Broadway's Sierra Boggess knows that an artist's life doesn't only exist on stage!
While Boggess is currently starring in the world premiere of Jason Robert Brown and Taylor Mac's new musical Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in Chicago, she's also been spending quite a bit of time at the skating rink. A Denver native, Boggess started skating at the age of 4, but her competitive career was put on pause at the age of 12.
While high school cliques may divide athletes and the artists, Boggess is proof positive that the combination can be a recipe of true creativity. It can even be an ace in the hole! Boggess' skating skills gave her the edge when she made her Broadway debut as Ariel in The Little Mermaid (which famously choreographed the underwater delights on Heelys).
"When I got a call back, I went out and bought a pair and started practicing. At the call back, most people were in them for the first time and were falling, while I managed them as gracefully as I could and did not fall," Boggess shared with US Figure Skating. "The choreographer came over to me and asked me about my special skills on my resume that included ice skating. They kept me there for, like, five hours, and my skating was something that helped me to get that role and make my Broadway debut.”
Boggess returned to ice skating during the pandemic as a way to express herself artistically while maintaining social distancing. Now, four years later, she's even returned to competing, earning a Bronze medal at the 2024 U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships. For Boggess, it isn't a matter of turning off her theatre brain to step into an atheletes focus, or vice versa: she choreographed her winning routine to Barbra Streisand's cover of "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Boulevard!
If there's ever a Broadway revival of Starlight Express, we hope to see Boggess on the stage in skates again.
Check out photos of Boggess' medal-winning routine below.
Below, see Boggess on the ice. And remember: The only thing that separates an athlete and an artist is intention. It doesn't have to be an either or! As Boggess shows, you can be both.
