Storm Lever won't lose her head over fame
Star of musical `Six' has fond memories of growing up in Bay Area
Storm Lever has always been a dramatic personality. Even before she took to San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre stage as Anne Boleyn in the touring production of the Broadway sensation “Six,” she always had that dazzling sparkle of an entertainer inside her. In fact, she says she came out of the womb a performer.
Lever grew up in the Bay Area, and remembers going to the San Francisco Symphony as a child and having the realization that this was someone's job: To draw an audience in, wow them with all you've got and send them off with smiles on their faces. She remembers dreaming that one day, she would come back to San Francisco and do that for herself.
It didn't happen overnight. It took years of hard work and training. Luckily, her parents started her off early, enrolling her in dance and voice lessons when she was as young as 7. She moved on to school plays, and eventually went to the University of Michigan to study musical theater. From there, she would begin acting professionally in regional productions of works like “Emotional Creature,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “Freaky Friday,” before making her Broadway debut in “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.”
Now, she's extending her diva credits to include the fierce and flirtatious Anne Boleyn in the musical “Six.” The production stars an all-woman cast as the six wives of King Henry VIII, duking it out to see who will earn the title of most royally burned by their famous evil ex. The Tudor queens turned pop princesses rewrite their own history with a modern, girl-boss spin — complete with a catchy pop-rock soundtrack.
During some downtime from working on “Six,” Lever spoke to us about her role in the production.
Q
Who are some modern pop icons or “queenspirations” you drew on for the role?
A
Anne's song “Don't Lose Ur Head” is very punk and very fun, she's a very unapologetic female in the pop space, so when I was looking for pop divas to draw upon, I was thinking about who are some current pop stars that have that grit and that temperament? I decided on Miley Cyrus and Rihanna as her modern pop alter egos.
Q
How do you personally connect to or draw inspiration from Anne?
A
A big point that I am learning from Anne is that she doesn't apologize for taking space. When I interact with audience members after the show, I always find them saying things like, “Sorry, do you mind signing this, or do you mind taking a picture?” I've been clocking how many times in my life, and in all of our lives, that we apologize for our presence. Now, I'm letting Anne give me permission to reclaim that power, because she doesn't apologize. The way that we portray her throughout history is very negative, but with “Six,” rather than coming through how she's traditionally been depicted, she owns it and twists it. She makes it funny and charming and changes the narrative, so I'm pulling upon moments from my life when I felt small or like I need to say sorry, and getting to release those here, which is a beautiful experience for me as a actor.
Q
How has the experience been of getting to be part of an all-woman cast?
A
It's been amazing. One of the brilliant things our team did that I think speaks to this environment is with the audition process. Typically, when you audition, you come in by yourself and leave, but they had us all do our scenes together in the same room. We went up one at a time and we listened to each other tell the story, and got to use each other as we auditioned. All these women were so incredibly talented and fierce and ferocious, but they were also so generous of spirit and ready to cheer on another queen. The team definitely saw that, and has kept that going throughout the entire process.
Q
If you could say something to the “Six” wives, what would it be?
A
I think the message would be that your story isn't lost on us. I feel so fortunate that we are getting to go back and reframe and reclaim your narrative. I'm sure we're acting a bit different that you did back in the day, we can get away with a little more now than you girls could, but I hope you're proud and you know that you are all so highly regarded. We're so grateful for the groundwork that you laid for the women that we get to be today, and the privilege that it is to be a woman living in 2023.
Q
Are you a history buff yourself? Did you know much about these women or have any exposure to their stories before this role?
A
I am a big history buff, but I wasn't really buffed on Tudor history, so I definitely did my research. I decided to take in the things I was reading chronologically, based on when they were published, and one of the interesting things that I found was that depending on when it was written, Anne's depiction gets more favorable with time. The farther back that it was published, the more critical of her it was, but the closer we get to modern day, the more consideration was taken as to the societal context and the position that she was in. I am so fascinated by it. l love the excuse to take a deep dive, and then come into the rehearsal room and throw it out the window, because what we are doing is so different than the way history has traditionally framed these women.
Q
What's next for you after this? Do you have anything in the works for after the tour, any personal projects or dream roles you're hoping to one day bring to the stage?
A
The majority of works that I did prior to “Six” were all new works, this is one of my first goes at jumping into a piece that's already been created and set, but I love getting to be a part of new projects. I always say my dream role hasn't been created yet, but for right now, Anne Boleyn is my future.