Laura Benanti Joins Scottsdale Broadway Series on March 17

Laura Benanti is a Tony Award winner for "Gypsy" and star on Broadway in "She Loves Me!", as well as on TV's "Nashville" and frequent guest on "Late Night with Stephen Colbert" as Melania Trump. On Saturday, March 17 she will join the popular concert series Broadway @ the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, with Sirius XM radio star Seth Rudetsky as pianist and host and presented by Mark Cortale. Ms. Benanti replaces Kristin Chenoweth in the series due to a last minute television series scheduling conflict. The format of the concert will be a seamless mix of intimate behind-the-scenes stories prompted by Rudetsky's insightful, funny and revealing questions - and the music from the artist's unique career. This is a spontaneous evening of show-stopping songs and hilarity not to be missed. For tickets and information, please visit www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org or call 480-499-8587.

Laura Benanti starred most recently this past year on Broadway in Steve Martin's "Meteor Shower" opposite Amy Schumer and Keegan Michael Key. Prior to that, she received her fifth career Tony Award nomination for her starring role as Amalia Balash in the hit Broadway Musical "She Loves Me" for which she also received Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Drama Desk Award nominations. She received a Drama Desk award, Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony Award Nomination for her starring role in the Broadway production of "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" for Lincoln Center where she also starred in the Broadway production of Sarah Ruhl's "In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play." Laura won the 2008 Tony Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as Gypsy Rose Lee in "Gypsy" opposite Patti LuPone and directed by Arthur Laurents. Her other Broadway roles include "The Wedding Singer," "Nine" starring Antonio Banderas, her Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-nominated performance of Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" and her sultry Tony nominated turn in "Swing!" She made her Broadway debut at the age of 18 as Maria in "The Sound of Music" opposite Richard Chamberlain. Other stage performances include Christopher Durang's "Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who Love Them" at The Public Theater, Perdita in "The Winter's Tale" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival opposite Kate Burton, Anne in "A Little Night Music" at the L.A. Opera opposite Victor Garber, and Eileen in "Wonderful Town" opposite Donna Murphy and as Rosabella in "The Most Happy Fella," both for City Center Encores!

Laura can currently be seen on Television in the Samantha Bee and Jason Jones TBS comedy "The Detour." Additional TV credits include "Supergirl," "Nashville" guest-starring as songbird Sadie Stone, "The Good Wife," Showtime's "Nurse Jackie," the NBC series "The Playboy Club" and "Go On" opposite Matthew Perry, the F/X original series "Starved" and recurring roles on "Law and Order: SVU," "Royal Pains," and "Eli Stone" and had appearances on "The Big C" and "Elementary." She recently completed a week-long engagement at the popular New York cabaret club, 54 Below, for which The New York Times hailed her as a "supremely confident" performer whose "bright, full soprano, with its semioperatic heft, can go almost anywhere." In September 2013, she released her debut album, "In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention: Live at 54 Below" on Broadway Records to rave reviews. She currently performs her concerts in venues around the country and has performed for the President and First Lady of the United States at both the Fords Gala and the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington DC. She currently resides in Manhattan with her husband Patrick and daughter Ella.

Seth Rudetsky is the afternoon host on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's "On Broadway" as well as the host of Seth Speaks on Sirius/XM Stars. As an author, he penned "My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan" and the sequel "The Rise And Fall Of A Theater Geek" (Random House) as well as three volumes of "Seth's Broadway Diary" featuring inside scoop and hilarious stories from all of the stars he's worked with. He co-wrote and co-starred in "Disaster!" (NY TIMES "critics pick") recently on Broadway. "Disaster!" also premiered to rave reviews on London's West End. In June 2016, he and his husband, James Wesley, co-produced a recording of "What The World Needs Now" with stars like Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Carole King, Audra McDonald which went to number one on iTunes and raised $100,000 for the Orlando shooting victims (and is still raising money. Buy it!). On Inauguration Day 2017, he and James started "Concert For America", a monthly series around the country (including S.F.!) helping 5 non-profits being hurt by the current administration. Stars such as Kelli O'Hara, Barry Manilow, Stephanie Mills, Vanessa Williams, Andy Cohen and more have performed and you can watch the next one streamed live on ConcertsForAmerica.com. For more information visit www.sethrudetsky.com.

About the series:

Mark Cortale (Artist Manager & Producer) is the Producing Artistic Director at The Art House in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He produced "Deconstructing Patti" on Broadway this past September at the Nederlander Theatre with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS starring Patti LuPone and Seth Rudetsky which raised over $280,000 in one night. He also launched the Broadway @ concert series in 2011 at The Art House. The series, featuring creative partner Seth Rudetsky as music director and host, had its seventh season this past summer and guest artists included Sutton Foster, Jessie Mueller, Megan Hilty, Faith Prince, Beth Malone, Melissa Errico and Michael Cerveris. The Broadway @ series also premiered in 2013 in New Orleans, in Australia (Sydney & Melbourne) with Megan Mullally and in London's West End with Patti LuPone at the Leicester Square Theater. The series has since travelled to cities that include Chicago @ The Steppenwolf, Beverly Hills @ The Wallis, Fort Lauderdale @ The Parker Playhouse, San Francisco @ The Herbst Theatre and Scottsdale @ Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Other artists who have participated include Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Christine Ebersole, Chita Rivera, Kelli O'Hara, Neil Patrick Harris, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Rosie O'Donnell, Vanessa Williams and Gavin Creel. Mark also produced the feature film "Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads" and the web television series "Seth's Reality". He manages the singing string quartet Well-Strung which he co-founded. Info at markcortalepresents.com.

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