Kravis Center to Offer to Offer Virtual Concerts by Women of Broadway: Laura Benanti and Vanessa Williams

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts announced today that it is one of a select group of nonprofit arts organizations participating in a two-part virtual concert series, Live from the West Side: Women of Broadway featuring Tony Award winner Laura Benanti on November 14, and critically acclaimed actress and singer Vanessa Williams on December 5. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, October 14 at 10 am.

Single tickets for Live from the West Side: Women of Broadway are $30 for each livestream event. All tickets are available at kravis.org and include access to each livestream performance, plus an additional 72 hours of on-demand viewing of a video recording of the livestream, available beginning one hour after each live broadcast ends.

Each show, transmitted live in HD with professional sound mixing, will feature a mix of Broadway showtunes, pop songs, and personal stories from the life of each headliner. Performances will take place at The Shubert Virtual Studios on Manhattan's West Side. At-home audience members will be invited to email in questions to be answered during the livestream.

The livestreams, which are a co-production of Dallas Summer Musicals and Entertainment Benefits Group, are being shared by more than 20 nonprofit arts presenters around the country.

ABOUT Laura Benanti

In the midst of an illustrious career spanning Broadway, film, and television, Tony® Award-winning actress, singer, author, and activist Laura Benanti now brings a longstanding dream to life as she gears up to release new solo music with Sony Music Masterworks.

With Broadway credits ranging from the My Fair Lady revival and Steve Martin's Meteor Shower to She Loves Me, Laura garnered a Tony® Award in the category of "Best Featured Actress in a Musical" for the 2008 production of Gypsy-among five career nominations to date. Meanwhile, her performance in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown would be honored with the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for "Best Featured Actress in a Musical." Simultaneously, she enchanted audiences on the small screen, appearing on Younger, Supergirl, Nashville, The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie, and more in addition to films including WORTH and the upcoming Here Today. Laura recently released a book for moms entitled M is for MAMA (and also Merlot): A Modern Mom's ABCs, available now on Amazon.

Early this spring, she created an empowering campaign titled #SunshineSongs, which invited students whose school musical productions were canceled this year due to the pandemic to share videos of the performances they were not able to give, on social platforms. As chronicled by Good Morning America, she generated 4 million impressions and received over 10,000 submissions, attracting celebrities like Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jennifer Garner to join the campaign. Additionally, she invited students to contribute songs to her free "Sunshine Concerts" for senior living communities and children's hospitals. The campaign's success further grabbed the attention of HBO Max who recently partnered with Benanti to release a musical documentary special featuring students from across the country entitled Homeschool Musical: Class Of 2020, set to release this fall.

ABOUT Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in the entertainment industry today. Having sold millions of records worldwide, Vanessa has also achieved numerous #1 and Top 10 hits on various Billboard Album and Singles charts: Pop, Dance, R&B, Adult Contemporary, Holiday, Latin, Gospel and Jazz.

Her critically acclaimed work in film, television, recordings and the Broadway stage has been recognized by every major industry award affiliate including 4 Emmy nominations, 11 Grammy nominations, a Tony nomination, 3 SAG award nominations, 7 NAACP Image Awards and 3 Satellite Awards. Her platinum single Colors of the Wind, from the Disney's Pocahontas, won the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

A graduate of Syracuse University, Vanessa is a strong advocate for equal rights, especially concerning the LGBTQ+ community and minorities. She was honored with the Human Rights Campaign "Ally for Equality" Award for her humanitarian contributions. Vanessa also achieved a career pinnacle with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.

Vanessa's autobiography, You Have No Idea, co-written with her mother Helen Williams, was a New York Times Best Seller in 2012. Her recent Broadway credits include co-starring with Cicely Tyson in The Trip to Bountiful, (the #1 play of the 2013 season), After Midnight (2014), and a special limited engagement in Hey, Look Me Over at New York City Center in 2018. Vanessa was recently in previews for Josie Rourke's City of Angels in London's West End, when production was suddenly forced to pause due to COVID19.

Vanessa is the mother of four - Melanie, Jillian, Devin and Sasha. Her charitable endeavors are many and varied, embracing and supporting such organizations as Concerts for America, Special Olympics and several others as well as the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

Vanessa is one of the world's most accomplished concert artists, appearing regularly with the most prestigious symphony orchestras in the world, most recently with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center.

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