Tony Award winner Laura Benanti, currently on Broadway in My Fair Lady, was honored during the 2019 Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP) Color Ball on April 29 for her advocate work helping children separated from their parents during the migration crisis at the border.
The annual gala celebrates the artists who inspire ASTEP students, their sponsors, and partners who join forces to serve children in underserved communities with limited access to performing arts education.
Flip through photos from the event below:
Benanti came up with the idea of a benefit album last year entitled Singing You Home: Children’s Songs for Family Reunification after hearing the horrific accounts and feeling the need to help. The likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenowith, Cynthia Erivo, Idina Menzel, and Benanti herself recorded tracks for the album, each donating their time for the project. All proceeds from the album went to ASTEP and RAICES.
ASTEP Founder and Co-Executive Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell (The Prom, Mean Girls) joined Benanti on stage at Feinsteins/54 Below for the gala, while other guest appearances included Chita Rivera, Bonnie Milligan, Jessica Vosk, and Jason Robert Brown.
Benanti, a Tony winner for Gypsy, recently extended her stint as Eliza Doolittle in the Lincoln Center Revival of My Fair Lady, taking center stage at the Vivian Beaumont Theater into the summer.
