Shoshana Bean Talks About the Shift to Virtual Events and More on Backstage LIVE With Richard Ridge

Nothing can stop BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge from bringing you interviews with your favorite Broadway stars! On July 29, he chatted with beloved Broadway beltress Shoshana Bean!

Bean talked about the ways she has been lending her voice to various projects to raise money during the pandemic.

"We don't actually get to engage when we're doing it," she said about her recent trio performance with Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty. "I think the most communication we had about it was 'What are you wearing? What's your background?'"

Bean also talked about her recent event, Shoshana Bean and Friends, to raise money for her Alma Mater's performing arts department.

"I am living proof, and I know so many other people who's lives were altered in a positive way by having arts," she said.

When her usual in person version of the benefit was cancelled due to the health crisis, Bean realized that her experience doing virtual events would help the show still be able to go on.

"These kids, especially the seniors, were stripped of so many things, so if I could just be one less thing that they're losing..." she said. "In a lot of ways I think that this was even more special."

Bean revealed that one of the young girls who participated even got a call from the casting directors of Dear Evan Hansen, asking her to submit an audition tape.

Throughout the rest of the interview, Bean talked about how she got her start in performing, highlights from her career, and much more.

Watch the full interview here.

Shoshana Bean's three independent solo albums have all topped the iTunes R&B and Blues charts in the US and UK, with her fourth and most recent project, SPECTRUM, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Jazz charts. She has sold out solo concerts around the globe, lent her voice to countless films and television shows, amasses millions of views on YouTube, and performed alongside Ariana Grande, David Foster, Postmodern Jukebox, Brian McKnight, and Michael Jackson. Shoshana is a veteran of the Broadway stage having made her debut in the original cast of Hairspray, starring as the very first replacement for Elphaba in Wicked and most recently as Jenna in Waitress. She won a IRNE Award for her performance as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl and earned a Jeff Award nomination for her portrayal of CeeCee Bloom in the pre-Broadway musical production of Beaches.