Much has changed in the life of 2000 George Washington High School graduate Sierra Boggess.
“Yes, indeed,” Boggess understated in her first interview since being named to play Ariel in the Broadway-bound Disney musical “The Little Mermaid,” which first bows at Denver’s Ellie Caulkins Opera House from July 26 through Sept. 9.
On Feb. 22, Boggess was flown to New York and introduced as Disney’s newest princess. On March 11, she sang the National Anthem before a Las Vegas NASCAR race to a live audience of 142,000 – plus 6.1 million more on national TV.
“Pretty cool, isn’t it?” said Boggess. “This is absolutely the most thrilling thing, and the fact that it will be happening in Denver is unbelievable.”
Boggess will continue playing Christine in the Vegas “Phantom of the Opera” through May 13. Then six weeks of “Mermaid” rehearsals in New York, the world premiere run in Denver and finally, in November, her Broadway debut.
“Every little girl sings in her bathtub, dreaming of being Ariel,” she said. “It really is my favorite Disney movie of all time, and Ariel is my favorite Disney princess. My family is so excited – especially my sisters. We all grew up loving that movie.”
Sierra is the middle daughter of Mike Boggess and Kellun Turner. Older sister Summer is a cellist in New York who helped prepare Sierra for her “Mermaid” audition. Younger sister Allegra is a piano-performance major at the University of Colorado. “We’re all kind of musical,” Sierra said, “and we all grew up loving that movie.”
Boggess first auditioned for Ariel in October. Her final, nerve-racking (and winning) audition lasted five hours.
“I walked in there very prepared, and I walked out knowing that I gave them absolutely everything I had,” she said.
Then, the blur: In New York, she met fellow Disney stage stars Ashley Brown (“Mary Poppins”) and Josh Strickland (“Tarzan”). “Both were telling me they’ve been there, in this position where all the sudden your life is a complete whirlwind. It’s cool that I could talk to them about it, so I feel like I’m coming into this with support.”
That support system extends to Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in the 1989 animated film, who long ago inspired Sierra to pursue her master’s at Benson’s alma mater, Milliken University in Decatur, Ill. It also includes G.W. drama teacher Nancy Priest. (“But I will never call her Nancy,” Sierra says. “She’s Ms. Priest.”) Also Denver voice teacher Bob Downard (“He taught me how to belt”) and everyone at the Colorado Children’s Chorale, where Sierra once performed (“I’d like to be a role model to those kids while I am in Denver.”)
But life won’t really turn topsy-turvy until New York. “Nothing has really changed yet – except that I’ve made a bunch of new friends. People are kind of coming out of the woodwork,” she said. “Right now, it’s all anticipation.”
She can’t even imagine yet what it will be like to walk (swim?) out on that Ellie Caulkins stage on July 26.
“I really hope I will be able to just take it all in and love every second of it,” she said. “This is what I’ve worked for my whole life, so to be able to just appreciate the moment would be all that I could ask for.
“All the stars are kind of lining up for me … and now I have to do my part.”
“The Little Mermaid” tickets are on sale at 303-893-4100.
Briefly …
Beloved Denver Center Theatre Company alum Bill Christ is making his Broadway debut in the ensemble of “Inherit the Wind.” The Rev. Brown is being played by longtime DCTC star Byron Jennings … No official announcement yet, but it’s pretty much a done deal the DCTC’s “1001” will get a New York staging this fall by P73 Productions…
Oops: Last week we reported the National Theatre Conservatory’s new class of 2010. The incoming student named Scott McLean is from Utah — he’s not the prolific young Denver actor starring in Miners Alley Playhouse’s “Tuesdays With Morrie.” … The Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s Sam Sandoe reports there was another local actor performing at the Humana Festival April 6-7 in Louisville, Ky. Gregor Paslawsky, star of Craig Wright’s prison drama “The Unseen,” graduated from Fairview High School in 1974 and is a CSF alum …
And finally: It feels like it never left, but “Menopause The Musical” returns to the New Denver Civic Theatre from Friday through June 17. The first time around, the show sold more than 450,000 tickets. The cast: Julie Ann Cadwell, Dee Etta Rowe, Mary Louise Lee and Cherie Price (call 303-309-3773).
This week’s theater openings
TUE-MAY 13 | Arvada Center’s “Do I Hear a Waltz?”
WED-APRIL 28 | TheatreWorks’ “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” | COLORADO SPRINGS
THU-MAY 5 | Theatre 13’s “Once Upon a Time: The End” | BOULDER
THU-JUNE 3 | Victorian Playhouse’s “Dead Man Walking”
FRI-JUNE 17 | New Denver Civic’s “Menopause, the Musical”
FRI-APRIL 29 | Performance Now’s “Gypsy” | LAKEWOOD
SAT-MAY 26 | Firehouse’s “Red Herring”
SAT-MAY 19 | Paragon’s “How We May Know Him”
SAT-MAY 5 | Coal Creek Community Theatre’s “The Mousetrap” | LOUISVILLE
This week’s theater closings
TODAY | Fine Arts Center’s “The Complete History of America Abridged” | COLORADO SPRINGS
TODAY | Cabaret Dinner Theatre’s “The Full Monty” | GRAND JUNCTION
TODAY | Modern Muse’s “Seascape” (at the Bug Theatre)
TODAY | Boulder Ensemble Theatre’s “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” and “Savage in Limbo” (Dairy Center) | BOULDER
SAT | Denver Center Theatre Company’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” (Space Theatre) and “Pure Confidence” (Stage)
SAT | Curious’ “A House With No Walls”
SAT | Calif. Actors Theatre’s “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” | LONGMONT
APRIL 22 | Backstage’s “Hidden” | BRECKENRIDGE
APRIL 22 | E-Project’s “Sylvia” | LAKEWOOD
