"An evening with Sierra Boggess" at Musical Theater Heritage's Quixotic Theater is a delightful way to spend any evening. For those of you who may not be familiar with her, Sierra is one of Broadway's reigning leading ladies. She is best known as the originator of Ariel, "The Little Mermaid" and as Christine in a number of Broadway and London productions of "Phantom of the Opera."
Sierra was also Andrew Lloyd Webber's choice to create the role of Christine in the original production of the "Phantom" sequel "Love Never Dies." American audiences outside of New York will know her Christine best opposite Phantom Ramin Karimloo from the PBS twenty-fifth anniversary concert version of "Phantom" performed at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Sierra has been booked at Musical Theater Heritage for over two years. Her two night appearance here has been delayed and rescheduled several times by the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic. How did Kansas City rate this big time Broadway star into such an intimate venue? I'm not sure of the whole story, but It turns out that Sierra is a Midwestern girl from Denver. This booking turns out not just to be an "Evening with Sierra," but an evening with a good portion of the entire Boggess clan.
Sierra's folks, Kellen and Michael, flew over from Denver to spend a couple days with their daughters. They were seated as members of the audience. Sierra's sister Summer Boggess and Summer's husband, Brian Hertz, joined her on stage as an excellent cellist and a super-pianist on the grand piano. These two wonderful musicians form Sierra's orchestra.
The evening consists of Sierra and her orchestra onstage sharing her incredible talents with favorite music from shows she has starred in, personal musical choices, and stories from her life. And that is enough. We get to know a lot about Sierra's family and her Mom's family. It is warm. It is charming.
Sierra's voice is impeccable. Her soprano is as pure as any it has ever been my privilege to hear. The way she supports the sound, and the way she demonstrates technical control of sound placement so far forward, is remarkable. Sierra sings each and every note deliberately with tremendous attention to lyric. The lady is an incredible technician meant in the best way. Every sound that comes out of her is exceptionally intentional. She absolutely knows what she is doing. Sierra was blessed with an excellent set of pipes, but she has put in the work to maximize her blessing.
The stories are intimate to her, but not programmed or scripted. They are delivered in a way that allows you to at least to think you know a bit of the person inside this excellent performer. These are mostly family stories delivered knowing Mom and Dad are in the house. As someone with a daughter close in age to Sierra and Summer, I think you guys did a heck of a job.
Photo courtesy of Tim Scott..
"An evening with Sierra Boggess" unfortunately just has Saturday, September 18 to run in Kansas City. If there is any way, you can catch that final performance here, I can't recommend it highly enough. Limited tickets may still be available on the Musical Theater Heritage website, www.musicaltheaterheritage.com or at the box office inside Crown Center, 816.221.6987.
Sierra's next booking is at home in Denver with the Colorado Symphony on Saturday, September 26.
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