Bean tops opening night

By Deborah Moon

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After a year on Broadway performing for three hours, eight times a week as the star of “Wicked,” Shoshana Bean said she is pleased to have time to return to her hometown to perform for—and schmooze with—guests at the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s campaign kickoff event.
   
Opening Night, starring Broadway star and solo artist Shoshana Bean in a special one-night cabaret performance, begins with a cocktail hour featuring live music by a four-piece combo at 6 p.m., Oct. 25, at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. The elegant event for donors who make a $1,000 or more gift to the 2008 Annual Federation Campaign also will feature fabulous food and a complimentary bar.
   
“To have her come home and do this for us is wonderful,” said Mara Shlachter, who co-chairs Opening Night with Marge Cohn. “She’s a tremendous performer and a great person. Not only will she be performing, but also she will be a guest at the rest of the evening. People will be able to meet her during the cocktail hour and get to know what an extraordinary person she is.”

   
In Portland to spend the High Holidays with her mother Felice Moskowitz and other family members, Bean spoke with the Jewish Review about her upbringing in Portland, her dedication to mitzvot, her Broadway roles and her singing.
   
Born Sept. 1, 1977, in Olympia, Wash., and raised in Portland, Bean said this was the first time in 10 years that she has been able to spend the holidays here with her family. She said she missed her cousins Joel and Kyle Luxenberg’s bar mitzvahs and other family events while her stage roles—which included being part of the original cast of “Hairspray”—kept her on a grueling schedule.
   
“I missed a lot of stuff,” she said. “I can’t take weekends off.”
   
So when her Bubbe Shirlee Lenske asked her to perform in Portland for the federation fund-raiser, Bean said she had to say yes.
   
“I can’t really say no to her,” said Bean, adding, “I was raised with the idea of mitzvot. I’m in support of any positive philanthropy and especially since it was part of back home. I’m glad I was available to do it.”
   
Bean said she is especially interested in charities that benefit children, education and the arts.
   
While starring as the green witch Elphaba in “Wicked” from January 2005 to January 2006, Bean said she learned a lot about herself as a person, performer and vocalist.
   
“As a person, I learned how to be gracious when I needed to be and to know when to draw the line and say no without feeling guilty,” she said.
   
She said that during her Broadway run a lot of her mother’s friends and family would come from Portland to see the show and her mother would always call and ask if they could come backstage after the show.
   
“I’d just finish a three-hour show and I’d have to put on a happy face and be energetic,” she said. “At first I loved it. Then after about a month I was exhausted and tired of it. Then I found a balance.”
   
She said the grueling schedule taught her both how to push her limits and to take care of herself.
   
“I learned to say no and to forego a personal life to be in shape to do the show eight times a week,” she said, adding that before the show she didn’t know what she was capable of.
   
“You never realize how much you are until you have to; then you blow your own mind sometimes,” she said.
   
Since ending her Broadway run, Bean has been working on a CD of soulful pop music she wrote herself.
   
“I got the soulful influence from my dad (Jeff Bean of Olympia) listening to soulful music,” she said.
   
Bean said most of her songs are about negative moments in relationships—with boyfriends, her dad, her manager. She said strong emotions flow when she is angry making many of her songs sound angrier than she feels she normally is. But she said she feels it is important to honestly share emotions from experiences that so many people go through.
   
“Everyone loses when you don’t communicate,” she said. “My messages are about things I’ve gone through. … You feel less awkward if you know you’re not the only person who’s gone through something.”
   
On Opening Night, Bean will be singing a selection of Broadway tunes and other standards.
   
Tickets for Opening Night are $90 per person before Oct. 11 and $100 per person after Oct. 11. Invitations should be in donors’ homes before Yom Kippur. Those who do not receive an invitation but would like more information on the evening may contact JFGP Campaign Director Laurie Rogoway at 503-245-6473.