Broadway, film and television actress Krysta Rodriguez made a return to her alum Orange County School of the Arts to share her talents and mentor eight high school students for a musical performance in the 18th annual “Performing With the Pros.”
The virtual show premiered Friday, May 21 at The Frida Cinema’s pop-up theater and can also be viewed online. Rodriguez teamed up with a group of Broadway pros to reimagine the yearly production with arts students all over the country, including OCSA and California School of the Arts, San Gabriel Valley.
Students and professionals worked together via Zoom for several months before eventually having the opportunity to work in person. Rodriguez said the new format had its challenges, but it was also more special than past years because they had the opportunity to spend more time together.
Recently, Rodriguez can be seen in the Netflix miniseries “Halston,” playing the role of Liza Minnelli. Her Broadway credits include “A Chorus Line,” “Spring Awakening,” “In the Heights” and Julie Andrews’ regional production “The Boy Friend.”
Rodriguez shared her experience working with the eight talented females she was grouped with for “Performing With the Pros.”
You’re phenomenal as Liza Minnelli in ‘Halston.’ What was it like playing such an icon?
Nerve-wracking for sure. But in a good way. It was a really fulfilling experience and it took a lot of work, so it felt like I had done something hard and made it to the other nice, which was nice.
I know that you’ve worked with your alum OCSA (Orange County School of the Arts) for several productions. What did it mean to you to be working on this virtual show with the next Krysta Rodriguez’s?
Oh, they’re like they’re better than the next Krysta Rodriguez. These kids are so talented. They’re so driven. They’re so focused. What I loved about being at OCSA was being around so many like-minded people and being around the students that had goals and dreams and were willing to do whatever it took to achieve them. And those are my people. So I’m always very, very happy to go back, and I learn a lot from them. They’re incredible. And it’s always been really exciting to me to keep re-articulating what I believe so that I can share it with them. It’s always helped me just as much as I hope that it helps them.
Gosh it’s been 10 years ago, or so that I had done ‘Performing with the Pros’ myself and I got to do this new experimental version with so many people. And as a pro in general, it’s a big challenge. It’s a huge undertaking for both the pro and for the students. And this was an even bigger undertaking. We just did not know how it was going to work and it ended up being great. So I’m thrilled.
Do you feel the virtual format created a different kind of bond between you and the students?
Yeah, you definitely get to spend more time with them, which is great because the normal process is only three weeks and this was about four months. And there’s less of them. Last time we had 35 students, and in this one, because we all got to be separate with our own groups, I only had eight students. So you get to be a little more focused with them. Unfortunately, because of the social distance zoom aspect of it, you get less, one-on-one real life connection time because everyone is on mute and it’s a little harder to get to know everybody. Plus some of the students didn’t know each other either because they were from the two different campuses. So just all trying to get to know each other from all different parts of the world. It was really great when I was able to come out there and spend a couple of days with them in person. And that really changed the game. Like it catapulted us forward into a tighter bond really quickly.
What is the theme of this year’s ‘Performing With the Pros’?
There actually was not an overall theme of the show. So each pro got to take a small group of people and do whatever they wanted. David Burnham did the whole opening number of ‘Into the Woods’ with the students, which was spectacular. And some people did songs from ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Godspell.’ So they got to develop it all from the beginning.
So in the casting process, I was being really drawn to people who played their own instruments. And it so happened they were all women that I ended up passing. And so I really wanted to explore their ability to play instruments and their ability to write and arrange songs themselves because so many of them used original songs for their audition. I teach a lot and I go visit schools and programs and stuff a lot, and people always want to know what I wish I would’ve known when I was their age. And so what I wish I would have known was that there’s like beauty in the mess and there’s strength in being imperfect, and don’t wait for the right time to speak up; start speaking up sooner and louder. And especially now, I feel that passionately about women in the industry. And so I decided I have this rare opportunity to spend four months with eight women who I get to maybe try to form and set on a great path to go out into the world, and the business and in their professional life. So I really took that to heart.
So the sort of arc of the piece is what you would call women power songs. Like ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and ‘I’m Just a Girl’ by No Doubt and ‘Girl on Fire’ from Alicia Keys. And we did these sort of acoustic versions where the girls kind of tried to rearrange them themselves. I conceived the medley and then gave them sort of parameters, and they conceive the covers themselves and towards the end of the piece I come in and join. I wanted to sort of change the narrative from girl to woman. And so we finished the medley with ‘Grown Woman,’ the Beyonce version, and sort of pulled them into their power.
What do you want people to take from this show?
I was excited about the idea of kind of showing the people around these ladies – their families, their friends, the people who are closest to them in their lives – to start framing them as women and allowing them to step into their power. So as much as I was trying to encourage the girls themselves, I was also hoping that their parents might watch it and say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re such a capable woman and I’m ready to let you take the lead into the next phase of your life.’ And that the people around them that maybe didn’t know how powerful they were would see that. So that was a huge thing for me that I would sort of think about when I was making the piece; like how special will this be to the people around them who are watching it.
For more information, visit www.ocsarts.net
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