you got put in A through E. Well, A was the best group. Well, I was in group E. I was not a triple threat. I was not these incredible people. And I did not have confidence at all. I didn't think much of myself whatsoever. I really, really didn't. So it was— but it was my work ethic. That was the thing that set me apart, is what I realized when I look back. It's like, "Oh, I see. There were tons of people better than me, but I'm never afraid of putting in the work."

[7:55] Marc Tumminelli: I love that. Now you were also a little ice skater as a child.

[7:59] Sierra Boggess: Yeah.

[8:00] Marc Tumminelli: Tell me how that happened.

[8:02] Sierra Boggess: Well, that's all— to be honest, that's what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't really think of it. Now I'm doing it. Check out your Instagram because she's spinning, she's jumping. She's testing into adult levels or whatever.

[8:17] Marc Tumminelli: I mean, we need to unpack this in a minute with you.

[8:20] Sierra Boggess: We will. But yeah.

[8:22] Marc Tumminelli: So I'm like, "Is Sierra going on tour of the ice capades? What is happening?"

[8:26] Sierra Boggess: Okay, so yes, I grew up ice skating. I'm from Denver, Colorado. So very cold.

[8:34] Marc Tumminelli: It is very cold.

[8:35] Sierra Boggess: And I suppose that's a sport in Colorado that a lot of people probably do. But what that entailed, I started skating when I was four years old with my older sister, Summer. We both were skating, and we would go to the ice rink three times a week before school. So that means that you're on the ice by 6 a.m., you're off the ice by 7:30, and then you're at school by nine. Yeah, but I loved it. I loved it so much. I don't know why I loved it so much. I don't know why to this day I love it so much, but there is something absolutely just euphoric about it. And it wasn't something that made me nervous. It was something that just brought me a lot of joy, and it's what I wanted to do with my life. And the reason that I had to stop was because it's an incredibly expensive sport.

And now that I'm paying for it myself, I'm like, "Oh geez. Oh, that's why." So it was just— it was so, so expensive for my family. And so I had to stop that when I was about 12 years old. When I think about it, like Michelle Kwan, she was like by the time she was 13, she was like, you know, she was like winning things. It was like on my television.

[9:58] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah, exactly.

[10:00] Sierra Boggess: Yeah. When I look now, it's like, "Oh, these were the skaters I was watching." They were close to my age. That's what's so crazy.

[10:08] Marc Tumminelli: It's really— and then you found your way back to the ice during COVID because you had some free time for the first time in ever. And now you are like, "What level are you at?" If it was karate, you're like almost a black belt.

[10:23] Sierra Boggess: So now you test as an adult skater. So if you're over the age of 21, you're taken out to pasture.

[10:31] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[10:32] Sierra Boggess: No. So 21 plus, you're considered an adult skater, which duh. And so you test as an adult. So I passed in the— I think in May or June, I passed my adult pre-bronze levels. And then I just passed my adult bronze levels. So next is to pass my adult silver and then adult gold. And then like what happens? I don't really know, Marc. I mean, anything could happen.

[11:00] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my God. I love it. If you're not following Sierra Boggess, you're not listening to this episode. But if you're not, go check out Watcher Skate. It brings me so much joy every day because it does look like you're having the time of your life and you're doing and you're working so hard. And we've all got to see you sort of like re-get back on the ice and now be like kind of really good at it again.

[11:22] Sierra Boggess: Well, I'm getting better for sure, but it's like— and I'm actually— I'm so glad to be filming everything because that's also— I was skating in the 90s. I didn't have— like unless your mom brought like the huge giant camcorder, you know, and we don't have videos in it. You don't really have much. But it is helping me progress also, one, because I'm learning— I'm relearning something as an adult, so you have a different body awareness. And then two, because I am able to film myself so I can watch what my coach is saying, "This is what you're doing," then I can see what that is and I can help like do self-corrections and stuff. I love all of it.

[12:01] Marc Tumminelli: Now while you're in high school, something must have happened at some point that you went, "I'm gonna study this in college. This is the thing I want to do, whether I'm the best or not." What was the moment that happened in those four years that was like, "Now I know that this is what I'm meant to do"?

[12:18] Sierra Boggess: So in high school, I went to an inner-city public high school.

[12:25] Marc Tumminelli: George Washington High School.

[12:26] Sierra Boggess: Correct. George Washington High School. And I had— and this is one of the people that I will— that I'm very grateful for. Nancy Priest was my drama teacher. We called her Priest. I say called as if she's not dead; she's still alive and well and thriving very, very beautifully. But I say that because she retired the year I graduated. She also retired, but she was the drama teacher for 30 years at George Washington High School. And I think for me, it was being in drama class, and it was not an easy A drama class.

[13:03] Sierra Boggess: It was like she was really tough, and she took it really seriously, and she took the camaraderie seriously too, and that how we um when we're when we're not cast on stage that we're helping paint the sets, even if we were cast on stage, we still paint the sets and help sew the costumes, and we help, and we are, and if we're not uh cast on stage, then we're like doing the makeup or we're helping with lighting or all of this stuff, so that it really was this community feeling, um, which I think is so valuable for the age you are when you're in high school that that's what you're learning.

[13:38] So I she also my sophomore year of high school, she took us to New York, and so that was the first time I ever went to New York.

[13:47] That was when I saw my first Broadway shows.

[13:50] Which was what Chicago?

[13:53] And this is '96.

[13:55] So I saw Anne Ranking and B.B.

[13:57] Newworth.

[13:58] Oh wow.

[13:59] Um, and then we also saw Titanic, the musical.

[14:02] You know, I love Titanic.

[14:04] I do too.

[14:05] Oh my gosh, I love that show so much.

[14:08] I had the cassette tape, of course.

[14:10] Um, we also saw Lion King.

[14:12] It was also the year Lion King.

[14:16] What a you saw rent in high school?

[14:18] Yes.

[14:19] Like with your school, that's yes.

[14:21] I know because when when I was in high school, when we were in high school, rent was like how wicked became for like high school kids.

[14:30] And then now Hamilton is for high school kids, right?

[14:33] I saw rent with Mersa McGowan.

[14:36] Oh my god.

[14:37] And we were in I she was in 10th grade and I was in 11th grade, I think.

[14:42] Just so crazy.

[14:43] Um all right.

[14:44] What well obviously that trip must have been transformative for you.

[14:47] Yes.

[14:47] So the answer to your question is it was Nancy Priest, it was her class, it was the way that uh that theater just felt so like where I belong.

[14:59] And then I don't remember how I learned because I didn't know the term musical theater, and I just knew that I needed to get a degree because my father uh wanted me to wanted all of us to make sure that we have a college degree.

[15:15] So once I learned that you could major in musical theater, that's when it became like, oh okay, so that's what I'm doing.

[15:24] So it was really just I think what made me realize I'm gonna do this is once I made the decision that that's what I'm majoring in, it was like, yeah, this is what's gonna happen.

[15:34] So it was really that.

[15:36] What shows did you do in high school?

[15:39] Oh, in high school, we I did um freshman year, I was the lead dancer.

[15:44] That's right, lead dancer in music band.

[15:48] All right.

[15:49] I know that shows the level.

[15:52] Um, in music man, and I remember I remember my audition for that, Mark.

[15:56] You're gonna die.

[15:57] I brought in my boom box, okay, with C D of the soundtrack to Mirror Has Two Faces, at which I set it down and I pressed play for to dance to a dance I made up um in my jazz shoe.

[16:16] Uh, to I finally found someone sung by Barbara Schreis and Brian Adams.

[16:22] Great.

[16:22] You're welcome.

[16:23] And so I was cast.

[16:25] Uh I did As the lead dancer.

[16:27] As the lead dancer.

[16:31] Then we also did Me and My Girl, where I was just in there.

[16:35] Um, and then uh I was probably not lead dancer.

[16:39] Um we uh I did uh Fiddler on the Roof.

[16:43] I was Holly and uh I did God Spell, I was Sonia, I was turned back Oh man, coming down the aisles of my high school, sitting on people's laps and stuff, turned back oh man.

[16:55] Um, and then followed, of course, by Sarah Brown and Guys and Dolls.

[16:59] All right, that's a good that's a good one.

[17:01] And we did plays too.

[17:02] We did a lot of plays.

[17:03] We did it runs in the family, which I can't remember who the playwright is.

[17:07] Um, but we also one of my favorites was being the pigeon, one of the pigeon sisters in the odd couple, yes.

[17:13] Oh my god, how fun.

[17:15] Yeah, we did lots of plays.

[17:18] Thank you, Miss Priest, Mrs.

[17:19] Priest.

[17:20] Amen.

[17:21] Thank you, priest.

[17:21] Priest.

[17:22] And then did she sort of say, Oh, you should look at Millican?

[17:26] Like, how did you find Millican University, which is you have a BFA from, and you always speak so beautifully about your experience there?

[17:33] Yeah, and why it was the right choice for you.

[17:36] Yes, I found Milliken because that was the school that my mother and my grandmother went to, which is extremely random in a way, because it's in Decatur, Illinois.

[17:46] Like that is a very tiny place in the middle of southern Illinois.

[17:50] My mom was born in Decatur.

[17:53] Um, my grandmother went there on the GI Bill.

[17:56] So it was just it was a school that I knew about because of them, and it's a very small school, or else I wouldn't have known about it.

[18:04] Um, and so I auditioned there and I also auditioned at uh University in Northern Colorado because it's always cheaper to go in state, so I needed to, you know, audition there.

[18:16] And then I also auditioned at Juilliard and I also auditioned at CCM.

[18:21] And I remember my uh my feeling when I went to CCM was I was incredibly intimidated.

[18:29] I mean, I was beyond terrified.

[18:32] Um, that was definitely not the environment for me at that age at 17 years old.

[18:39] Um, and you know we talk about this in our in when I teach with you, and I that's why I think it's so important for kids that are looking at colleges to go to different sizes of schools to check them out and just see what you because people might be telling you you're the greatest thing that's ever been, but if you're in an environment that you're not gonna thrive in, if it's overwhelming, then it's not gonna be your best four years.

[19:05] And I really realized how much I would thrive in a small environment.

[19:10] Um, but I and I didn't get in CCM.

[19:13] I should also say that.

[19:14] It's not because I got in everywhere I tried out.

[19:17] I I should say I didn't get in there, but I don't think I could have gone there even if I had gotten in, because it it was so, so intimidating to me.

[19:26] I mean, this is actually such a great thing for people to hear because I think a lot of times, especially because of YouTube and the way the world works is that people think they at 16, they have to have everything down perfect in order to be a star or whatever that means.

[19:40] Where there is like so much time to cook in high school.

[19:44] There's so much to learn.

[19:45] There's so much to learn about who you are, so much to learn about how your voice works, so much about how you present yourself in the room and you you're not necessarily gonna be the star walking into school, but you might be walking out or whatever.

[19:56] But I think it's a really important lesson that it's doesn't you don't need to know, you know, everything about what kind of performer you are at 16.

[20:03] That's right.

[20:04] I certainly didn't.

[20:05] I really didn't.

[20:07] No.

[20:07] I mean, not none of us know I might I feel like my gen our generation or whatever, like we didn't know anything at 16.

[20:14] I feel like I still don't.

[20:15] No, you know lots of stuff.

[20:17] Do when you graduated, did you feel prepared to like really start auditioning?

[20:20] Did you feel like, all right, I'm ready to do this thing.

[20:23] I have trained, I'm ready, or were you like, oh my God, what am I gonna do now?

[20:28] Yes, I felt very ready.

[20:30] I felt extremely ready because one of the things that we did all the time in school was we auditioned.

[20:37] I mean, I auditioned countless, countless times throughout the semester.

[20:42] There would be student projects that you had to audition for.

[20:45] I mean, that was I think one of the best parts of my uh of going to school there.

[20:52] Um, because that was such a part of the curriculum and that you had to do a certain number of auditions.

[20:58] So I felt extremely there was the one thing that I knew how to do was audition.

[21:03] And um, so I I was ready.

[21:06] I was absolutely ready to do that.

[21:07] Now, that being said, I remember having this really fabulous moment with Terra Rubin casting when I first get there because I do think that schools are antiquated in how they tell you to look for your auditions in New York.

[21:23] And uh the consensus was that you wear a lot of makeup and a jewel tone dress and you know a two-inch character heel, probably two.

[21:33] Beige character heel.

[21:34] Yes, a beige character heel.

[21:36] Nude character heel.

[21:37] A nude um, and you know, and that is not especially when you um and I don't know if that's changed now, but that certainly was when I left school.

[21:37] Um, and I don't actually think that it's changed much because I still see gaggles of girls in line for their auditions wearing a jewel tone.

[21:57] Jewel tone beige character shoes and a suitcase, just in case, just in case they have to change it.

[22:03] And a giant book, you know, that you bring all your songs.

[22:06] I'm like, bring four songs.

[22:07] Yeah, that's it.

[22:08] That's all right.

[22:08] Do do a favor for your back.

[22:10] Bring only four songs.

[22:12] Do a favor for your back.

[22:14] All right, so did someone tell you don't dress, don't wear this?

[22:17] Yes.

[22:18] So I auditioned for one of the first shows I auditioned for was called Princesses, uh, the musical, directed by David Zippel, and also conceived by David Zippel and Matthew Wilder.

[22:29] And um, and it was about high school kids.

[22:32] Well, I looked very much like a high school kid um graduating from college, and so they are looking for exactly that.

[22:40] They're looking for kid like people who look like they're just like you know, in school.

[22:44] So you don't wear a jewel tone and a bunch of makeup um to to high school.

[22:52] Um, so I remember going in and I did my audition, and uh they asked me to wait outside and and I wait outside and then Tara Rubin, casting director comes out and she says, Okay, they want to see you back this afternoon for a callback.

[23:07] She said, But I need you to go home.

[23:09] I need you to put on a pair of jeans, take off half that makeup, and put your hair in a ponytail.

[23:16] And I was like, Oh my god, like I I it was a such a trust exercise to do what she said, even though of course because I was like, I'd never I would never have thought to do that.

[23:29] That felt like sacrilege based on my training.

[23:31] Everything that you had been told, yeah.

[23:33] Everything.

[23:33] And it was like, oh god, well, and so I did that.

[23:37] And that was my that was a learning experience for me.

[23:40] That's like we actually really want to see what you look like.

[23:44] Now that isn't for every single show.

[23:47] Obviously, that's for stuff that's contemporary.

[23:49] That show was contemporary.

[23:51] Um, but I wouldn't dress like that going in and auditioning for Christine.

[23:55] You know, that's now you you booked that princess's show.

[23:58] Yes, I did.

[23:59] Yes, I did.

[24:01] How long was it before you booked Le Miz, which was your first first really big job Broadway National Tour?

[24:08] Yes, where I met Marissa McGowan.

[24:10] Our episode is called Marissa McGowan.

[24:13] It wasn't called Thanksgiving or whatever.

[24:15] It's confused, yeah.

[24:17] Um I booked Le Miz uh so I graduated 2004 and then I booked Le Miz in 2005.

[24:26] Not bad.

[24:27] Not bad.

[24:28] And Princesses I booked uh in 2004, and then we went out of town once and then we went out of town again, and it was after that out of town I came back.

[24:38] Um and I was here or I was in New York for about a month, and then then the Le Miz tour happened.

[24:44] And now you had to feel like all right this is working.

[24:47] I'm living in New York I'm doing the thing I'm auditioning I'm an actress I booked a job and you know it must you must have felt like it must have felt special.

[24:56] It felt like it was strange when I think about it it felt very aligned.

[25:00] It felt like yeah this is how it's supposed to be like and I and I also didn't realize how lucky I was because all the shows that I booked so booking princesses that I got a call that day that I had booked it.

[25:14] So I I went in I did the call back and then I got a call that you booked Princesses.

[25:19] Then with Le Miz, same thing that day I walked out the room and I found out I booked it.

[25:24] Same with Phantom then Phantom Vegas happened and I got a call that day that I booked it.

[25:29] So I thought that's how this goes until later where it's like oh you wait to get a call.

[25:36] So I was very much like the formula seemed to be yeah you you do the work you go in you know that you book it that day and um now granted there was still a period of time I've worked still a regular job.

[25:51] I was like trying to get with a temp agency because that's what you were supposed to do.

[25:55] And um I worked as a hostess at Cafe Fiorello across from Lincoln Center for you know a month.

[26:02] Sierra Boggess: Um, because then I booked my show but it was like I still I felt like I was having the New York experience, you know, and I was living with Lindsay Mendez.

[26:13] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my God, we were living together.

[26:15] Sierra Boggess: Wow.

[26:16] Marc Tumminelli: All right. So you book Le Miz and you hit the road in that show in the ensemble and covering uh Cosette.

[26:22] Sierra Boggess: Um, which I'm sure was a thrill as someone who grew up in the same generation as me. That was the biggest thing. I mean, we talked about Rent, but Le Miz eclipsed everything in my life.

[26:32] Marc Tumminelli: That's right.

[26:33] Sierra Boggess: Yes, for sure. That was the cassette tape I wore out the most. And so it must have been a cool moment to be like, oh my God, I'm in Le Miz, I'm in like as good as it can get, Le Miz.

[26:43] Sierra Boggess: Oh, yes. I didn't think it gets better than that. It's like I remember um when I was learning the show and I would sit on the barricade and watch the girl that I was, you know, that I would be replacing in the show. Um, and I would watch her from sitting on the barricade off stage. And I just thought like, this is it. Like this, nothing is better than this. And even when people ask me now, what's your favorite show that you've done, I still say Le Miz, and it's not even the time I played Fantine. It's the time that I was the understudy to Cosette and I was in the ensemble. And it's just because that show is yeah, that's the I would have I would have played anything in that show. It was the most magical, um, true, like New York, uh true like uh Broadway kids dream.

[27:29] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah. Tell everyone what your big solo line was if you were on in your normal track.

[27:34] Sierra Boggess: And in a bed.

[27:37] Marc Tumminelli: Thank you.

[27:40] Sierra Boggess: And that's all she's gonna sing tonight.

[27:42] Marc Tumminelli: And in a bed.

[27:43] Sierra Boggess: The end. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

[27:49] Marc Tumminelli: Now, you do Le Miz for a while before Phantom comes knocking in the original Vegas production, which was a cut-down, what, 90-minute version of Phantom that they built a theater for, and you were to be the Christine in this very big uh Vegas production of Phantom. Now, talk to me about what was happening in your head when all of that happened for you.

[28:13] Sierra Boggess: Because that's well you've you went from the ensemble to like the biggest female role written in many years.

[28:20] Sierra Boggess: Yes. So it was a bizarre thing because I was on tour with Le Miz. I was on tour for six months, and maybe five months into it, uh people that were covering Cosette, playing Cosette, you know, any soprano in the company was having this audition for this new Vegas production of Phantom. Well, I wasn't I didn't have an audition. I had an agent at the time um who uh is not my agent. It was like Ann Steel or something. I know I won't say who, but um, I had this agent that I ended up calling my agent and saying, um, hi, all these people are having this audition, and I was wondering if if it would be okay if I did there a way that I can audition for this, and um, and the agent was like, No, you don't want to do that.

That's not something that you want to do. Um, it's you know, then you wouldn't be in New York, you would be in Vegas, and uh all these reasons why I shouldn't. Well, cut to, and I this is why I talk about Tara Rubin too, because I credit Tara Rubin and Eric Woodall, who used to uh work with Tara Rubin specifically for calling me in for all of these auditions of things um when I first graduated, because they saw me at my college showcase. That's how.

[29:40] Sierra Boggess: And so I had an agent who wasn't very good, and it it didn't matter because Eric Woodall would remember me and Tara Rubin's office would then call me in. Um, so next thing I know, I get this call from Tara Rubin's office to come and audition for for Phantom. And so I did exactly that. And and then I booked exactly that. And I and my audition was for Hal Prince and Jillian Lynn. They were both uh and and my audition what how crazy is this? My audition was at the Ambassador Theater where Chicago was playing.

[30:16] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my God, your first one.

[30:19] Sierra Boggess: Isn't that something? That's really something.

[30:21] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[30:22] Sierra Boggess: And Hal was so smart that he did his auditions on a Broadway stage. Because you audition differently when you're on a stage and it's seen differently. And it's just like that's so so smart as opposed to a cold small room, you know. Um, that was an absolute dream come true because that for me was a role that I was singing in my bedroom since the 90s. Um, and and I remember like writing in my diaries that I kept many a journal. Um, and just like I feel like this part is made for me. I remember feeling like that as I was working on it, and um, and it's important that I say too, our in Vegas we did 10 shows a week. So we were double cast. So there was another Christine and there was two phantoms. So there was two Christines and two phantoms, and you switched off. So I I performed with both Brent Barrett and Anthony Cravello as my phantoms. Um, and it was and it was like even like everyone did five every week. Five and five.

[31:23] Marc Tumminelli: Yes, five and five.

[31:25] Sierra Boggess: So it was um it was amazing. And I remember a moment of so because it was double cast when we did the opening night, like the big opening night of this thing, you know, they're all there and it's Vegas, and it was I mean, it was like a 90 million dollar production. It was absolutely gorgeous. Um, and that's including like with the theater being built for it at the Venetian and all this stuff. But I remember the way because they made a thing out of it because it's Vegas, so they um they flipped a coin for who would be the opening night Christine and Phantom, and it wasn't me. And I remember feeling I was I was disappointed because of course I would have wanted that, but I remember feeling inside that's like it's okay, something is gonna happen for me, like on a on a bigger scale someday.

That I remember feeling like that, and just in my inside. It wasn't something I said to anyone, it was just I just felt that. I was like, yeah, it's okay it's okay, like it's okay. Something else is gonna happen. And then of course and I don't know, I don't I don't even know who the other Christine was.

[32:40] Sierra Boggess: Um, just to just to put it in in perspective. The other the other Christine was a woman named Elizabeth Loya Cano. Um, and she was a beautiful, beautiful dancer. Um, she had mostly been known for that because that was um I can't remember what shows that she had just finished doing. Um, but she was like somebody people knew, and she was beautiful, like she was very um, I remember them saying like in her Christine stuff too, she looked very similar to like Sarah Brightman. She looked very similar to like big wide eyes and like the and like an ethereal quality to her. When did you realize that Andrew could was feeling something about your Christine that he was gonna change the course of your life slash Christine's story by having you become this this next Christine for this generation.

[33:37] Sierra Boggess: Oh, the first I I remember this very clearly so I was in Vegas and we were doing previews and um so we didn't have the opening night person yet or anything at this time but we were doing previews so we were switching off each night and Andrew had come to see a preview and I was on as Christine. I didn't know he was in the audience or anything so next thing we're getting notes you know as a company we're standing backstage after the show and we're getting notes from the director and and um and Hal wasn't there this was Hal was there but he wasn't the one giving notes at this time it was Artie Masella who was his who's his right hand man. So we're getting all these notes and next thing David Caddock who's the musical supervisor and conductor of the show he pulls me over to like off stage so everybody's like watching me leave the stage with David Caddock and it's because Andrew wants to meet me and so we go off and I have this moment with Andrew Lloyd Weber and he is telling me what an amazing job he thought that I did and and all this and I'm just freaking out you know I'm like 23 years old or whatever and thinking like this is the most amazing and I remember specifically David Caddock had just told had told Andrew that um I have perfect pitch and both my sisters have perfect pitch and we're all musical and like all this stuff, which Andrew found very interesting.

And like we just had this moment that was very nice. And that was that. Um, that was what that was. I didn't I so I knew that he really liked my Christine. Um, but then I didn't have any like interactions or anything with Andrew until a year uh and a half later.

[35:26] Sierra Boggess: Um, because then I went off and did Little Mermaid and no big deal. Made her Broadway debut as Ariel in a Little Mermaid.

[35:33] Marc Tumminelli: It's a pretty good Broadway debut.

[35:36] Sierra Boggess: Yeah.

[35:37] Marc Tumminelli: Yes.

[35:38] Sierra Boggess: Yeah. All right. So you you make your Broadway debut in Little Mermaid, and you hear from Andrew after that, and he says...

[35:38] Sierra Boggess: Well, not yet because so that was it. That was the only interaction I had ever had with him, was just that he saw me as Christine in Vegas and he thought it was very good. The next thing that happened was during Little Mermaid, I had an audition for Love Never Dies. And um it was, you know, it was any all the it girls of my like generation were there in the waiting room at at Telsey’s office, I remember. Um, and I remember that uh Andrew walked in with Glenn Slater, who was the lyricist, and Glenn Slater, who had been the lyricist as well on Little Mermaid, so I knew him.

[36:22] Sierra Boggess: Um, but I I said hi to Andrew as if he would remember me. I don’t know if he did, to be honest with you. I can’t imagine that he would have remembered me from like when I think about it. Um, but I went in and I did my audition and um I got a call back that day uh for it, and uh I remember when my callback was was for Jack O’Brien, the director. And I remember Jack saying in the audition when I came in and I sang my callback, and he said, I understand why Andrew just wanted to hear you sing all day. And so um I booked that. Um, I’m I’m rewinding for two seconds because I have to touch down a mermaid, and then we have to do some other things. But to obviously be a Disney princess and play Ariel and Little Mermaid, it it feels I felt like a cosmic moment that the show was starting out in Colorado and they needed someone who had some familiarity with skating.

[37:25] Sierra Boggess: Yes.

[37:25] Marc Tumminelli: And it just seems like Cody Benson, Jody Benson, voice of Little Mermaid, went to Millican.

[37:32] Sierra Boggess: Stop.

[37:33] Marc Tumminelli: It's like it's too many things.

[37:36] Sierra Boggess: You know, like the the universe aligns sometimes in a very crazy way. But um, did you go into that process being like, this is mine? It's too many things that are exactly where they're supposed to be.

[37:47] Sierra Boggess: No, not at all. I did my first audition for the I was it in Vegas playing Christine and I went to New York uh for my for like a vacation. Uh and I auditioned on sort of on a whim for it. And this was like October of 2016, and I heard nothing back. I had no callback, I hadn't I heard nothing. And I knew that they had been looking for about a year for an Ariel, and I was also hearing other friends who were having callbacks and all kinds of stuff, and so it just I I didn't think it was going my way, obviously. I go back to Vegas and um and I hear nothing. Then um about a month later, I get a call saying would would she come back in and audition um to cover Ariel and to be in the ensemble? And I told my agent no at that time.

I said, um, for some reason, I just didn't feel like that was how I was gonna make my Broadway debut, and I wasn't really interested in that. I honestly thought that I was going to what I wanted was to make my Broadway debut in Phantom. And I thought, well, this is what I would rather do is play Christine.

[39:01] Sierra Boggess: And I thought maybe I'll be the two a week Christine. Like that's how I was dreaming. I was like, well, I'd I would rather just wait to see if they'll transfer me from Vegas to, you know, because that's how they used to do things, and probably still do, I don't know. Like if you were on tour, then you get to be in maybe on in the Broadway company. So that's what I was like, I would rather just wait for that. And so I said no to going back in for that. And then cut to January of 2017, and I get a call that says, can she come back for a final callback for Ariel? And I'm like, final callback? I haven't even had one callback, I don't even know what the heck. And they said no, it like I thought that they were mistaken or something.

Um I'd also heard it had been cast, like it was a whole thing. And they said no. And I had to get there in four days. I remember my ticket cost $750. And I thought, uh, well, if I get cast, this will have, you know, been worth it financially, because then I'll get paid that money somehow. And so I flew. So I knew at that point that I'm being given a second chance. And I um I watched the film again, like uh as an adult, and I started looking at it as an adult of why do we love Ariel so much? What is it about this drawing? And I was like writing things down and giving myself all these notes and scoring my scenes and like analyzing her friendship with Flounder and like all kinds of stuff, like treating it like an exceptional like piece, which it is, and then um I learned that how they were doing the underwater stuff is on Healys.

So my dresser in Phantom has the same size feet that I do. She happened to have a pair of Healys. We rolled up the carpet in my dressing room in Phantom, and I practiced wheeling around on Healys so that I knew what it felt like to be in these things and navigate like how where do you put your feet, like all kinds of stuff. So cut to my audition then when I came back in, and I went in the room, and then it was two rows of people behind the table. It was all the Disney executives, and it was the director and all the and Alan Menken center, and um I sang part of your world, and then Alan went over to the piano and said, Can we try it in this key, which then became the Broadway key because my voice sounded high sounded younger up a step?

So that's why the Broadway key is up a step, and that's exactly what happened. Then and um Michael Coseran, who's the music director, he was like, Yeah, this is your key. And um it was so that's what happened, and then I was asked to wait outside, and I was in that callback for about four hours, and I read with Flounders. Um, there was four other girls as well that were in and out of things, but they kept uh I could tell that they really liked me because Stephen Muirror, the choreographer, he brought me up to a uh room and was teaching me the choreography and like all this stuff that nobody else was being taught that, like privately. Um, and then he came out also. I remember at one point and says, You ice skate, and I said yes, and he was like, Great, and went back in.

And I was like, So um I mean I could feel you feel it, like what that must have felt like in that hallway of like, yeah, oh my god, is this happening? Like, yeah, you're like, okay, but you still know that you have to keep showing up. So it's like, yes, you're ticking boxes, but you still have to stay focused with what you're there to do, which is to do the job, and so um, and you have other eyes on you, you have other girls there, and it's not over till it's over. So it's keeping that like attention on what you're there to do and not get too excited about something because you also don't know because these other girls had other callbacks, so you don't know if they're already, you know, if they're in favor and and all this stuff.

So, and that was the first show that I didn't book that night. They took, you know, the weekend, and I was like, oh god, I must not have booked it when I went back to Vegas and stuff. Because but that's normal. That was a normal way that you're gonna do it. Did your agent call you or did someone from the team want to call you to offer you that? My agent called me, and I remember her saying, and I was at the dentist's office, and I remember her saying, um, uh, they are you're like something like you're I I can't remember, but it was like, can you hold on a second? She had to click over. It was like she clicked over and then she clicked back, and she says, Ariel. And I was like, ah! And that's how she told me.

And I started crying. I mean, I was like, oh god. And I drove home from the dentist's office with my windows down, blaring. There are moments you remember all your life from Yentl. Oh, right. Always back to Barbara. Um how do you sort of deal with the overnight sensation of becoming a Broadway star? Literally one day nobody knows you, or at least New York audiences don't know you. And then the next day you're in blogs and people are waiting at the stage door, and you're a star. And I'll never forget sitting, I think at Billy Elliott across the street, and hearing you come out of the stage door that I could hear through the theater. Like, oh wow. It was, and I was like, oh, that girl's gonna be a really big star.

Like when you had come out. And so there was like it just felt like instant. And I don't know how a person handles it. Because I don't feel like because the because that was 2007 and eight. So it's not the same world that we live in now where it feels because we didn't have like a whole bunch, we didn't have social media really. And so I I the only way that I could know what was going on with what people are saying is if I read blogs, but I learned that uh lesson when I was in Denver in the tryout that you don't read it, because for me it was the first time, yeah. The first time that you could Google yourself and things come up, and it was like a few articles, you know, and but I learned that the hard way because as soon as you see people saying mean things about you, it now devastates you.

So I learned to not look at anything while I'm doing this, and I don't know how people deal with this now, like young kids coming, and it it feels more overnight than what I was experiencing. But also remember, I didn't grow up with like a stage door atmosphere or I didn't stage door really people. I didn't really understand what that was. So I didn't know that it was that people I didn't get the concept that people knew who I was for for a while. Um, until I started it still kind of weirds me out, like getting recognized on the street was the first time that I started realizing, but it wasn't like what we live in now, where people really know what you look like out of makeup, you know, because I didn't have like long red locks of like of the wig.

People didn't really know what I looked like necessarily out of all the aerial stuff. So I wasn't getting really recognized until later. I mean, it's just like a wild thing to be an overnight Broadway star. Yes. To play such an iconic part and had never and to have never been on Broadway before. Yes, but I think that's what saved me, Marc, is because I didn't understand I knew that I had a huge job to do, but because you you're ignorant to all the other stuff, you're just saying yes to everything. And it w I was putting so much pressure on myself because I didn't want to be the one who ruins Ariel for people. Well, you made it, you made it for a lot of people too. So you you you were brilliant in that show, and it was such a dream to have that as my introduction to this girl who I am the biggest fan of.

And obviously, after you know, we go we do Love Never Dies, which is a really big moment to be part of the phantom sequel, which I saw you do and it was before I knew you. And um, I I loved that show. I thought it was so it was so interesting. And then obviously that show remounted as Love Never Dies 2.0 in the West End. You're in both of those versions. Yep. Right. Yes. Same and then um I think I saw 2.0. And then you have the 25th anniversary concert, which we love to call your DVD. Yes. Yes, and then of course, you did Phantom on Broadway's the 25th anniversary, Christine. And you have like honestly touched a generation of young women, especially that have seen Phantom for the first time through you.

And I have seen it uh, you know, in our classes and all kids from all around the world and teenagers and women, and they just have such a passion about Christine, but specifically your Christine. And I wonder what you think that is. I think partly it's because they're seeing when you're getting to see it on film, so you're getting close-ups of what I am feeling and yeah, but they're not talking about Emily Rosson or whatever. They're talking about that. You just blew my whole thing up. I'm sorry, it's because it's not just because they're seeing your face, and so what you're what you're doing, it's what your eyes are doing, sister. Well, then you can you can answer the question for me. Well, like you must know that like the world loves to see you in that part, like if there's something I know because I get told that probably more than anything.

Um, and that it really, and especially during this pandemic, I will say the amount of people um that were saying this like that's like this the 25th anniversary is like saving their lives. That blows my mind. That's like um, I never feel more honored when I hear something like that. That's like I I feel glad that something I did did get recorded in a way that people are seeing it and they're responding to it. And I will also say for me, that night that that is recorded is one of my most connected favorite nights I ever had on stage. And I am so glad that it was filmed because I wasn't thinking about anything else except being like uh the what Christine is going through in this time. That's what I was thinking.

You are remarkable. If you've not watched the 25th anniversary DVD, buy it, pay for it, pay for it in full. Although now it's like you can stream it. I know, you just watch on YouTube. But just watch it. It is so good. I was never really honestly a super phantom fan. It just didn't do it for me for whatever reason. And then until I honestly saw you do it, and I was like, oh, I get why this show is so good. Like that's cool. I needed that's cool. I needed Sierra Boggess in it. I needed uh I needed your fabulousness. All right. We have so many things to talk about, and we kind of have to start wrapping up. But you are truly one of the most brilliant concert performers I have ever seen. If you ever have the opportunity to see Sierra sing live, go because you're also kind of a brilliant writer.

You create these unbelievable concert cabarets where you're telling such beautiful stories in wildly entertaining ways. And I'm wondering if there's like more writing ahead for you. If that that's something you're because that is a skill that a lot of performers do not have. Uh I don't ever think about it as like writing. I just think about like uh what do I want to say about this? And that's it. That's it. So I don't feel I don't even consider myself a writer, or that's something that I want to do, but I'm very uh particular about my show because if you're coming to see Sierra Boggess in concert, it won't I want it to be my voice, whether I'm speaking or singing. So I think that's that's where it comes from is that I just want to be in control of like jokes and stories that I tell.

And it it's so good. You're so good at it. It's like thank you. I I think you're like you're a master class on how to put together a cabaret act, friends. Thanking you. If you're I'm thanking you. Now what is like coming down the pike for you? I know you've been involved in so many shows that were like in development pre-COVID and lots of things that could come in. Um what's like other than becoming the world's greatest ice skater? Um, what what else are we looking forward to? Well, I just realized I can say this because we're the Thanksgiving episode. Yes. So I'm telling you, and the people these things. Um, so Julian Ovenden and I just released an album, a studio album, um, on November 19th.

[52:08] Sierra Boggess: Um, everybody uh can stream this and uh and it's it's really exciting because this is something we recorded in studio on two different sides of the world.

[52:20] Sierra Boggess: Um, and it's classic and contemporary musical theater duets, and uh I'm just really excited to have a new album out and with one of my favorite people to sing with.

[52:31] Sierra Boggess: He's an incredible singer, and um, he lives in London, and I live here at SwyR uh in New York, and that's why our album is called Together at a Distance.

[52:40] Sierra Boggess: Yeah, so yeah.

[52:42] Marc Tumminelli: And will you guys like tour that or do some that's what we're hoping?

[52:46] Sierra Boggess: Yeah, what we're hoping to do is some touring.

[52:49] Sierra Boggess: It's been tricky to put that part of things together just because of COVID.

[52:53] Sierra Boggess: But once venues are starting to know if they can do more things like this, then that's the idea is to be able to tour in the UK and to tour in the US.

[53:05] Sierra Boggess: So I I'm very I'm grateful for that album.

[53:08] Sierra Boggess: I can't wait.

[53:08] Sierra Boggess: I'm very, very excited.

[53:10] Marc Tumminelli: All right, so this is Thanksgiving.

[53:11] Marc Tumminelli: So I want to talk about the people or you know, whoever Sierra wants to talk about that you are thankful for today that helped you get to where you are, or helped you over some sort of hurdle, or helped you realize how that you're the most brilliant person.

[53:26] Sierra Boggess: Oh my god.

[53:28] Sierra Boggess: You're in well, I guess we start for sure.

[53:33] Sierra Boggess: Since we talked about her so much, for sure, I always talk about Nancy Priest.

[53:39] Sierra Boggess: Um, she for all the reasons that I said, and also she is and now one of my dear friends, and has always uh believed in me and was hard on me, and I do well with that combination of things.

[53:54] Sierra Boggess: Um she is she is somebody who uh I definitely wouldn't be here without.

[54:00] Sierra Boggess: Um, and also my family, uh my parents paid for college, which is something that you don't realize how grateful you are until you're an adult and paying for things that's like oh wow.

[54:14] Sierra Boggess: Um, you know, and they've they have always been incredibly supportive, probably terrified that I was doing this for a living, but supportive in terms of coming to see everything and getting excited.

[54:26] Sierra Boggess: My sisters, I wouldn't be here without them.

[54:29] Sierra Boggess: No question I would have survived life on any level growing up without them.

[54:35] Sierra Boggess: And to this day, they're um I I always say they're way cooler than I am.

[54:39] Sierra Boggess: They're just quieter.

[54:40] Sierra Boggess: So you don't but they're so much more interesting and like so much cooler than I am.

[54:47] Sierra Boggess: Um and then in my in the industry, I was very fortunate that Hal Prince and Jillian Lynn gave me my start, and they became like surrogate grandparents to me.

[54:58] Sierra Boggess: And Hal and I used to get lunch together.

[55:01] Sierra Boggess: I used to go to his office in um uh Rockefeller and we were and I would go pick up Hal, you know, and then we would go get lunch and talk about life.

[55:10] Sierra Boggess: We wouldn't, it's not even like showbiz.

[55:13] Sierra Boggess: It was just um just talking like friends, and he absolutely believed in me when I was that young to give me that chance to play Christine and um and Gillian and and I became extremely close and um she I miss them so much.

[55:33] Sierra Boggess: There's so many times, especially during this, you know, pandemic and stuff, I wonder how they would have handled things.

[55:40] Sierra Boggess: And when I saw Phantom again the other night, I just thought of them so so much.

[55:46] Sierra Boggess: And so you know what?

[55:47] Sierra Boggess: That's honestly the answer to the question of why do you think people respond to my Christine?

[55:52] Sierra Boggess: Because Jillian Lynn and Hal Prince are in the DNA of every single thing that I'm doing.

[55:57] Sierra Boggess: That's the answer.

[55:58] Marc Tumminelli: That's amazing.

[55:59] Marc Tumminelli: And what a what uh what an absolute dream to get to know those two people and have them in your they helped me get to where I am list.

[56:07] Marc Tumminelli: It's no question.

[56:09] Sierra Boggess: Because if it wasn't for them, nobody uh you know, I'm I wouldn't have been cast in in that.

[56:14] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[56:15] Sierra Boggess: So I'm very grateful to them.

[56:17] Sierra Boggess: Very grateful.

[56:18] Marc Tumminelli: You're you're just an absolute dream, Sierra Boggess.

[56:21] Marc Tumminelli: And you know I you know I adore you.

[56:23] Marc Tumminelli: I am also very grateful to you.

[56:25] Marc Tumminelli: And you know, all those people that help theater kids out, you know, when they're they don't know what to do.

[56:31] Marc Tumminelli: And I had a theater on Long Island called the stage that sometimes has some questionable shows.

[56:36] Marc Tumminelli: But they're the heart there is huge.

[56:39] Marc Tumminelli: And they welcomed me in as a little kid and Tony Georgian, who's past and Joe Morrow, who's still running that theater, are just like, you know, dream people who let me live at their theater for four years of high school, and I was there every weekend and all like it just I was very lucky to have that that space.

[56:55] Marc Tumminelli: And every you know, music teacher that seeks out a kid, Bonnie Utsick was my uh fifth grade music teacher, was the first time someone was like, You have really good ear, you sing night, you know, like the person that that seeks out sort of helping a young person figure out maybe there's a world in the arts for them, and I think they're those are really uh very special people in my life, and I'm very grateful to them this Thanksgiving and every Thanksgiving.

[57:18] Sierra Boggess: Amen.

[57:19] Sierra Boggess: Every day.

[57:20] Marc Tumminelli: Every day, okay.

[57:21] Marc Tumminelli: We have to do quick fire questions really quick.

[57:23] Marc Tumminelli: Are you ready?

[57:24] Sierra Boggess: Okay, really quick.

[57:24] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, so just go with your first instinct, first audition song.

[57:30] Sierra Boggess: Uh Reflection from Mulan.

[57:32] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[57:33] Marc Tumminelli: Something you have turned down that you had second thoughts about.

[57:36] Sierra Boggess: Oh, um uh uh turning down Prince of Broadway, actually.

[57:41] Marc Tumminelli: Fill in the blank.

[57:42] Marc Tumminelli: Andrew Lloyd Webber is a genius.

[57:46] Sierra Boggess: Uh I'm skipping the next one.

[57:48] Sierra Boggess: Um it was strangest stage door interaction, and we just don't have time for it.

[57:51] Marc Tumminelli: Well, I can say I can I can do that quick.

[57:54] Sierra Boggess: Yeah.

[57:54] Marc Tumminelli: Great.

[57:54] Marc Tumminelli: Strangest stage door interaction.

[57:57] Sierra Boggess: Um, when a kid gave me a fork off of the table for a little mermaid, a dingle hopper.

[58:02] Marc Tumminelli: They gave me an actual fork.

[58:03] Sierra Boggess: That's very sweet.

[58:04] Sierra Boggess: And I'm thinking like their parents are like, where's this one fork?

[58:07] Sierra Boggess: Why do I why do I only have 10 forks?

[58:11] Marc Tumminelli: An artist you would like to work with that you haven't.

[58:15] Sierra Boggess: Wait, one more time.

[58:17] Sierra Boggess: Jim Carrey.

[58:18] Marc Tumminelli: Jim Carrey.

[58:19] Marc Tumminelli: Tell us one thing about performing for the Queen of England.

[58:23] Sierra Boggess: She had the most beautiful skin I'd ever seen.

[58:25] Marc Tumminelli: Ooh.

[58:26] Sierra Boggess: Not one fork.

[58:27] Marc Tumminelli: Do you not one fork?

[58:29] Sierra Boggess: Not fork.

[58:30] Marc Tumminelli: Do you watch The Crown?

[58:32] Sierra Boggess: Yes.

[58:33] Marc Tumminelli: That's so good, right?

[58:34] Sierra Boggess: Yeah.

[58:36] Marc Tumminelli: What revival would you like to star in?

[58:36] Sierra Boggess: If you could pick anything, we'll give you all the money.

[58:40] Sierra Boggess: Secret Garden.

[58:41] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, yes.

[58:43] Marc Tumminelli: Putting it out.

[58:43] Sierra Boggess: Your favorite Barbara song.

[58:45] Sierra Boggess: He touched me.

[58:47] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[58:47] Marc Tumminelli: Favorite Barbara album.

[58:50] Sierra Boggess: Oh God, why do you make me do that?

[58:53] Sierra Boggess: She's looking at the Barbara Streisand wall in her home.

[58:55] Sierra Boggess: Wall, because I don't.

[58:56] Sierra Boggess: Well, I guess I'm quite nostalgic about butterfly, the butterfly album.

[59:00] Marc Tumminelli: All right.

[59:01] Marc Tumminelli: What is your go-to album for a car trip?

[59:05] Sierra Boggess: Uh, I don't I just do a playlist.

[59:08] Sierra Boggess: I do a crazy playlist, which consists of like Barbara Streisand and Cardi B.

[59:12] Sierra Boggess: And Linda Edder.

[59:14] Marc Tumminelli: Linda Edder.

[59:15] Sierra Boggess: Yes, Linda Edder.

[59:16] Sierra Boggess: I'm thankful for Linda Edder.

[59:18] Marc Tumminelli: I'm I'm thankful for Linda Edder every day.

[59:20] Sierra Boggess: Amen.

[59:21] Marc Tumminelli: Um she's brought a lot of joy into my life.

[59:23] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[59:23] Marc Tumminelli: Tell us one thing about working with Tyne Daly.

[59:26] Sierra Boggess: Oh, she's the she's the wisest.

[59:28] Sierra Boggess: She has more wisdom than I mean, she has so so so much wisdom.

[59:33] Marc Tumminelli: Who's your number one favorite Broadway leading man?

[59:37] Sierra Boggess: Oh my god.

[59:39] Sierra Boggess: That's a really hard number one favorite Broadway leading man.

[59:44] Sierra Boggess: How do I answer that, Marc?

[59:46] Marc Tumminelli: I can't quite fire that.

[59:47] Marc Tumminelli: No, all right, forget it.

[59:48] Marc Tumminelli: We'll say Norm Lewis, Norm Lewis.

[59:50] Sierra Boggess: Normally I mean, of course you're gonna say Norm Lewis.

[59:52] Sierra Boggess: That's your daddy man.

[59:53] Marc Tumminelli: My daddy, my daddy and weird lovers.

[59:56] Sierra Boggess: You're weird phantom.

[59:57] Marc Tumminelli: Um my dad a weird phantom.

[59:59] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[1:00:00] Marc Tumminelli: Um if Patty Lapone was to play Carlotta, would you go back into Phantom?

[1:00:05] Sierra Boggess: Yes.

[1:00:05] Marc Tumminelli: Yes.

[1:00:06] Sierra Boggess: Okay, great.

[1:00:08] Marc Tumminelli: Even if she didn't, yes.

[1:00:09] Sierra Boggess: Oh, yes, okay, great.

[1:00:10] Marc Tumminelli: I'm sure they'd love to have you.

[1:00:12] Marc Tumminelli: Um, can you name two real housewives?

[1:00:15] Sierra Boggess: The Countess Luanne Delices, who was at the Phantom Reopening the other day.

[1:00:20] Sierra Boggess: I saw her in the DJ box with Andrew, with Lord Andrew, and that is as crazy as the world can get.

[1:00:27] Sierra Boggess: The craziest.

[1:00:28] Marc Tumminelli: Um, and then I want to pick someone from like another from another.

[1:00:32] Sierra Boggess: Oh, I like Sonia too.

[1:00:34] Sierra Boggess: Love Sonia Morgan.

[1:00:35] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[1:00:35] Marc Tumminelli: Do you do any impressions?

[1:00:38] Sierra Boggess: Well, Ace Ventura Pet Detective.

[1:00:40] Sierra Boggess: That's why I want to work with Jim Carrey so bad.

[1:00:43] Sierra Boggess: Because I want to do, I want to play like the female Ace Ventura, a pet detective.

[1:00:47] Sierra Boggess: How are you this afternoon?

[1:00:48] Sierra Boggess: Alrighty then.

[1:00:51] Marc Tumminelli: Um, all right.

[1:00:52] Marc Tumminelli: Is there a TV sitcom family you would like to be a part of?

[1:00:57] Sierra Boggess: Oh God.

[1:00:59] Sierra Boggess: I mean, I wanted to be a part of modern family.

[1:01:01] Sierra Boggess: Yeah, I mean, just for the residual.

[1:01:04] Marc Tumminelli: Um does Fontaine, this is the second time I've asked this question on this podcast.

[1:01:09] Marc Tumminelli: Does the does your Fontaine Bullet Boy when in Act Two have a name?

[1:01:14] Sierra Boggess: Yeah, Marge.

[1:01:16] Sierra Boggess: So when they put me on, for some reason, they already had like enough bullet boys, so they put me on as a bullet woman, and her name I called her Marge.

[1:01:25] Marc Tumminelli: I love it.

[1:01:26] Marc Tumminelli: Um, if you can go back in time and see, I think I know what the answer is.

[1:01:29] Marc Tumminelli: You can go back in time and see any Broadway show.

[1:01:31] Sierra Boggess: Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl.

[1:01:32] Marc Tumminelli: Great.

[1:01:34] Marc Tumminelli: Did you have braces?

[1:01:36] Sierra Boggess: Yes.

[1:01:37] Sierra Boggess: And I changed the oh you changed the colors?

[1:01:40] Sierra Boggess: Yeah, remember you could change the colors.

[1:01:42] Sierra Boggess: Like I looked forward to that every two weeks or whatever that was where you could have like red, white, and blue for July 4th or whatever.

[1:01:48] Marc Tumminelli: Oh right.

[1:01:49] Marc Tumminelli: Have you seen Diana on Broadway?

[1:01:52] Sierra Boggess: No, I have not.

[1:01:53] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, Sierra, I can't wait.

[1:01:55] Marc Tumminelli: Um, I can't wait to talk about it with you.

[1:01:57] Marc Tumminelli: It's really it's a sensation.

[1:01:59] Marc Tumminelli: Um, who makes you starstruck?

[1:02:02] Sierra Boggess: Uh Barbara Should I say?

[1:02:04] Sierra Boggess: Yeah.

[1:02:05] Sierra Boggess: I know you want probably a different one.

[1:02:07] Marc Tumminelli: No, I'm good with that.

[1:02:08] Marc Tumminelli: That's your number one.

[1:02:09] Sierra Boggess: Have you ever seen a ghost?

[1:02:11] Sierra Boggess: Yes.

[1:02:12] Sierra Boggess: Yes, because Milliken is haunted.

[1:02:14] Sierra Boggess: Millican is like there's something about it, there's books written about it.

[1:02:18] Sierra Boggess: Haunted Millican.

[1:02:19] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, yes.

[1:02:20] Marc Tumminelli: Yeah.

[1:02:21] Marc Tumminelli: Did you see the musical ghost?

[1:02:23] Sierra Boggess: No, because I was doing Lemon 9.

[1:02:25] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, it was good.

[1:02:26] Marc Tumminelli: Um, where would you take Jim Carrey to dinner?

[1:02:32] Sierra Boggess: To a Mexican restaurant.

[1:02:33] Sierra Boggess: Any any place that is like whole in the wall Mexican food in New York.

[1:02:37] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[1:02:38] Marc Tumminelli: Um, what musical?

[1:02:40] Marc Tumminelli: Um, oh no, wait.

[1:02:41] Marc Tumminelli: What musical are you okay with never seeing again?

[1:02:41] Sierra Boggess: With never seeing again.

[1:02:46] Sierra Boggess: Well, any mm, I don't know.

[1:02:48] Sierra Boggess: I can't answer that.

[1:02:49] Sierra Boggess: My Disney training doesn't allow my Disney training doesn't allow me to answer that.

[1:02:52] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, I've had some had some Disney stars on this, and they're like really good at answering questions.

[1:02:57] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, a couple more questions.

[1:02:59] Marc Tumminelli: Have you ever left a show at intermission?

[1:03:02] Sierra Boggess: Yes.

[1:03:02] Sierra Boggess: In Mermaid, I did.

[1:03:03] Marc Tumminelli: Oh, you went out at intermission.

[1:03:06] Sierra Boggess: Yeah.

[1:03:07] Marc Tumminelli: Have you ever seen a show?

[1:03:09] Marc Tumminelli: You don't have to say what it is.

[1:03:10] Sierra Boggess: Great.

[1:03:11] Sierra Boggess: I will not say, but yes, I did.

[1:03:13] Sierra Boggess: Great.

[1:03:13] Sierra Boggess: And yes, I left one.

[1:03:17] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[1:03:17] Marc Tumminelli: What movie can you watch over and over?

[1:03:20] Sierra Boggess: Uh What's Up Doc, starring Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neill.

[1:03:24] Marc Tumminelli: Oh my god, it's so good.

[1:03:25] Sierra Boggess: And Madeline Kahn.

[1:03:26] Marc Tumminelli: What advice?

[1:03:27] Sierra Boggess: Have you ever seen Judy Berlin?

[1:03:29] Sierra Boggess: It is the greatest Madeline Kahn movie that no one knows.

[1:03:32] Sierra Boggess: But I have a DVD.

[1:03:33] Sierra Boggess: I'll bring it over.

[1:03:34] Marc Tumminelli: Okay.

[1:03:34] Marc Tumminelli: Okay, DVD.

[1:03:35] Marc Tumminelli: What advice do you have for young performers?

[1:03:38] Sierra Boggess: Never let anyone take your joy away from you.

[1:03:41] Marc Tumminelli: And Sierra, my last question, are you enough?

[1:03:45] Sierra Boggess: I am so enough.

[1:03:46] Sierra Boggess: It's unbelievable how enough I am.

[1:03:48] Marc Tumminelli: And for you.

[1:03:50] Sierra Boggess: No, you are.

[1:03:51] Marc Tumminelli: Sierra, tell the people where they can follow you.

[1:03:53] Sierra Boggess: www.sierraboggess.com or on Instagram or on Twitter, on Facebook.

[1:04:00] Marc Tumminelli: All my name folks.

[1:04:02] Marc Tumminelli: Sierra, I I love you.

[1:04:03] Marc Tumminelli: I'm like literally in love with you on stage, off stage.

[1:04:06] Marc Tumminelli: You are a magic human.

[1:04:07] Marc Tumminelli: God spent a little extra time on you.

[1:04:10] Marc Tumminelli: And we're we're really lucky we have you on earth.

[1:04:13] Marc Tumminelli: So thank you for taking the time to do the Little Me podcast.

[1:04:16] Marc Tumminelli: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there.

[1:04:19] Marc Tumminelli: We'll be off next week, which is actually Thanksgiving.

[1:04:22] Marc Tumminelli: And then we'll be back the first week of December with a brand new episode.

[1:04:25] Marc Tumminelli: Sierra, I love you.

[1:04:26] Sierra Boggess: Thank you.

[1:04:27] Sierra Boggess: I love you.

[1:04:28] Sierra Boggess: Thank you.

[1:04:29] Marc Tumminelli: All right, I'll see you all next week.

[1:04:30] Marc Tumminelli: What a gift we are.

[1:04:32] Marc Tumminelli: Woo!

[1:04:33] Marc Tumminelli: Goodbye.

[1:04:36] Marc Tumminelli: Thank you, listeners.

[1:04:37] Marc Tumminelli: This podcast is produced by Alan Seales, Dory Berenstein, and the Broadway Podcast Network.

[1:04:43] Marc Tumminelli: And edited by Derek Gunther.

[1:04:45] Marc Tumminelli: For more information on the Little Me podcast, go to bpn.fm slash little me.

[1:04:50] Marc Tumminelli: And follow me on Instagram at Marc Tumminelli or on Twitter at thatTuminelli.

[1:04:54] Marc Tumminelli: And for more information on workshops, classes, and everything Broadway Workshop, go to BroadwayWorkshop.com.

[1:05:00] Marc Tumminelli: Thank you for listening.