Adrienne Warren

Adrienne Lefon Warren is a professional singing, acting and dancing performer.

Personal

Adrienne Lefon Warren. She was a student at Marymount Manhattan College, studying theater and musical theater, and graduated in May 2009. She graduated from Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, Virginia, and the Governor's School for the Arts.

Adrienne is a 2005 graduate of Ann Reinking's Broadway Theater Project. She is a member of the labor union Actor's Equity. .

Jim Steinman

She was lead vocalist for The Dream Engine, a musical performance group that performed the music of songwriter Jim Steinman. With this group she has recorded studio vocals on the songs "Safe Sex" and "We're Still The Children We Once Were". This project has not performed or been active in public since 2006, aside from having a website and Myspace page.

In live shows with The Dream Engine, Adrienne has performed solo vocals on the songs "Safe Sex", "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be", and "Angels Arise". She performed the songs "Not Allowed To Love" and the revised "Braver Than We Are" (alternate titles have been "An American Elegy" and "God's Gone AWOL") as duets with Rob Evan, the other lead singer in The Dream Engine. She also performed one of the four vocal parts in the song "We're Still the Children We Once Were".

Adrienne had a television appearance on September 16, 2006. This was part of the annual ceremony for the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, where her group, The Dream Engine was a guest and performed two songs. Adrienne sang backup vocals on the song "What Part of My Body Hurts The Most" and one of the four lead vocal parts in the song "We're Still The Children We Once Were". This award show was televised via Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Adrienne had a live singing appearance on December 3, 2006. She appeared at an All Star Holiday Broadway Concert, hosted by Rob Evan and Neil Berg. She and Rob Evan sang a duet version of the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Jim Steinman.

Other non-theater

Adrienne had a television appearance on the Miss Virginia Pageant as a performer with the Governor's School for the Arts.

In 2008, Adrienne performed on the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's East Coast tour of North America. She sang solo vocals on the songs "Promises to Keep" and "Christmas Canon Rock".

Adrienne guest-starred on The Wendy Williams Show on November 4, 2009 as Lorrell from Dreamgirls along with the other girls that play the dreams. The show also featured Paris Hilton

In 2013, Warren made a guest appearance on the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black as Deena, a quadriplegic girl sent to the prison to learn the errors of her ways before she falls down the wrong road via the Scared Straight program.

Musical theater

According to an August 6, 2007 article by Jaedda Armstrong in The Virginian-Pilot, "Warren was 6 when she realized she wanted to act. Her parents had taken her to see the play The Princess and the Pea. She had been singing since she was 2 and dancing at 3, so it just seemed natural".

The October 6, 1997 issue of Jet Magazine had an article about Warren in the "Newsmakers" section. The article discussed the production of the musical Annie with the Hurrah Players in Hampton Roads, Virginia. In it, Warren played the title role while also being of African American ethnicity. According to an October 9, 2008 article by Roy Bahls in The Virginian-Pilot, Warren was "the first African American to play Annie in a regional production". She began performing with Hurrah Players at age 6, first performing in the show Aladdin.

In summer of 2007, Warren played two roles in a production of Dreamgirls at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. The roles were of members of the performance groups "The Stepp Sisters" and "Les Style". The production also featured Jennifer Holliday. Warren was the youngest person in the musical. Warren also performed in Dreamgirls in a high school production, as Effie.

Other musical theater performances of hers include one in Babes in Arms with Mercury Summer Stock in Cleveland, Ohio, as Angel in Frank Wildhorn's For the Glory Tribute of the Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, PA, as Aida in Aida, Demeter in Virginia Musical Theater's production of Cats, as Ronette in Little Shop of Horrors, as Dorothy in The Wiz, in Ragtime, and in The Wild Party.

According to the August 6, 2007 article by Jaedda Armstrong in The Virginian-Pilot, Warren said "I love performing live, I love stage and theater. I just want to show people that Broadway is more than The Lion King".

Warren was in the cast of an Off-Broadway production of The Wiz, running from June 12 to July 5, 2009, at the New York City Center. This was one of their Encores! Summer Stars productions. The director was Thomas Kail, and opening night was June 18, 2009. The cast also featured Ashanti, LaChanze and Orlando Jones. Ashanti played the lead role of Dorothy, and Warren was the understudy for Dorothy.

In 2009–2010, Warren performed in a touring production of Dreamgirls. She played the role of Lorrell Robinson, a member of the Dreams. This production began on November 7, 2009 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and continued there through December 5, before beginning a national tour. Robert Longbottom directed, Shane Sparks choreographed, and Robin Wagner, Ken Billington and William Ivey Long were the designers.

In 2011, Warren appeared in the off-Broadway production of Bring It On as Danielle. She stayed with the production during its limited engagement on Broadway, at the St. James Theatre from August 1, 2012 to December 30, 2012. This marked her first performance on Broadway. A musical sequence featuring Adrienne and other performers was part of the 2013 Tonys Awards show.

References

• Article about 2009-2010 Dreamgirls tour
• Article in JET Magazine
• Article in HamptonRoads.com with audio interview
• Credits with Theatre Aspen

External links

• Official website for The Dream Engine