BWW TV EXCLUSIVE: BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE: Shoshana Bean on WICKED, John Mayer, New Album & More!

Welcome back to BroadwayWorld's exclusive talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge. Follow Richard as he visits the theater's best and brightest in their dressing rooms, on their stages and favorite hang outs to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know.

This week, it's WICKED and HAIRSPRAY alum Shoshana Bean, who was just back in New York City from her current home on the West Coast. She recently sat down with Richard to reminisce about her days on Broadway, talk about her recent sold-out concerts on both coasts and to spill all of the details about her new musical parody DEAR John Mayer, her next album and more.

Shoshana Bean made her New York city debut in the off-Broadway revival of Godspell, and her Broadway debut in the original cast of the Tony Award-winning production of Hairspray. She went on to be the first replacement for the green-skinned witch Elphaba in Broadway's Wicked later reprising her performance on the Wicked national tour. She performed in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber at the Kennedy Center, Joseph and the. . .Dreamcoat at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and headlined in the Las Vegas burlesque revue Peepshow opposite Holly Madison. Additionally she has performed solo concerts around the world from LA's Ford Amphitheater and New York City's Jazz at Lincoln Center, to Australia and Zurich and London's West End. Shoshana claims Dear John Mayer as her latest triumph, a musical she co-created, starred in and wrote the music and lyrics for, which recently made it's world premiere in Los Angeles at the Open Fist Theater.

Shoshana sang back-up for an endless list of superstars at Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration at Madison Square Garden and shared the stage with Grammy Award nominee Brian McKnight at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards to honor Aretha Franklin.

Her debut solo album Superhero reached #5 on the itunes R&B charts, making it the only independent album in the top 100. Shoshana has lent her voice to the film soundtracks for Hairspray, Enchanted, Dance Flick and Fox's GLEE. Her work as a singer/songwriter has been featured on The Hills, Mercy, The Big C, NBC and her debut single "Superhero"won an Independent Music Award for best R&B song. Superhero is available at itunes.com and amazon.com.

For more on all things Shoshana, visit www.shoshanabean.com.

Richard Ridge fell in love with the theatre at the age of five when he went through his parents record cabinet and stumbled upon their original cast album collection and the rest is history.He has toured the world as a performer and for the past twenty years he has been the host of the television program Broadway Beat and now, BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE.

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