She’s an actress and an incredible singer from the tiny town of Shelbyville, Kentucky, and she was building quite a résumé in TV and movies and onstage living in LA. But Ruby Lewis had to come to Las Vegas to get to Broadway.
Lewis portrayed the lead role of Daisy in the initial For the Record production of Baz at Light Nightclub, an innovative, romantic musical on which Cirque du Soleil’s theatrical division was partnering. Given her electric presence and soaring voice, it was no surprise Cirque stole her for its own first musical, Paramour, which premiered last May at the Lyric Theatre in New York City.
“I had no idea what to expect,” Lewis says. “We took our time building the show, and it was my first time—on this grand scale—to be part of the artistic process and have this much input. I got to build the character around myself and my strengths, and in that way it was the most ideal Broadway debut anyone could ask for.”
The acrobatics-laced, Hollywood Golden Age-themed production grossed more than $1 million in its first six shows. When it wrapped up in April, Lewis returned to the West Coast—not to LA, but to Vegas to reclaim her starring role in Baz, which just celebrated its first completed year at the Palazzo Theatre.
“When I found the For the Record [team], for me it was the perfect recipe for entertainment,” Lewis says. “This show allows me to go deeper as an actor and to sing like a pop star or rock star, to really go for it and not hold back. I love this show for that.”
Lewis, who has appeared in productions of Gypsy, Grease and Jersey Boys and on TV in Girl Meets World, Masters of Sex and Desperate Housewives, says her work in Paramour and Baz has opened even more doors. “That’s the name of the game right now,” she says. “Before I got the offer to come back to Baz, it was looking like it’d be back to the grind of auditioning, throwing spaghetti against the wall. But now, people are more interested, thanks to the live musicals on the networks every year and La La Land, which really revved people up. I hope I can jump in there and be part of that scene.”
