SCHOOL OF ROCK's Sierra Boggess Speaks Up On Social Media, Arts Education and Being A Woman In Theatre

"Tyne Daly always said to me that there's a difference between being a star and being a leading lady, and she's not interested in being a star, but being a leading lady is interesting... Being a leading lady where I need to take care of the company, but I have to maintain taking care of myself in order to do that."

Sierra Boggess made her Broadway debut at age 26, taking the final bow as the title character in THE LITTLE MERMAID; a role that was certainly the lead, but it would have been too early to regard her in the strictest sense as a leading lady.

But after impressive supporting turns in MASTER CLASS and IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU, along with positive notices as a replacement Christine Daaé in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA after originating the same role in the West End premiere of the musical's sequel, LOVE NEVER DIES, Boggess comes into her current assignment as Principal Rosalie Mullins in School of Rock as one of Broadway's more popular and accomplished young leading ladies.

And as such, she's learned about handling herself in a business dominated by men, as she explains in an interview with The Interval:

"Wayne Dyer (the late self-help author and motivational speaker) has the most basic quote ever where he's like, 'When you're on a plane, you have to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others.' It's so basic, but it's how to maintain that and how to stand up for what you want. I found that a lot in this show. It's all men behind the scenes: a male director, a male producer. And there are a couple of women-a female choreographer, JoAnn Hunter, and she's so awesome-and we have two executive producers who are female. And it's who showed up in my time of need-it was the women. I think we think about that a lot, how we maintain taking care and also stepping up and doing your thing at the same time. But to go back, I think that people have opinions about me and maybe how I ask for what I need because I'm a woman-and, you know, as soon as you ask for what you need you're a diva. If a man asked for what he needed, there's not a word for that. But we can be difficult if we're asking. So maybe people in this industry have formulated an idea of who I am, but I haven't come across that yet. I also don't like to separate men and women, but it's a very male heavy industry and most of the time you're going to have men running the show. I think it actually makes me a stronger woman and I like to be the person people can come to for how to handle this stuff."

She's been a big Barbra Streisand fan since childhood and insists that any complaints about music legend being difficult to work with come from her being a woman who speaks up for herself. Boggess uses her admiration for Streisand to fuel her character's passion for Stevie Nicks.

"We're celebrating rock and (lead male character Dewey) references all of these different people within the show that are his inspirations, and Stevie Nicks is the only female represented in the rock world. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it.... And I think that's, subconsciously, what Rosalie Mullins is relating to is this woman who has paved the way... She's the head of one of the most established, prestigious schools and all of the other teachers are older than she is. And as a woman to be holding this up and the responsibilities and the pressures that she's under to show up a certain way, that informed how I walk and how I talk. That goes back to the [idea of] coming from a place of truth. All of the expectations that there are on her, as a young woman, to be running a school of that caliber, it's a lot."

Another element of SCHOOL OF ROCK that greatly appeals to Boggess is its focus on the importance of arts education.

That's one of the things that I love about doing this show at this time, because we can't lose the arts in schools. We just cannot. I would not have graduated school had I not had my drama program or my music program. My sisters are both musicians. My little sister teaches music at a school in Afghanistan, so that's how important music was to all of us in my family growing up. My mom taught music as well for a while at schools. It's just been part of my life and I can't understand how it's even an option to take it out of schools. It helps the creative process so much-and even math skills, learning how to tell time signatures-it's all related. I'm a huge advocate for music in schools. It's weird to me that someone came up with the idea that it shouldn't be. I also hate that people have to choose between sports and music. A lot of kids get into theatre or get into sports because they had to make a choice and I don't understand why you can't do both things."

As a Broadway performer in the 21st Century, Boggess is among the theatre's first generation of stars that maintain contact with their fans through social media, and it has made her aware of her influence on young lives.

I feel a responsibility to my fan base because I started out as Christine Daaé in Vegas' THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and people know me as Christine because that's continued on throughout my life. And Christine Daaé represents the woman who can love the unlovable-this is all me, this is what I've concluded-so I have a certain fan base who's like, 'Sierra loves the unlovable,' because they can't separate the character and me."

Then my Broadway debut is playing Ariel. Ariel represents the girl who is born in the wrong body, the wrong time, the wrong world-psychologically that's so f-ing huge. So I would start getting letters from girls who had eating disorders and who had tried to kill themselves. And not just girls. Boys and girls. Boys who struggled with being gay. All of these huge things. And I was like, "How do you deal with this?" And I really thought about, "How do you deal with this?" because I can't write back and be a therapist. And I thought, what they're responding to is who Ariel represents to them. She is the princess who represents becoming who you are. So when I realized all of this, I didn't like it at first. I wasn't prepared for that kind of attention. Then, once I realized what it was, I was like, I can handle this by just writing one thing... 'You are enough."... Because I had written that quote down from years ago and I revisited. I was like, 'That's what this is,' this message is for everyone because no matter what you're dealing with that quote is super universal. People now associate that quote with me, and even at the stage door people are like, 'Can you write 'You are enough' on here?' And that I love more than anything.

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Based on the smash hit 2003 film of the same title, School of Rock: THE MUSICAL, with music from the movie, as well as an original score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Glenn Slater, a book byJulian Fellowes and direction by Laurence Connor, made its World Premiere on Broadway December 6 at the Winter Garden Theatre.

Joining Alex Brightman as "Dewey Finn" and Sierra Boggess as "Rosalie Mullins," are Spencer Moses as "Ned," Mamie Parris as "Patty,"Evie Dolan as "Katie," Carly Gendell as "Marcy,"Ethan Khusidman as "Mason," Bobbi MacKenzie as "Tomika," Dante Melucci as "Freddy," Brandon Niederauer as "Zack," Luca Padovan as "Billy," Jared Parker as "Lawrence," and Isabella Russo as "Summer."

SCHOOL OF ROCK - THE MUSICAL follows Dewey Finn, a failed wannabe rock star who decides to earn a few extra bucks by posing as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. Completely disinterested in academic work, Dewey decides to create his own curriculum, turning his class into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band.