From Stage to Screen and Back Again, PLL & BLUE BLOOD's Vanessa Ray's Musical Moments

Whether you know her as the increasingly complicated serial murderer "A" on ABC Family's PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, or as half of "Jamko" on CBS crime drama BLUE BLOODS, chances are, unless you are a dedicated musical theatre fan, you might not know that Vanessa Ray is a musical theatre girl at heart.

Before joining the cast of soap opera AS THE WORLD TURNS, which jump-started her TV career, Vanessa starred in regional productions, national tours, and on Broadway in shows like FOOTLOOSE, SPELLING BEE, and HAIR. Along the way, she became friends with Broadway's favorite singing, dancing videographer Andrew Keenan-Bolger, whom we have to thank for a lot of these videos!

So, while Vanessa is thriving on two very different shows on screen, we would love to see her back in her musical theatre roots soon; perhaps alongside her best friend and fellow Broadway alum (and GENERAL HOSPITAL Emmy nominee) Kelly Sullivan?

---

HAIR 2009-2010

Vanessa made her Broadway debut replacing Allison Case as Crissy in the 2009 Revival cast of HAIR. While the video is grainy, and doesn't feature her main song "Frank Mills," you can see Vanessa in the HAIR cast's three-song performance on the CBS EARLY SHOW in November 2009:

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE 2007-2008

Before joining the cast of HAIR, Vanessa was on the road with the National Tour of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE as Olive Ostrosky. Fortunately for us, her Leaf Coneybear was Andrew Keenan-Bolger, who never goes anywhere without his video camera. Vanessa is a regular fixture in Andrew's SPELLING BEE Blog, and he captured Vanessa singing the "Eduardo" by Marc Smollin and Kelly DuPuis at a BC/EFA Benefit while on the road:

While this clip doesn't include her singing, it does feature Vanessa talking about Olive:

FINDING NEMO: THE MUSICAL 2007

I live in Orlando, Florida, and while I try to avoid the theme parks as much as possible, if I do go, one of my favorite attractions is FINDING NEMO: THE MUSICAL at Disney's ANIMAL Kingdom. The 40ish minute musical was written by Oscar winners Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Vanessa opened the show as the original little clown fish.

THE BATTERY'S DOWN 2008

Before Andrew co-created the beloved webseries SUBMISSIONS ONLY, he was a cast member on Jake Wilson's THE BATTERY'S DOWN, and Vanessa appeared on three episodes. In one episode, Vanessa is part of the cruise-inspired number "Sea Legs" (the song starts at about 6:45).

While no one is in a swimsuit in this video, here is an HD version of the song from last year's THE BATTERY'S DOWN Reunion Concert at 54 Below.

---

Ferguson & Jamail Showcase 2009

The couple has performed together multiple times, including at Broadway Rhythm & Booze, and at a showcase for the work of Ryann Ferguson & Steven Jamail. The couple dueted on "Come With Me" from the musical CLARISSA:

THE GIRLY SHOW...RETURNS 2008

While I don't know that anyone will ever supplant Whitney Bashor's performance in the first professional production of the show, Vanessa delivers a remarkably heart-breaking rendition of the song "Perfect" from Pasek and Paul's EDGES (also recorded by AKB):

Although the lighting makes it tough to see each singer's face, Vanessa is part of an all-star "All Girl Band" singing the song from the musical A...MY NAME IS ALICE. In addition to Vanessa, the band includes Jessica Hershberg (Fontana), Susanne Layton, Ana Nogueira, Dana Steingold, Jessica Waxman, Natalie Weiss, and Hele'ne Yorke. The song starts around 2:10:

So, which performance is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter @BWWMatt. If you want to follow along with my "366 in 366" articles, you can check out #BWW366in366 on Twitter. Also, don't forget to follow @BWWTVWorld on Twitter and Like us on Facebook for all of the latest TV news, reviews, and recaps.