Interview: Sierra Boggess Talks Personal Influences, Upcoming Projects and Her LESSONS IN LOVE Concert!

Broadway Arts Factory will soon present Broadway leading lady Sierra Boggess in Lessons in Love on Sunday, April 21, 2013. Lessons in Love is a very special evening in which Sierra Boggess shares her love of life, the theatre, and some very special people who influenced and changed her life forever. Realizing that the answers are within, this journey reveals inspirational moments, from humble beginnings to the bright lights of Broadway. Tickets are still available, and can be purchased HERE.

Boggess recently chatted with BroadwayWorld about the upcoming concert, her biggest influences, upcoming projects, and more!

How did this concert come about?

It all came about because Ben Hartley and Amanda Edge are running Broadway Arts Factory, which is what this concert is going to to raise money for. Ben and I worked together in THE LITTLE MERMAID and Amanda and I worked together in PHANTOM, so that's pretty cool already. And they asked me if I'd do a cabaret to raise money for their organization, and when they talked to me about the program it felt so personal to me and I thought, "Yes, this is what I believe in." When I'm not performing 8 shows a week, I love, love, love teaching. I'm always doing master classes and stuff, and basically that's what Ben is doing. That's what Broadway Arts Factory does- it teaches kids who have dreams of being on Broadway.

I have never done my own cabaret before, and that was only because I never knew what I wanted to do it about, and in conjunction with. This just seemed perfect. 'Lessons in Love' eventually became the title. I'll just be going through my life up to where I am today, and honoring the teachers that have taught me amazing lessons, and my grandparents- there are so many people.

Can you reveal anything from your set list?

Obviously there will be some songs that I think people will want to hear from me. They're gonna get some "Part of Your World," and obviously some Andrew Lloyd Webber, but maybe not in the way that they would think. There will be some Rodgers and Hammerstein because that's some of my favorite stuff to sing. Everything that I've chosen coincides with some sort of story of something that relates to what we are all there for. And I won't be taking myself too seriously.

It wasn't too long ago that you were the same age as these kids at the Broadway Arts Factory. What advice would you give to the kids who have dreams of someday having a career like yours?

I always start my classes with a quote that one of my teachers gave to me (she's one of my best friends and still my teacher today): "You are enough, you are so enough, it's unbelievable how enough you are." At seventeen that meant one thing to me, and now it means even more. I pass that along because it's the simplest way of reminding ourselves that that just by showing up, you're enough.

Even having that quote with me at seventeen, I still had so many ups and downs. I was always thinking, "I should be more this, or less that." We're put on this earth to create, so for these kids who are dying to be on Broadway, it's because that's were their creativity wants to be put.

Your concert description teases that you'll be 'sharing your love of life, the theatre, and some very special people who have influenced and changed your life forever.' Who are some of those people that have influenced you personally and professionally?

One of the people is my high school drama teacher- her name is Nancy Priest. She taught this inner city high school I went to in Denver, Colorado for 30 years. She was an amazing person. Obviously I will talk about Barbra Streisand- she was always my role model. I never wanted to be her, but I wanted to emulate how fearless she seemed to be. She was my absolute obsession. I'll also be talking about my grandparents. My grandpa was in World War II and they wrote love letters to each other that I still have. They were married for over sixty years before they both passed away, and that's the love to me that is just unbelievable.

You recently got to perform with Michael Ball in the Andrew Lloyd Webber Easter special. What was that experience like?

I'm so grateful to Andrew for everything because my very first part was 'Christine' in Las Vegas. So I'm always so honored to be a part of anything that honors him. Having now done 'Christine' in 3 different places, I feel like I've come full circle and completed a dream. But getting to sing it with one of the greatest 'Raouls' of all time, and 'Marius', was amazing! I just felt so lucky that night. And Michael is one of the most openhearted and beautiful-spirited people, and MAN can he sing!

Do you have any other projects coming up?

Something I'm really excited about is that in the month of June I'm going to be doing concerts in Japan with Lea Salonga, Ramin Karimloo, and Yu Shirota- who is a Japanese pop star. We're basically just singing the stuff that we're known for and I'm so excited because I love those people and I'm so excited to get to sing with them.

And I'm also being brought in to teach for a lot for different things like The Broadway Workshop and Broadway Artists Alliance. And I'm finding myself so inspired, because I remember being that age so well. I wanted to give back as much as I can to them, and give as much insight as I can. I'm enjoying that so much right now.

The performance begins at 7:30pm on April 21 at The Riverside Church (91 Claremont Avenue New York NY 10027). Tickets are still available, and can be purchased HERE.

All proceeds will benefit Broadway Arts Factory, a 501(c)(3) educational institution devoted to the training of triple threat musical theatre students. The mission of Broadway Arts Factory is to provide professional musical theatre training to students aged 11 to 18, irrespective of their socio-economic status, helping them to fully realize their dream of one day being on the Broadway stage.