Making Space: The Musical Theater Performer

In Making Space we talk to several of the notable people who call New York home about their lives their work and how the city has shaped them Actress and singer Jamila Sabares-Klemm spoke to us about moving here to chase her dreams landing her Broadway debut in an acclaimed Sondheim revival and how COVID changed the city s theater landscape Courtesy of Jamila Sabares-Klemm In Making Space we talk to certain of the notable people who call New York home about their lives their work and how the city has shaped them Want to suggest our next subject Email editor citylimits org Every year countless hopefuls move to New York City with the goal of latest into the arts and entertainment industry Jamila Sabares-Klemm is among them The Filipina-American activist actor and singer came to the Big Apple years ago to as she puts it pursue my dream It s paid off last summer she made her Broadway debut in the highly acclaimed star-studded revival of Stephen Sondheim s Merrily We Roll Along Sabares-Klemm has appeared in numerous other productions including a national tour of Hair and a staging of Hamilton in Chicago where she played Eliza Hamilton Sabares-Klemm spoke to City Limits about building a career in New York landing her Broadway debut in a hit show and how COVID changed the city s theater landscape This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity Where did you grow up and how did you get into the performing arts I was born in the Philippines Metro Manila and I moved to Baltimore when I was stayed there for a couple years went back to Manila for a couple years and then decisively made the permanent move when I was I think to Baltimore Music growing up in my house was a big thing My parents played a lot of it like Ella Fitzgerald Carol King and Whitney Houston I sought to be Mariah Carey I loved caroling and music Our house was filled with it So I guess that was really where it kind of came from Both my grandmothers were singers in their own respective strategies my grandma my dad s mom was a singer very in the church My grandmother from my mom s side was a really great singer in her province and both my parents play several instruments I did children s theater when I was in middle school and I just love to sing And then I auditioned for a high school in Baltimore an arts high school and got in and I studied opera there And as much as it was a great wonderful experience I know I didn t want to do opera I fell in love with acting We did a lot of musicals So I thought Okay I ll go for musical theater I went to Penn State for musical theater and then went straight to New York after college to pursue my dream I graduated in and I ve been here ever since It s been a long journey How have you seen the city s performing arts scene change during that time Pre-COVID I know for me we saw a lot more diversity on stage both in racial diversity and also body diversity which was really beautiful to see I don t think it s enough but it s a start But on that same respect I also think we have the opposite a lot of Disneyfication on Broadway Post-COVID everyone took a hit And you re now seeing more A B and C-listers in off-Broadway shows which is obviously harder for us non-A B and C-listers With Hollywood coming and auditioning for the same roles that maybe we would have had a better chance of getting now it s a bit harder The theater took a big hit and you need to fill the seats understandably so you re seeing that now Another big shift again post-COVID for us as performers is now instead of going into the audition room our initial auditions and even callbacks are usually on tape which puts a lot more work onto the actor All of my friends we have to have our own kind of studios in our apartments You were in the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim s Merrily We Roll Along with Daniel Radcliffe Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez which wrapped last summer What was it like being part of that It was so special I m a huge Harry Potter fan And Sondheim was I mean I was a Sondheim fanatic in high school I ve constantly been obsessed with his work So to make my Broadway debut in his work was really just so special And it was awesome because I got to also go on for Lindsay a lot and got to play with Jonathan and Dan And I mean it was it s what my dreams are right Just to be able to do that I don t take that for granted at all It was truly a wonderful experience It was so well received and to kind of re-imagine Sondheim s work that was a flop plenty of multiple years ago just to do him proud It was just a beautiful experience You re a co-founder of a project called Justice through Arts Music and Movement J A M M which is described as a BIPOC women-led collective dedicated to using art music and movement as powerful tools to challenge injustice and dismantle oppressive systems How did that get started It was truly a quarantine little project because my entire industry was shut down I was one of the lucky ones who had specific money saved I went back to Baltimore to live with my parents to save money as well I had time I had the internet I had my musical instruments I ve inevitably dreamt about writing my own things and even just doing covers I required to use my voice in the way I sought to and in the music that I demanded to sing and the things that I demanded to say A lot of the times when you do this as a job we can t usually choose what we put our gifts to I have a friend Alexis Roberts We met when I literally first moved to New York and she s a dancer and an educator and she had messaged me on Facebook and we had chatted before about doing something together plenty of years ago And she was like you know we have time now Just let me know if you ever want to work on anything I came with a song I really requested to sing and I was like Could we do something together on this Could you choreograph this I obviously have a lot of friends who are artists and kind of got them and commented Hey would you want to do this with us It started in that way and from that we ve been able to perform at a couple of venues We just longed a space where we as women could get together and speak about our lives what we see what is and what we think should be in this world A safe space to be able to be authentically ourselves and to be able to create authentically with one another At City Limits we write a lot about New York s affordability predicament How have you seen that play out in your sector with your peers and what has your own experience been If we want to work in New York because there s a lot of other theater in the states and around the world that we can also work in but on Broadway the big ones are here Also the training as artists we have to keep up with our voice our bodies and the training that you can get here in New York is top notch If my paycheck is not going up as much as housing is going up I m going to have to work more jobs which means I won t have as much time to be the best artist I can be and not produce the best art I can produce There are so a large number of people that I know who couldn t afford to live here to be able to offer their artistry Which is so sad As artists we need to be able to produce good work our bodies have to not consistently be in a fight-or-flight state Even on Broadway I have my co-workers and my co-cast members having to work another job to pay for their living And that should not be People should not have to have two jobs to work in something that is a very affluent industry here in New York City It would I think behoove the entire industry to share the wealth to their artists It s impacted everyone I mean before I really got my career going the first I don t know maybe six seven eight years of my time here I was on food stamps At chosen point I was on unemployment We re constantly looking for work If you re on a long-running show maybe not but that s for a very small amount of people So we re not only having to pay for our being here and working we are also savings for those months where we re not going to be working Are there things you think New York City can do to better sponsorship the arts sector Obviously affordable housing I know there s a lottery for certain artists housing but that s scarce and far between I think that even studios or classes that are kind of pay-what-you-can at the moment so we re not having to load all of the costs of being able to do our jobs Even stipends for when we are out of work but are still trying to look for jobs so that we don t have to go to our jobs and then have to prepare for this audition and run to that audition and then have to go to our second job Just having a little load off of our shoulders to be able to do the work we would like to do I think would be helpful To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint agenda here The post Making Space The Musical Theater Performer appeared first on 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