For those lucky enough to call Sierra Boggess their friend, sister, colleague, a former colleague, teacher or otherwise, they get to experience a ray of sunshine each and every day. The Broadway star is headed to our shores in a few months but we got to chat with her in the lead up to her arrival. While her voice will give you goosebumps let’s just say she is so much more than just a singer and dancer.
We are so excited to have you come to Australia and share your wonderful talents with us. How does this show reflect your journey as a performer so far?
This is my first time to Australia so I wanted to be sure I’m giving my fans in Australia what I’m known for, so of course they’re gonna get Phantom of the Opera and Disney. My sister is coming over too, she’s my cellist so she’ll be featured quite a bit as well.
You’ve achieved some of the most amazing career milestones and to a lot of performers, they would be bucket-list worthy. What is number one on your bucket list (career or personal)?
I don’t know? There are so may things but to be honest, coming to Australia was on my bucket list so that’s it right there.
Have you got a fair idea of what you want to do?
I want to see a lot of Australian animals. I’m a huge animal lover; I’m a vegetarian, I’m a huge advocate of adopt don’t shop, so animals are one of the biggest and favourite things in the whole world. I want to experience everything. It’s so cool cause everyone here loves Australia so much! I haven’t met one person who’s said, “oh you’re gonna really hate it there.”
As I was going through your social media I began to feel that you’re very inspiring and inspired, and you like to motivate other women. What keeps you in high spirits and grateful every day?
When I came to Broadway and started doing all the shows I love and my dreams were coming true, I suddenly realised the world I was living in where social media is a thing and I have this platform. Because my Broadway debut was The Little Mermaid I have a young fan base, and so I realised how important it is to take care of myself, do positive things, and read inspirational things so I can pass on something and make a difference to the new generation.
I do yoga daily and meditation so that I cleanse all the stuff away and negative energies. It’s so important because I can’t do my best and I can’t reach people the way I’d like to if I’m cluttered. It’s as important to me as being able to sing and dance. I didn’t know going into this industry that it was going to become a thing, but started reading and was completely inspired, and the way I thought about the world changed. I love teaching master classes and talking to the new generation about this stuff, things I wish I’d known when I was their age.
I think we live in an age now where people are striving for perfection and it’s literally killing them, so I’ve come up with #PerfectlyImperfect where we are all perfect but we’re perfectly imperfect, and that’s the most amazing thing about it. Of course, my war cry is what most people know me for, and that’s “You are enough, you are so enough it’s unbelievable how enough you are.” This is and my concert is called the You Are Enough Tour especially in the world we’re living in now.
I really respect your outlook and how you’ve decided to use your platform. I think it’s a powerful thing what you’re conveying. How though do you handle a title “the best”? We all know Andrew Lloyd Webber coined you as the best Christine, but with that word comes a lot of pressure. How do you handle that on a daily basis, especially when you have the younger generation looking up to you and striving to be “the best” in such a competitive industry?
I’m very grateful to Andrew. I have a long history with him. People’s opinions are relative though and I’m certainly not “the best” Christine to everyone so it’s honestly not a pressure. I love Christine in unhealthy amounts! I love that show and Christine so it is my absolute pleasure to honour her every time. When I’ve done the show and sung her songs it doesn’t feel like pressure but the biggest joy of my life, and it makes me so happy that Andrew loves the way I portray a character we all love.
I like to play a few funsies just to get to know you a little better so: Tell me about your cats! They’re all over your Instagram!
They have like 6,000 followers on Instagram [laughs]! They are the best! They’re both rescues; one we found on the street in New York as a kitten huddled on a subway grate and we took her home. She was three weeks old. The other one some idiot left outside in a plastic bag. They are the loves of my life. My sister and I love the musical The Color Purple so my grey cat is called Celie and the other is called Nettie (they’re sisters) and then my other cat Olivia is named after Celie’s daughter.
If you could have dinner with someone dead or alive who would it be and why?
I came up with a table of people the other day. It was the most amazing group. I’d have Barbra Streisand, Wayne Dyer, Brené Brown, Ellen DeGeneres and Jim Carey. I don’t even need to say why. That’s it!
You worked on the French version of Phantom of the Opera, so do you speak French fluently or any other foreign languages?
No! I learnt French for that production and now I can speak it conversationally but before I knew none at all. It was so cool cause when I was learning it was like this part of my brain was being dusted off and reminded of how to do that. I hadn’t tried to learn another language in so long.I’d feel exhausted by the time I came home from a show though cause my brain had been working on a whole other level. I have such respect for those who speak other languages.
Go-to karaoke song?
Anything Brittany Spears cause you can’t take it too seriously. I also used to sing a lot of Kelly Clarkson.
What is your fondest memory growing up with your two sisters?
We played music together all the time. I played the flute, my little sister played the oboe and my older sister played the cello. So we’d play trios together, sing together; we did everything together. We’re all two years apart so we’re very close. Also growing up in Colorado, there’s tonnes of nature so we’d go hiking and camping. My childhood is my sisters, and fond memories with my two best friends.
Sierra Boggess is performing in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne in June. For tickets and further details, head here or here.
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