Interview: Tony Winner Lauren Patten is Getting Ready to Rock at Sony Hall

Lauren Patten, best known for her Tony, Grammy, and Drama Desk Award-winning performance as Jo in Jagged Little Pill, as well as her six seasons on screen as Rachel Witten on Blue Bloods, is heading to Sony Hall! 

A versatile performer and musician, Patten has played sold-out shows at Rockwood Music Hall, The Bitter End, Tavern on the Green, and The Green Room 42. Sony Hall is her biggest concert to date, and as Patten shared with BroadwayWorld, "unlike any concert that I’ve done". 

Patten's Sony Hall concert will take place on Monday, July 10, 2023. Doors: 6:00pm / Show: 7:00pm. Purchase tickets HERE! 

BroadwayWorld spoke with Lauren Patten about why she loves performing in a concert setting, what audiences can expect to hear with this concert, and much more! 

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What can audiences expect to see and hear with your upcoming concert at Sony Hall?

Well, I think it’s unlike any concert that I’ve done. I’ve been doing solo concerts now for a few years, and I have my band who I’ve played with at venues like Rockwood Music Hall and The Bitter End, and then I’ve done more musical theatre-based concerts, and this is going to be kind of a mix of the two. It’s going to be a combination of some of my favorite songs, pop, and rock, and folk, and different things, pretty much not a musical theatre-style concert, but it’s going to be the biggest band I’ve ever played with. We’re adding a string player which I’m super stoked about, and it’s sort of bringing those two worlds together, and bringing the biggest concert I’ve ever played in New York with it.

How did you craft the show’s setlist, and what were you looking for thematically when you put it together?

I really feel like I am not somebody who’s created something that fits into that cabaret genre. I don’t have an overarching story theme to it, it really does come from a place of true love of music. I love such a wide range of styles musically, and it came from wanting an outlet to play all these songs that I love as a musician and an artist, and that’s really also where my bandmates come together. We’re people who love a wide range of music, not just musical theatre, and it gives us the freedom and autonomy to create a night of music that isn’t tied to a musical theatre story, but is just a great time with really awesome music.

Can you tease one or two songs?

There are some fan favorites that I’ll play. In almost all of my concerts I’ve almost always sung the Alanis Morissette song ‘All I Really Want’. I was the only cast member in Jagged Little Pill who did not get to sing that song and it is my favorite one off the album! So, I will definitely be pulling that out. But I’m also going to be pulling out Joni Mitchell songs, and Melissa Etheridge, and Brandi Carlile.

Do you have a favorite song to perform, or one you haven’t sung in front an audience that you’re looking forward to singing?

I don’t have any in this concert that I’ve never sung. I have older ones and newer ones, but this will be pulling from a lot of different things that I’ve sung over the years, and I make a new set out of it. I really like to take some of this music I do more of a classic cover of and honor the original musician’s vision with it. But then a lot of times I am also working on them with my band and creating an arrangement that feels unique to us and to me. And a song that we’ve done that with the band that I really love is the Ariana Grande song ‘God is a woman’, which we do a very different take on than her track. So, I really love performing that one.

What’s it been like working with this extended band to bring this concert to life?

It’s really exciting because I’ve never played anything with a string player. We’ve added a wonderful violist who we’re really stoked about. I’ve watched and heard concerts with larger bands, and it’s more and more rare to play with bands like that, just like it’s more and more rare for Broadway to have orchestras of a certain size. I definitely have dreams and visions of playing with an entire horn section one time, playing with a really fleshed out string section. The more musical textures you get to add is really exciting. So, this is a first for me, and I’m really excited about that.

What do you like about performing in a concert setting versus performing in musical theater piece or on screen?

I really didn’t know that I would like it, it’s actually quite scary to me, it’s very vulnerable in a way that feels different than performing as a character in a musical. Singing is a very vulnerable expression and a vulnerable art form, and I think when you don’t have character and story to build yourself up on or shield yourself behind it really feels like it’s just you. And there’s an intensity to that or vulnerability to that that for a long time I thought I would never do concerts because of that. Because it’s a little bit terrifying.

But now that I have, it’s actually one of the best experiences that I’ve had as a performer because it’s a different kind of connection with the audience. I found that the people who come to my concerts are really game and along for the ride of listening to the music that I really love, and my musicians and bandmates really love. And that’s also been really exciting, to see folks come out who know me from Broadway or know me from TV who are along for the ride and up for a night of incredible music and beautiful songs.

What are you most looking forward to with performing at Sony Hall?

This is the largest concert I’ve been able to play in New York, so I think I’m just really looking forward to getting to play in a venue where I can have more people than I’ve been able to have! It’s really exciting to think about having a concert with about 500 people, having that many people in the room at one time to share the experience.