Julie Benko (L) and Sierra Boggess (R) in Harmony on Broadway.Photo:Adam Riemer
Adam Riemer
Just a few days afterJulie Benkogave her final bow asFanny Bricein the revival ofFunny Girl, she headed five blocks down to the Ethel Barrymore Theatre to settle into a new role on Broadway.
For the first time, Benko, who made her Broadway debut as an ensemble member inLes Misérablesin 2014, is originating her first major role on Broadway as Ruth in Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’sHarmony: A New Musical, which opened last month.
The musical tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a six-person German vocal group in the late 1920s that was disbanded as the Nazis came to power.
After winning over audiences as an alternate inFunny Girl —first taking over the role of Brice afterBeanie Feldsteinleft the show and later as an alternate forLea Michele— Benko tells PEOPLE it’s an “honor” she gets to originate the role of Ruth, a Jewish activist married to a non-Jewish member of the Harmonists.
Read on for more from Benko as PEOPLE catches up with the star aboutHarmony, her newly released holiday EP and her time inFunny Girl.
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What aboutHarmonydrew you to want to be a part of the show?
I’m very grateful that I’m working on this project right now because it’s really nice to have something to funnel all of my feelings into because the show is so timely and it feels really relevant to what we are all experiencing in the Jewish community today.I have had the experience since October 7th, I’ve had to learn how to handle all of those feelings of holding all of that, the weight of the antisemitism that we’re all experiencing in the show and not carry it around all the time. I would sit in my dressing room at intermission and look at Instagram like we all do, and I would see some horrible new occurrence just popping up on my feed and just be filled with so much, so much fear, so much anger, just so full of everything we’re going through, despair, all of it.
What has it been like to originate a Broadway role for the first time?
There have been a million Elphabas or Glindas fromWicked. And they’re all following the path that Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth laid down for those characters. They get to decide where you walk, and when you walk.
When you’re originating a role, you decide what feels natural. It’s just really creative and I think it’s scarier because you’re the one who’s setting the path when you are originating the role. You get to draw on all the creative skills that you develop as an actor over time. It’s an honor.
That’s part of why creating a new character and a new piece is so exciting because you never know what life is going to have for that show down the road. And there will always be a piece of you the material and you get to contribute to something that will live on past you.
Steven Telsey, Blake Roman, Danny Kornfeld, Chip Zien, Eric Peters; Sean Bell, and Zal Owenin in Harmony on Broadway.Julieta Cervantes
Julieta Cervantes
Now that it’s been over a month sinceHarmony isofficially on Broadway, how are you feeling?
We’re settling in really nicely. We’re just starting to deepen into everything and relax into everything.We’re all really close as well. It’s a really lovely group of people and so many people are making their Broadway debuts, which is a really lovely feeling to be a part of. There’s just so much excitement to be at work every day.
Working with Sierra Boggess (Mary) has been just a delight. I’ve learned a lot from sharing the stage with her. And Chip Zien (Rabbi) is just amazing. He is so good in the show. He’s such a great dramatic actor and he’s so funny. But backstage, he just is a riot. We never stop laughing.
Are you still in touch with yourFunny Girlcastmates?
I’m in touch with a lot of people. The understudies atFunny Girl,we really bonded and we are on a text thread that doesn’t stop. We’re with each other forever and go to all of each other’s shows, and a lot of them have come to see the show.
I recently was doing Duolingo and I had a little sentence come up, I’ve been doing French and it said, Julie and Lea are going to a party, and so I sent it to Lea [Michelle] and I was like, ‘Lea, we’re going to a party.’ She was like, ‘Sounds great!’
She’s going to come to seeHarmony.
You recently released a new holiday EP,Christmas With You.What was the inspiration for the project?
I got an idea for this song while I was on the subway, and just started it on my phone and got to the [Funny Girl]theater and rushed to that little closet where I worked on it and wrote it all and sent a little demo I made on my phone to my husband, who I collaborate with.
He’s my arranger and a pianist, and I sent it to him and he said, ‘We have to do something with this.’ We talked about recording it and then that led to the EP.
source: people.com
