Sierra Hall - Musical Theater Performer

Let's take a trip to California to hear Sierra Hall's amazing story. She's 21, always smiling and passionate about musical theater!

@sierradawnhall on Instagram

“I started doing musical theatre when I was 9 years old—it’s always been my dream. Musical theatre is both acting and singing, so I sing a lot as well. I consider myself a mezzo-soprano (slightly lower than the highest range). A few months ago I moved to New York to pursue musical theatre and it has been a great experience just auditioning and stuff like that. I’ve been doing some background acting (being an extra on set) and it’s pretty good money; they pay you and they feed you on set as well. There are some clips of tv shows where I’m there, and I’m like ‘this is me!’. I can’t fully say that I’m an actor yet, but I’m getting there (laughs).

I love doing comedies. In NY I did a little comedy sketch show called The Sketch of New York, it was so fun! I’m trying to go more that direction with my acting. The most recent show I’ve done though is called Newsies and I got to play Katherine Plumber, this powerful woman amongst news boys in the 1920’s and that was a really fun show too! But I’d definitely say my favorite show I’ve ever worked on was Into The Woods at Inspire School of Arts and Sciences (her high school). That show was actually the first musical I’d ever heard, I remember my mom used to play it on the radio when I was a kid. When I did the show, I got to play the scary witch and I loved that (laughs). I just loved it so much too because I was surrounded with people that I really loved, my closest friends to this day.”

How was your life back in New York City?

“I lived in a hostel type of situation where there were like 20 women living in this one apartment. It was crazy (laughs). There were bunk beds in each room and stuff, so I had that kind of crazy life but I love those girls, we had such a good time together! So that was like home. So I would wake up everyday really early at like 5 or 6 a.m. to get on the subway so I can commute to Starbucks. That was the way I made money in NY. After Starbucks, I would probably do errands. I’d have to run around, print out my headshots, I would go to an audition maybe. I did a lot of auditions. They would be like in Times Square. It was just so cool to commute to Times Square and join the community of New Yorkers who were all going somewhere. So maybe an audition and then, since I’m 21, I’d hit the NY night scene which was really fun. I got to meet some cool people doing that.

And you know, when I would do background acting, that’s a whole entire day. Like I would not be able to work at Starbucks that day because I’d be on set for like 12 hours (laughs). It was pretty cool too. There would be sometimes celebrities on set because they’re working on the show. I don’t know if you Anna Kendrick? She’s like a big musical theatre star, she’s awesome! And I actually got to be an extra in her tv show called Love Life that's coming out. And I didn’t know it was her show when I got called. So when she was on the set, I was like MIND BLOWN! (laughs).”

Why is musical theatre important to you?

“I think there are a lot of stories to tell you know. Especially in times like this (the pandemic), people need a distraction, something to entertain them. I think that's my purpose in life—to be an entertainer and to be that escape for people. And while it’s an escape, it’s also a way to teach people. You can learn a lot by watching a musical and I think that’s really cool. It’s such an engaging and spectacular thing that you can teach little moral lessons since you have their attention. There are a lot of different musicals with lots of direct morals. It’s fun to dive into that. I think it’s really important. And you know, my favorite musicals always make me sob (laughs). I think I’m a really emotional person and that helps me as a performer.

What is your advice for other aspiring musical theatre professionals?

I would say don’t let the haters get to you, you know. I feel like musical theatre is wonderful but sometimes it can be a little cutthroat (nervously laughs). A lot of times people are very smiley and animated cause they’re theatre people but then secretly they’ll take you out for the role, you know what I mean? (laughs) So just love yourself. Be aware of that competitiveness, still be kind, but just do you. You’re basically just trying to do this for yourself. You don’t have to worry about other people or compare yourself to other people. I’d say, just focus on building your skills and just be nice. Things can get messy sometimes but you’ll get through it and break a leg! (laughs)

On Instagram: @sierradawnhall