In anticipation of his concert at the 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival, award-winning musical theatre writer
Joel B. New sat down with
Jen Bender, NYMF's Director of Programming and Artists Services.
Jen Bender is a director and producer working in theater and live events. Most recently, she was the Associate Director of the Broadway musical Honeymoon in Vegas by
Jason Robert Brown and
Andrew Bergman. Other Broadway credits include The Lion King (Resident Director), The Wedding Singer, Steel Magnolias, and Avenue Q (Assistant Director). Jen spent the past three years touring North America, Asia, and Australia as the Assistant Artistic Director of
Cirque du Soleil's Ovo. From its creation in 2008, she was the Artistic Director of Broadway in South Africa, a non-profit organization that aims to develop a cross-cultural exchange between youth in need and artists who seek to use their talents for good. She is also a co-founder of New Voices Collective, a concert series of art songs by contemporary American composers. A passionate supporter of new works, she directed the premieres of Like You Like it and Trails at NYMF, as well as numerous concerts and readings at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Hammerstein Ballroom,
Ars Nova, Hudson Theatre, and Joe's Pub.
Mr. New's "TO HELL AND BACK: An Album Musical In Concert" opens the Festival on Tuesday, July 7th at 6PM at the
Laurie Beechman Theatre. For tickets, go to
nymf.org/tohellandback. For a limited time, the discount code "25HELL" will take 25% off the ticket price. Directed by
Lori Wolter Hudson, TO HELL AND BACK boasts a cast that includes
Nikka Graff Lanzarone,
Becca Ayers,
Blake Whyte,
Joshua Hinck, Kate Steinberg, and
Hansel Tan. Musical direction by
Matt Castle. Orchestrations by Scott Wasserman. Music and lyrics by
Joel B. New.
For the live song portion of the episode, listeners can look out for a replay of songs from TO HELL AND BACK that have previously appeared on the podcast, including performances by
Nathan Siler,
Matt Wilson,
Drew Gasparini, Stephanie Joiner, and more. The countdown episode will be released tomorrow, June 30th.
Named one of the Top 20 Podcasts for Theatre Fans by BroadwayWorld.com, "Something New" dissects what it means to be a working, multifaceted artist in America and always concludes with a premiere recording from one of New's latest musical projects. "Something New" is available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. For more info, please visit
joelbnew.com.
