Erin Leddy And Tim Realbuto Bring FROM BROADWAY WITH LOVE To The Laurie Beechman Theatre With Nikki Blonsky

Acclaimed singer and actress Erin Leddy (Ghostlight the musical; Anything Goes; The Great Gatsby) and multiple award-winning performer of stage and screen Tim Realbuto (who recently won The Hollywood Moving Image Award for Best Leading Actor for the motion picture YES) will bring their new concert ‘From Broadway With Love’ to The Laurie Beechman Theatre at the West Bank Cafe on West 42d Street, right in the heart of midtown. The concert will take place at 7:00 PM on Thursday, February 13th, just in time for Valentine's Day. The two best friends are teaming up again after a very successful concert called Crossroads that they performed in 2018 at The Green Room 42.

The benefit show, in which all proceeds will directly go to the Australian Red Cross Relief Fund as well as WIRES (Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organization) is described as an evening of your favorite love songs from Broadway to pop (including angry break up songs, to show the opposite side of love and relationships as well). Each song will have a jazzy and folk feeling to it.

The multi-talented Morgan Morse (Assassins) will serve as music director, pianist, and guitarist. There will be two more instrumentalists that will be announced at a later date.

Although the show is the love child of Ms. Leddy and Mr. Realbuto (they conceieved the evening as well and will direct it), the performance will be featuring many Broadway guest stars throughout the evening. Some big names are still being finalized and will be announced shortly, but so far some extremely special guests who will sing a solo or duet (or even a trio) with Leddy and Realbuto include Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Nikki Blonsky, most known for starring as Tracy Turnblad in the hit 2007 film Hairspray, based on the Broadway musical. Ms. Blonsky also starred as Willamena Rader on the popular ABC comedy series "Huge", which was a star vehicle created especially for her. She most recently starred in the 2019 major motion picture Ghost in the Graveyard, directed by Charlie Comparetto. On stage, Ms. Blonsky starred as Marty opposite Lisa Lampanelli in Stuffed at The Westside Theatre Off-Broadway.

Joining Leddy, Realbuto and Blonsky is Broadway performer and Internet sensation Joshua Colley, who starred as Les in Disney on Broadway's Newsies and as Gavroche in the recent Broadway revival of Les Misérables. Mr. Colley also made a huge splash as the title character in the York Theatre Company's revival of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown as well as playing Flounder in The Little Mermaid at the Hollywood Bowl starring opposite Sara Bareilles and Rebel Wilson. Other special Broadway and Off-Broadway guests include Michael William Nigro (Fredrich Von Trapp opposite Carrie Underwood in NBC's The Sound of Music Live!), Nick Gaswirth (Broadway's Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812; Broadway's A Christmas Story; and the current National Tour of Wicked), Laurissa "Lala" Romain (Broadway's South Pacific; Rosario Dawson's daughter Grace in Chris Rock's hit film Top Five, and Mya on the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet?), Mavis Simpson-Ernst (who played Young Eva Peron in Broadway's recent revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita; she also starred as Lucy van Pelt opposite Mr. Colley in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown; played Young Abbi Abrams on Comedy Central's "Broad City"; appeared as Mr. Realbuto's niece Aggie Caden in the film YES; and is probably best known for her performance as Chris on FX's "The Americans").

Other performers joining the cast are Natalie Ballenger (Maria in the International Tour of West Side Story), Jana Geyer (the title role The Rainbow Fish for TheatreWorks; regional productions of Kiss Me, Kate as Lilli Vanessi/Kate; Into the Woods as Cinderella; and Crimes of the Heart as Babe Magrath), and Jianzi Colon-Soto (Off-Broadway’s The Giant Hoax; the lead role of Julie Hazeltine in The Wrong Box for Theatre For The New City). More Broadway stars will be announced in the coming days.

Ms. Leddy is an acclaimed concert performer, having appeared at Feinstein's/54 Below, The Green Room 42, The Triad, and The West End. She has appeared in many regional productions include Ragtime (Mother), The Great Gatsby (Jordan Baker), Anything Goes (Mrs. Harcourt), and Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey), to name a few. She also appeared as Meadow in the motion picture YES, directed by Rob Margolies and starring Tim Realbuto.

Mr. Realbuto recently made the transition from stage to film, having written and starred in the Indie hit YES opposite Modern Family star Nolan Gould, Oscar Nunez of The Office fame, Jenna Leigh Green ("Sabrina, The Teenage Witch"), and Siobhan Fallon Hogan (Forrest Gump; Men In Black; Dancer in the Dark). The film has won over 30 Awards, including 10 for Mr. Realbuto's acclaimed performance. His next film, a boxing movie tentatively titled Run, Bobby, Run, is currently in pre-production and set to shoot later this year in Los Angeles and New York City. Realbuto will play the title character. He also wrote the Off-Broadway musical Ghostlight, a true story about the life of Ziegfield Follies girl Olive Thomas, an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, and the straight play The Weak Ones (which he also starred in). All three were co-written by Matthew Martin. Ghostlight was the runner-up for The Best of Fest at the 2011 New York Musical Theatre Festival and The Weak Ones was nominated for The Thespis Award for Best Play in 2016. Tim also wrote a theatrical event called Wunderkind which he toured around New York City and the country. Wunderkind tells the story about his life growing up in the theatre and featured many guest stars including Ariana DeBose, Laura Osnes, Julia Murney, Beth Leavel, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Danielle Ferland, Derek Klena, Christina Bianco, Jason Gotay, Lisa Howard, Claybourne Elder, Jenna Leigh Green, Christine Pedi, Natascia Diaz, Joy Franz, and many more. He starred as Louie Kurnitz in a benefit reading of Lost In Yonkers in honor of Neil Simon and Marin Mazzie. He starred opposite multiple Tony award nominee Beth Fowler as Grandma Kurnitz, Drama Desk award nominee Erin Davie as Bella Kurnitz, Aidan Gemme (Finding Neverland, Waiting For Godot) as Jay Kurnitz, Drew Logan Powell (Amazon’s “The Dangerous Book For Boys”) as Artie Kurnitz, original Broadway Lost In Yonkers star Graham Alexander Sack as Eddie Kurnitz, and Liz McCartney as Gert Kurnitz.

Tickets for ‘From Broadway With Love: Starring Erin Leddy and Tim Realbuto,’ are priced at $30 and are available by visiting https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10500628.

Bring your loved one for Valentine's Day and enjoy an evening featuring some of the most talented singers New York City has to offer. There will even be a trivia contest with prizes. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll fall in love, all while giving to an extremely worthy cause. Australia needs us now more than ever. Tickets are bound to sell out once the rest of the guest performers are announced, so don't wait. Purchase yours today.

To post a comment, you must register and login.