In November, Addie Morales slipped back to her adopted hometown to fill the iconic dome at Casa Mañana with her angelic soprano, delivering Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s celebrated show tunes from “West Side Story.”
She was taking on the role of Maria, the story’s luminous leading lady.
Little did I know that before me, as I watched her onstage, was a gifted performer who literally represented that unfurled rosebud revealing color that no one — except perhaps her parents — knew was waiting inside.
“I went to a camp at Casa when I was 11,” Morales says. “I was forced [by her parents] to do it. I was incredibly shy as a child. I didn’t want to be onstage. I cried when I had to audition. I got a call back, and I cried because I was like, ‘I have to sing again!?’”
It was “Seussical,” she remembers, she says, like it was yesterday.
“When we got into it, I fell in love. It totally changed my life.”
Morales, 28, today is a professional actor — a member of the Actor’s Equity Union — based in New York carving out a career in the uber-competitive realm of stage acting. She has enjoyed two national tours of “Les Misérables” (Cosette) and “Austen’s Pride” (Jane Bennet).
She is also a newlywed. She and fellow performer Jordan Arredondo tied the knot in August.
Her credits in regional productions include “American Mariachi,” “In the Heights,” “Evita,” “The Sound of Music,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” “The Buddy Holly Story,” and, yes, “West Side Story.”
“’West Side Story’ is one of my first professional roles,” she says of portraying Maria. “And it was hard. That is a journey. You’re taking from a girl to a woman. And the first time I played that role, I was 19. I had the girl part down. The woman part was hard. So, it was a formative role, and I think one of the best formative roles to have to teach you everything that you need to be a leading lady.”
She eventually enrolled in the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts.
“I feel like by middle school I wanted to move to New York,” she says. “I wanted to be a performer, and I was lucky enough to have parents to support that.”
Just two short years or so after being “mortified” by the thought of an audition.
Morales is the fourth of five siblings born in New Orleans. The family was forced to relocate in 2005 after Katrina’s very unwelcome visit. The Morales family settled in Arlington.
“Everything was gone and, so, it was like you stay and rebuild or you moved and started over. We just started over.”
Morales spent her first year of college at TCU before transferring to Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio, renowned for its conservatory of music.
“Music is my first love,” Morales says. “The voice is my first instrument.”
She stayed two years in Ohio before going off to work to New York in 2018. “I’ve been working ever since.”
Her transition to the Big Apple was smooth because of the acting community in Fort Worth and Dallas, she says. She had a ready network because of Casa and the shows she did in Dallas.
“Fort Worth is so wonderful, and the training that is available is unmatched. I felt ahead of the curve when I got to college, and it is because of the arts and culture that is in Dallas-Fort Worth. I am excited for the next generation of kids to get bit by the bug and go into it. It really is a passion of mine, and I’m happy to come home anytime, truly.”
BY THE WAY …
A selection of Addie Morales’ favorite roles:
Cosette — “Les Misérables” (Broadway National Tour, directed by Lawrence Connor & James Powell)
Jane Bennet — “Austen’s Pride” (National Tour, directed by Igor Goldin)
Maria — “West Side Story” (Barrington Stage, Casa Mañana, North Carolina Theatre, New London Barn, various directors)
Eva Perón — “Evita” (Drury Lane Theatre, directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge
Nina Rosario — “In the Heights” (Marriott Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, directed by James Vasquez)
FROM THE FEED
1. A portrait of a young woman radiating warmth and ease, happy with her life as a stage actor. Photo by: Sam Pickart
2. Bows for the Broadway National Tour of “Les Misérables,” as Cosette.
3. Our wedding in August. Addie Morales + Jordan Arredondo = Love. Photo by: Chase Castor with Kindling
4. Photographer Shelby Griswold catches me in a moment of quiet, radiant repose.
5. Opening night of “Austen’s Pride” at STAGES in St. Louis.
6. Backstage, readying for a night with Maria in “West Side Story” at Casa Mañana.