Sierra Boggess Instagram – I told you I would tell you my reasons for doing @harmonyanewmusical And I saved the best for last. In the middle of my contract negotiations for Harmony, I went on my honeymoon to Nice, France. To be honest I was feeling dejected by how the negotiations were going and after being away from Broadway for 7 years I realized how much the landscape has changed and I was truly feeling sad that I may have to walk away from a show that has meant so much to me. One night in the middle of Vieux Nice (old nice) my husband took me to one of the oldest restaurants in the town called Chez Palmyre. At this restaurant you sit at long tables and so you’re sat shoulder to shoulder with other people, strangers really. Stefano and I struck up a conversation with the old couple next to us. The woman had a very thick accent and I couldn’t make out where she was from and she said her mother was from Poland and was a survivor. Stefano and I stared at each other in shock. She said her mother was in the Nazi camps and was forced to sew outfits for the nazis which is why she survived because she was of “use” to them. She was a seamstress by trade. Tears welled up in my eyes. For those that don’t know the show, Mary, my character is a seamstress. Her husband is from Poland. Tho she is not Jewish, she converts in order to be with him and I believe help him SURVIVE. I literally left the restaurant and text my agent and I said “I have to do this.” The work suddenly became bigger than any of the other. I felt like “Mary” sent an angel to me to say “please play me on Broadway”. And that is why tonight is about me bringing Mary her final time on Broadway. This is why I took the show and why, as hard as this has been, I have to do what I do. That’s why the last line of my bio is “For Mary Magdalena Panzram.” She gets to be on Broadway.