By Natalie Hamren
NKyTribune reporter
Native Kentuckian Broadway star Angie Schworer is starring in a new virtual musical, Electric Island, available for streaming on March 25 at 8 p.m. All proceeds will benefit The Actor’s Fund’s Phyllis Newman Woman’s Health Initiative.
Angie Schworer (Photo by John Ganun Scenairo)
Electric Island was conceived in March 2020 — written by Rachelle Rak with music and additional lyrics by Steven Jamail — after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Broadway.
Schworer said Rak reached out to her to tell her she wrote a show. Schworer read a summary of the show with the song lyrics and told Rak they should get a group of women together and do the show.
The musical tells the real stories of women working on Broadway — those who work hard but aren’t the recognized stars on the marquee.
“Shining light on women of all ages, ethnicities, and sexual orientations, Electric Island illuminates how these performers have navigated the highs and lows of a life in the theater — on stage and off,” the press release said.
Schworer said a young woman in the musical gathers her favorite people from Broadway onto a TV show called Electric Island.
“That’s how we all come together — it’s conversations of women and what we’ve been through and how far we’ve come. And we all happen to be Broadway people and we all have different adventures through our Broadway careers,” Schworer said.
In the musical, Schworer plays Vanessa, a seasoned performer who is her own worst enemy. Schworer said there was a time in Vanessa’s career where she sabotaged herself and the musical follows her “coming out on the other side.”
“When she first got here to New York City, she just was so happy to be here,” Schworer said. “In fact, there’s a monologue that I do that [Vanessa] talks about a song that she smiled the whole time through the song, even though it was a sad song and the casting director’s like ‘why are you smiling?’ She’s like, ‘I’m just so happy to be here.’ It goes from that person to the party scene, to 5 a.m. — staying up too late — sabotaging her career, and then coming out on the other side.”
Schworer said it’s been hard to only practice and perform virtually, but she said it’s the only thing actors have during the pandemic.
“It’s kind of the only way we have to stay positive and work on your craft because you’re still cold reading,” Schworer said. “You’re still learning monologues and lines to do the recording, so you’re still keeping your craft up. It gives you a little bit of that too, but also getting to see your friends.”
Schworer said she’s been in the business for three decades — starring in musicals like “The Prom,” “Something Rotten” and “Big Fish” — but has been performing since she was a kid. Her career was halted due to the pandemic, so doing virtual performances is keeping her sane and engaged. Even though she wasn’t able to physically rehearse with her castmates, she still felt like the essence of them was with her.
“As much as I would rather be in the room with them, we did the recordings to playback and stuff, so I can hear them singing,” Schworer said. “It was almost like we were in the room together. It’s sort of the second best thing, I guess. But you sort of felt like you were there. The essence of the songs could be there, even though they weren’t in the room with us.”
Schworer grew up in Northern Kentucky and graduated from Notre Dame Academy and Northern Kentucky University. See an earlier NKyTribune story about Angie here. She is the daughter of the late Dr. Phil Schworer and sister of lawyer Phil Schworer.
To watch the “Electric Island” on March 25 at 8 p.m., click here.
To donate to the Women’s Health Initiative, click here.
Follow Electric Island on Instagram.
Follow Electric Island on Facebook.
