SPECIAL BENEFIT CONCERT FOR THE CHANCE |
Saturday, August 29, 2009
BROADWAY Chance Style
- 07/14/09 ARTICLE: Susan Egan to appear at Chance benefit - OCRegister.com
- 07/15/09 ARTICLE: Susan Egan and Georgia Stitt perform in benefit concert for Chance Theater - Theater Mania
- 08/11/09 ARTICLE: Broadway: Chance Style - Buzzine
- 08/24/09 ARTICLE: Susan Egan gives back at Chance benefit - OC Register
THEATER ARTICLE
Susan Egan to appear at Chance Theater benefit
by Paul Hodgins, OCRegister.com
July 14, 2009
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The Chance Theater continues to impress with its list of powerful friends who’ll step up for a good cause: the Anaheim Hills theater’s future.
Seal Beach native Susan Egan (right), whose career shot out of the gate in the early 1990s when she starred as Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, will headline Chance’s annual benefit concert next month. It’s quite a gesture of largesse for Egan — she’s expecting her second child.
Here’s the Chance’s description of the event:
The Chance Theater’s annual benefit concert will feature two expecting mothers - Tony Nominated actress, Susan Egan (Beauty and the Beast, Cabaret, Thoroughly Modern Millie) and Georgia Stitt (composer/lyricist and Music Director for NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”) in the West Coast Premiere of their new show, All Knocked Up! (again), a raucous evening of singing their own tunes, dishing juicy gossip, and taking the occasional pee break.
This plush gala event will also include a “mocktail” reception, silent auction, and raffle drawing for a VIP trip to New York City. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Chance Theater’s annual fund that goes toward our education and outreach programs along with our mission to stimulate a more creative community, as well as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation.
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THEATER ARTICLE
Susan Egan and Georgia Stitt Perform at Chance Theater Benefit in CA
by Andy Propst, Theater Mania
July 15, 2009
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Tony Award-nominee Susan Egan will headline Broadway Chance Style, the annual benefit concert for the Chance Theater in Anaheim, CA on August 29. Egan, who's been seen on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast, Cabaret, Thoroughly Modern Millie, will be joined by composer/lyricist Georgia Stitt, who currently serves as music director for television's "America's Got Talent".
Both Egan and Stitt are expectant mothers and they'll be performing selections from their new show, All Knocked Up! (again), at the event.
The fundraiser will also include a "mocktail" reception, silent auction, and raffle drawing for a VIP trip to New York City. All proceeds will benefit the Chance Theater's annual fund that supports such work as the theatre's education and outreach programs.
For further information, visit www.chancetheater.com.
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THEATER ARTICLE
BROADWAY: CHANCE STYLE
by Jonathan Josephson, Buzzine
[ Link to Buzzine ]
August 11, 2009
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Susan Egan (Photo by Kevyn Major Howard) |
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Georgia Stitt |
Anaheim, California - It’s not every day that two gorgeous, immensely talented performers get themselves pregnant at the exact same time — twice, in just under two years. And what better way can there be to celebrate this unlikely occurrence than by writing a show about it? And heck, let’s make it a musical!
Celebrated singer-songwriter Georgia Stitt (NBC’s "America’s Got Talent") and Tony Award Nominee Susan Egan (Beauty and the Beast) will perform their new cabaret act, All Knocked Up! (again), as part of The Chance Theater’s second annual fundraiser, BROADWAY: Chance Style.
Yes, both ladies are pregnant, each with their second child.
Fans of the Chance will remember last year’s BCS which featured Tony Nominee Laura Bell Bundy (Legally Blonde, the musical) and Broadway veterans Lea Michele (Spring Awakening) and Orange County native Eden Espinosa (Wicked), as well as a slew of other special guest stars performing a revue-like evening of standards and songs selected from the best of Broadway. This year’s concert is a bit different. Instead of performing a collection of great songs from various shows, this year’s concert will be an actual stand-alone musical cabaret.
So, what is All Knocked Up! (again) about?
The hilarious, lighthearted (perfect for families with kids over the age of ten) production celebrates the awfully funny and sometimes sickly journey to motherhood and gives an insider’s look to what it means to live in the public eye while slowly ballooning to the size of a small house. These two talented ladies are enormous figures in the entertainment industry, with Ms. Egan being something of a hometown hero (she went to the Orange County High School of the Arts). This performance will be the West Coast premiere of this raucous evening, filled with uproarious songs, juicy gossip and the occasional pee break.
In addition to supporting the award-winning productions and education programs of The Chance Theater, the concert will also benefit students affiliated with the Anaheim Union High School District. The concert will take place in the stunningly beautiful new Performing Arts Center at Kennedy High School, where patrons will enjoy a fully refurbished, state-of-the-art facility that was brought into being by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation. A portion of the evening’s proceedings will go to ensure that students will be able to enjoy this wonderful venue for many years to come.
It is clear — these are tough times, tough for all of us as individuals and especially tough for the arts. But this’ll be fun. Just pure fun. And you can help out two worthwhile organizations that truly, desperately need your support.
The event will also feature a very special silent auction, presentations by members of The Chance family, and a New York raffle with a grand prize valued at $2,000. Tickets for the concert start at just $70; raffle tickets can be purchased for as little as $10 each when you buy ten.
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THEATER ARTICLE
Susan Egan gives back at Chance benefit
Seal Beach native, now living in O.C., stars at fundraiser
by Paul Hodgins, OC Register
[ Link to Orange County Register ]
August 24, 2009
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Susan Egan will perform in a benefit concert for the Chance on Saturday, August 29th |
Susan Egan is now a real housewife of Orange County.
No, she's not the newest addition to that fractious coven of reality TV stars – she moved her expanding family here recently after years of pursuing her acting career on Broadway and in Hollywood.
"It just made sense," said Egan, 39, a Seal Beach native who rocketed to fame and snagged a 1994 Tony nomination when she starred as Belle in Disney's Broadway hit, "Beauty and the Beast."
"My husband (Robert Hartmann) grew up in Huntington Beach. He runs the Improv comedy clubs in Irvine and Brea. Both our families are down here. We've got built-in babysitters." Egan has a 2-1/2-year-old daughter, Nina, and is expecting her second child in December.
"I was driving down here two or three days a week to see family and friends and not needing to be in L.A. as much. So we decided to make the switch."
Egan has shown a devotion to her hometown and surrounding communities that's all too rare in show biz. A 1988 graduate of the Orange High School of the Arts, she returned in 2002 to serve for a year as the school's interim artistic director.
Egan continues to give back to O.C. On Saturday, she and her friend and colleague Georgia Stitt will present "All Knocked Up! (again)," an irreverent evening of songs and comedy, as part of a fundraising event for the financially troubled Chance Theater. The title of the show refers to their current state – like Egan, Stitt is pregnant with her second child.
The concert is being presented in the new Anaheim Unified School District Performing Arts Center at La Palma's Kennedy High School.
A RANDOM ENCOUNTER
Egan said she was unaware of the Chance until recently, and her appearance was made possible by a chance meeting on a plane. A friend of Egan's was sitting next to someone who knew that the theater was looking for well-known artists to anchor its next fund-raising event.
"They had a wish list for this year's gala and I was on it," she said, laughing.
When Egan found out, she made some inquiries to find out more about the theater company, which has been growing steadily since its 1999 inception and is now among the county's major stages.
"I knew that some of the (Orange County High School of the Arts) kids were involved in some productions, so I called the school to get people's opinions. They all said wonderful things (about the Chance)."
Egan decided to do the benefit, but she didn't want to carry the burden of a solo show.
"I'm a little saturated in this market. Three years ago I did a show called 'All Knocked Up' when I was expecting my first child. I told them, 'Georgia and I are both pregnant right now. How about if we do a concert together?'"
Stitt, a composer/lyricist/performer who is married to musical theater composer Jason Robert Brown ("Parade"), worked on the show, and the two put it together in a messy rehearsal/run-through that lasted four hours. "Don't worry, it's not that long now!" Egan said.
Egan and Stitt got a chance to fine-tune "All Knocked Up" two weeks ago at New York's Metropolitan Room. "It's about many themes surrounding the fact that we're both pregnant, but it's not all about 'Ooh, look at my big stomach,'" Egan said. "It's about motherhood and career and husbands and trying to balance it all."
GIVING BACK
Egan and Stitt have been friends for many years, and Egan feels a kinship with Stitt's music.
"I've been singing Georgia's material for a while. I did four of her songs on albums; I did a lot of demos for her as well. I know a lot of her material, and her songs sit well with me. There's a song called 'More of My Mother' which is about waking up in the morning and looking in the mirror and going, 'Oh my God, I'm turning into …' I love it."
On the cusp of her 40th birthday, Egan is well past her ingénue stage, and she is satisfied with how her post-Belle career has developed so far.
"I think things have gone really great. I've always had a lot of really different interests. As much as I love theater, it's not the be-all and end-all of my life."
These days Egan spends much of her professional time on the road doing concerts. "The concert format is great because I can change up the material and talk about where I am right now."
After the second child arrives, though, Egan plans to spend more time in Orange County.
"I want to find more things that will support my community, like this (fundraising event) at the Chance. It feels right to give back to the place that has given me so much."
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