From Orange County classrooms to Broadway stages and Hollywood, Krysta Rodriguez has built a career defined by authenticity, talent and grit.
“Orange County is such an interesting place to grow up in,” Rodriguez said in a recent interview with Culture OC. “You can go so many places so easily. L.A. is such a great hub for art and film and architecture, and you can kind of have anything. And Orange County has a really robust art scene.”
For Rodriguez, that art scene made an impression early.
“I saw my very first show there when I was 5 years old,” she said. “And I thought, ‘This is what I want to do.’”
However, for Rodriguez, performing was just as much of a comfort as it was a passion.
Before finding her footing in the artistic community, Rodriguez recalled occasionally feeling out of place. At her traditional private school, where sports were emphasized, she found solace in singing when she struggled to fit in.
“I kind of spent a lot of time thinking I wasn’t good at things. But then I really felt at home in the choir.”
According to Rodriguez, her career goals finally clicked while driving home with her mom after a dance recital.
“I remember getting into the car with my mom and just saying, ‘I love the way the theater smells. I just want to be where the theater smells like this.’ And she was like, ‘You know, people do this for a living.’”
Rodriguez eventually did exactly that.
That realization eventually led her to the the Orange County High School of the Arts, or OCHSA (now called Orange County School of the Arts, or OCSA) where she developed the skills and confidence that would become the foundation of her professional career.
Rodriguez remembers the influence of David Green, then head and artistic director of the school’s musical theater department, as particularly important.
“He was really important in shaping who I am as a performer,” she said. Green’s performance group required students to learn material quickly, and make confident choices in their performances. “We had to be fearless in whatever we had. We had to sell it, and I loved that, I think that preparation is really invaluable.”
Rodriguez’s professional career has taken her far beyond Orange County. Her Broadway credits include “Spring Awakening,” “In the Heights,” “The Addams Family,” “First Date” and “Chicago,” establishing her as a performer capable of moving between dramatically different styles and characters.
Television expanded that range. She also became familiar to audiences as Ana Vargas on NBC’s musical drama “Smash” and later portrayed the legendary Liza Minnelli in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series “Halston.”
Her career has repeatedly demonstrated the flexibility of a performer comfortable in multiple mediums.
Her singing coach, Mariana Giordano, describes her simply: “She’s incredible, great voice, great dancer, wonderful to work with. She’s a triple threat.”
One of Rodriguez’s most meaningful roles so far was Roxie Hart in “Chicago,” a character she had wanted to play for years.
She first encountered the musical during a trip to New York when she was 13, and later performed “Chicago” during her senior year at OCHSA. Years later, getting the opportunity to play Roxie professionally felt like a culmination of those experiences.
“The show has been very impactful in my life for a very long time,” she said. “When the call came in, it was my turn to go in. It really just felt like such a full-circle moment.”
That sense of returning to the beginning is also at the heart of her upcoming performance in Costa Mesa in Segerstrom Center’s Cabaret Series.
“I have so many friends and family there, so I’m looking forward to that,” Rodriguez said. “It really is kind of an emotional experience because it has been a huge part of my life.”
The Cabaret Series offers Rodriguez the opportunity to step outside a single character and share more of herself directly with an audience.
For her September performances, she envisions something of a career retrospective — not simply a collection of songs, but an evening that reflects where she has been and where she wants to go next.
EVENT DETAILS
Krysta Rodriguez
When: 7 p.m. Sept. 10–12
Where: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
Tickets: Starting at $87.72. $30 Under 30: Patrons under 30 can purchase select tickets for $30 through Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ $30 Under 30 program. Limited $30 tickets are available for each performance. Use the code 30UNDER30 when purchasing tickets.
More Info: scfta.org
The set will include songs from shows in which she has performed, as well as pieces that audiences have connected with over the years. But Rodriguez also wants the evening to provide room for experimentation.
“I’d like to share those with them, and then sort of structure how I see myself and what I want to be doing in the future and where we might be going,” she said. “I like to test some things out for myself, see how I can try something new, and we all just experience it together.”
Audiences can expect familiar favorites and classics, but also new interpretations and surprises.
Segerstrom Center describes Rodriguez as an “electric” performer, promising an evening that balances powerful vocals with more vulnerable moments, humor and personal storytelling.
Rodriguez’s three-night engagement runs Sept. 10–12 at the Samueli Theater, opening Segerstrom Center for the Arts’ 2026–27 Cabaret Series. Following her performances, Tony Award-winning performer Joaquina Kalukango will return to the Samueli Theater Nov. 5–7.
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