Interview: Sierra Boggess Shares Details About Upcoming Radio Free Birdland Concert and More!

Whether you're a fan of Sierra Boggess' from The Phantom of the Opera, The Little Mermaid, or her ever-inspiring Light Lessons series, the effervescent performer infuses beautiful energy and warmth into everything she does. On Friday, November 13 at 7pm, Boggess will be stepping into the spotlight for a special concert taped in the Birdland Theater, and presented exclusively on BroadwayWorld.

In her first time back on stage since the start of the pandemic, Boggess reunites musically with her sister Summer Boggess on cello and brother-in-law Brian Hertz on piano, to treat viewers to stories and songs, including "Come to My Garden," "Think of Me," "Beyond My Wildest Dreams," "Love Never Dies," and more.

You can purchase tickets to the virtual event HERE!

We spoke with Boggess about stepping back on stage, what viewers can expect from the concert, how practicing gratefulness has gotten her through this difficult time and more.

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Let's jump right in! How does it feel to be able to perform during this time?

When we filmed it, it was the first time I had walked onto a stage of any kind since the pandemic [started]. And it just felt like being home again. I feel so grateful to have the Birdland platform to be able to sing and do what I do and make music again.

Have you watched the concert yet?

I haven't watched it, I'm going to watch with everyone. It's the closest to live performing in terms of, I did the show and then it's done. You don't get to go back and review your work when you're performing live, and so I'm looking at it like that. I don't need to critique it before it happens because what I did in the moment, what we did in the moment, is what everybody's going to get to see, and I'm really excited about that.

Does the concert have an overarching theme?

A bit, yes! When this pandemic happened, I stayed in New York for two months or three months, and then I went to Colorado which is where I'm from, and I was there for two months. So, I talk about the awakenings I had while I was there, while I was immersed in complete nature. The message of this, is just to help people feel a little better, a little brighter during this time when there's so much uncertainty, but to also encourage people that if you are present with where you are, there is so much to discover. I talk about specific moments that happened, I got addicted to climbing fourteeners towards the end of my time in Colorado, which is crazy, because I'm saying I'm addicted to climbing, but I've only climbed two! Now I'm obsessed, I want to climb all the fourteeners in Colorado, but I had to come back. So I talk about my discovery of what it's like when you do climb a fourteener and you get to the top, and how similar that is to what we're going through in this time and in this year.

What are you most excited for people to see and hear? What can people look forward to hearing you sing?

They can expect stuff from The Secret Garden, because everybody knows that I love that show, was involved in that show. I think that show, for me, is the ultimate... it's like, God, I wish Broadway was open for all the reasons that we wish it was open, and I wish that The Secret Garden could be one of the shows to open us back up because the message of it is that the earth heals us, and that the spirit world is here with us to help heal us, and to find this joy outside.

I close with 'Love Never Dies' from Love Never Dies, which I did in London, and it's been really interesting, a lot of people are dying to hear that music as well, from Love Never Dies, I think just because simply it's called that. Right before I went out onstage for this concert, I had just gotten a call from a friend whose husband had just passed, literally right before. And I met these people when I was doing Love Never Dies, and I thought, "You know, I know what I have to go and do, I know that I am going to sing that final song for him, for her, and for everybody who has lost someone during this time, and everybody who hasn't, who is rediscovering what real love is."

I sing from The Little Mermaid...Also, what I love is that I do this with piano and cello, it's my brother-in-law who is my pianist and my sister on the cello.

How did it feel to be reunited in song with your family?

It's awesome! They picked me up to rehearse and we were all in masks, and it's just fascinating, from masks to being able to be onstage together creating music... and my brother-in-law arranged all of it. I mean, they're my family, but people also know them in the Broadway community because they are Broadway musicians. Just to get to play music together again, it was really a special time for us. It just felt so good! It felt like the old times. The last time we were on stage together was in London, we had just performed a concert at Cadogan Hall in February. February 2nd was the last time that I was on stage for a live audience, and that was with Brian and Summer, and he arranged that. So, yeah, it was amazing and crazy and sad and joyous all at the same time!

You have been continually putting out amazing content, from your duets with Julian Ovenden to your Light Lessons videos, do you have anything else coming up you would like to share with us?

The whole Light Lessons thing has become really cathartic for me and for everybody. I'm doing a Light Lessons giveaway on the day that this concert airs. I just feel like giving, it's just what I feel like doing! And Julian and I are still recording a lot of stuff together that we're hoping will be a full-fledged album eventually. Light Lessons are online and they're free on my YouTube channel and on my Light Lessons page on my website, and I want to encourage people that if they're feeling down, if they feel they don't have somewhere to turn, head over and look at an episode. I had amazing guests on, who gave their time and brilliant inspiration, so I would encourage people to keep checking out the content!

You are a very spiritual, positive person, can you share some of the things that are getting you through this time? Do you have any light and wisdom to shine on the rest of us?

It's funny because I know this is coming out online, everything is online, we're glued to our screens, but something that's been helping me, is when I wake up in the morning, I do not look at my phone first thing. I do not look at a screen first thing. I go as long as I can without looking at a screen. I want to offer that, because we know that we are overwhelmed with screen time, and it helps us to stay fully present and to remember that things are 3D! I would encourage people that if you start feeling overwhelmed, maybe just look away from all of that for a second, look around. My final episode of Light Lessons is called Gratitude Practice, and I have a notification that comes up on my phone every day at a certain time that I chose, and it says, "What are you grateful for?" And then I stop, and make myself say, "What am I grateful for?" It can be anything. It could be "I'm grateful for this popcorn I'm about to eat," or "I'm grateful for the socks I'm wearing," or "I'm grateful for this friend that I talked to today," or "I'm grateful for these lungs that breathe." You just go. And I offer that, because when I have found myself in very dark places during this time, the only thing that got me out was remembering to be grateful. I do think it is a practice, I think that we have to make ourselves remember what to be grateful for.

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You can purchase tickets to Sierra's Radio Free Birdland concert HERE!