Exclusive: Andrew Lloyd Webber on How to 'Solve a Problem' Like Sierra Boggess!
Sierra Boggess’ debut album drops in December, and the Broadway.com Audience Choice Award winner granted us an exclusive look at what two musical theater legends had to say in the liner notes of her Live at 54 recording! Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber penned his solution to the Sierra Boggess "problem" while director and producer Hal Prince labeled the leading lady one of the "most talented and intelligent artists in the musical theatre today."
Both Broadway icons have had a long working relationship with Boggess—she has appeared in Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Prince, on Broadway and in Las Vegas, as well as the London premiere of the musical's sequel Love Never Dies. Her other Broadway credits include The Little Mermaid and Master Class and she starred alongside her fiance, Tam Mutu, in Les Miserables in the West End. In June, Boggess toured Japan with Phantom star Ramin Karimloo, Lea Salonga and Yu Shirota in their concert series 4 Stars: One World of Broadway Musicals. She will play an encore engagement at 54 Below December 2 through 7.
Read on for comments from Lloyd Webber and Prince, and watch for the release of Live at 54 next month!
Andrew Lloyd Webber:
How do you solve a problem like Sierra? Or more precisely, how do you describe her? For a start you can’t pigeonhole her. She has one of the most sublime soprano voices I have ever worked with. She has perfect pitch which means she never sings off key. Her vocal control and power are combined with an emotional intensity only a real actress can bring to a role.
And there is her fantastic chest voice. Combine this with her wicked wonderful sense of humour and you have a girl so far removed from the stereotype image of a young soprano that you can hardly believe it is the same person. She is a director’s dream.
What unites the infinite sides of Sierra is that she is equally an infinitely nice person. She is the absolute opposite of a fair weather friend and that is saying something in the too often bitchy world of musical theatre.
Sierra is a one-off, a true original, someone who I cannot wait to work with again if she will allow me to. How do you solve a problem like Sierra? Just listen to this CD.
Hal Prince:
Sierra Boggess is one of the most talented and intelligent artists in the musical theatre today. She has an amazing range—a crystal-clear soprano and she can belt with the best of 'em. Add to that, she's as good and true an actress as I've ever worked with and all of this talent is delivered in a beautiful package. Her debut album—a live recording—includes material by Richard Rodgers, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, Giacomo Puccini, Kander and Ebb, Jerome Kern, and, although I'm afraid I'm too lazy to find out who wrote "I Don't Care," it's hilarious. In a word: Sierra Boggess is the best.
