Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 3:43
#AskAnExpert | LES MISERABLES + + : Broadway Star and Mommy gets real : EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO ASK Rena Strober
She's been in the greatest shows because people with her skill can pop in to audition and they get stuff like Veep and Shameless. And then when you look at the way she's just enjoyed regional theater, that's where she really cut her teeth. I mean, she's been in every one of the greatest plays, from My Fair Lady to into the woods to man of La Mancha
Rena Strober
@RenaS · 5:00
And every show I did, whether it was a Broadway show or a regional show or a concert or a concert for ten little kids, I fall in love with the process. I fall in love with the storytelling. I fall in love with the work and the connection that I make from myself to my voice, from my soul and my heart to the person hearing it and seeing it. And that work has been so rewarding, and I've just forgotten about so much of it
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:27
I hope I titillated you enough so that link will take you there. But I want to talk with you about you mentioned going into that journey of helping people find prayerful moments with your music when you've sung in big spaces like theaters, and then you've jumped into small recording booths, and then you've jumped out into your car and sang, and then you went back into a temple to sing
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Rena Strober
@RenaS · 5:00
And I love Alan C******, and if you don't know his work, you do and you just don't realize it. Original cabaret on Broadway. He's a big TV and movie star. Big Broadway star. Scottish. Scottish, I think. Anyway, he stands on stage and he opens the set with How Can I, that print song that Schneider O'Connor sings. Wow, that one
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:38
There are so many different aspects to your life that have music in them, but it takes a certain amount of resilience to push forward and to be your own audience sometimes, and your own lifter and cheerleader because it's different than just having the drug of audience. Can you talk about that transition and advice to others who are going through it?
Rena Strober
@RenaS · 3:45
And even when I'm standing there overlooking the start, I sing as everyone's getting ready to go and the song takes on a completely new meaning because I'm looking at survivors, I'm looking at family of people we've lost, and I'm just me and using my voice to connect. So this is just where I am now. And I would say as a performer and also when you look at Broadway, it has really shifted
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:58
Anyway, the theater obviously, was like, definitely like, what's going on? I'm like, you got their money, don't worry. So we walked out the door and went to the bar across the street and people just sat around and I did this really cool acoustic set and it was totally unexpected from everybody. But in that moment, it was such a beautiful affirmation that what we really needed to do was spend time together