Adriana Ruiz-Sorrentini Shares Why She Loves the Collaboration of Theatre - Next on Stage

The Next on Stage competition is narrowing down and we got the chance to chat with the contestants still in the race to win the grand prize!

Adriana Ruiz-Sorrentini, a 2021 graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, keeps stepping up her performances every week with her beautiful house that the judges love serving as her backdrop!

What does musical theatre mean to you?

To me, musical theatre is the most complete form of storytelling and imagining. I grew up in a very small town in Puerto Rico, but the musical theatre stage served to transport me wherever I wanted to go, and transform me into whoever I wanted to be. I love that it's such a collaborative and collective artform, and that through it, everyone involved accompanies each other. We live intensely, and for a while, there is something that gives us the feeling of truly existing.

Share a memory from seeing a show.

The first live musical I ever saw was a production of Les Miserables that ran in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I grew up listening to the score and fantasizing about playing ANY of the female roles in it (because I was obsessed with all of them), and my wonderful mother surprised me with tickets for Three Kings Day. To say that walking into that theatre changed my life would truly be a gigantic understatement. I had a real full circle moment when, a few years later, I was cast as Fantine in a production of Les Mis at my Performing Arts School, and yet another full circle moment when my parents took me on a trip to NYC, with the intention of taking me to see my first ever Broadway show. And what show was that? The 2014 Broadway revival of Les Miserables, of course! I sat in the second row, next to a girl who told me it was he 24th time seeing the show. I was sixteen, and I cried from beginning to end. I was so, so happy.

What is your favorite musical and why?

I would have to give that title to Les Miserables - that show has consistently been a reminder of why I do what I do and fight for what I fight for. Because I've loved it for so long, there are very little moments in the score that I can listen to without starting to tear up. It's definitely not an obscure choice, but it's a universally-loved story of rising against injustice and loving others through pain, and that's just utterly poetic, as well as incredibly inspiring to me as an advocate.

Want to see Adriana in the top 5? Vote for her HERE!

Inspired by your favorite network TV singing contests, the site invited high school and college aged students to submit videos of themselves performing a song from the musical theatre canon to enter the competition.

Voting for the top 5 is now open! The nominees have submitted all new songs for you to listen to before casting your vote!

Voting for High School will close at 11:59 PM ET on Wednesday, June 17th. Voting for College will close on 11:59 PM ET on Thursday June 18th.

Then tune in for the results LIVE as the judges watch the performances and pick someone from the bottom three to be saved to compete for the top 10! Live shows will air Thursday at 8 PM (high school) and Friday at 8PM (college.)