Press Release: Laura Benanti and Hershey Felder

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT OF BROADWAY’S LAURA BENANTI AND A MONTH-LONG RESIDENCY OF HERSHEY FELDER TO HEADLINE SOUTH COAST REPERTORY’S 2026-27 ‘SCR PRESENTS’ SERIES

COSTA MESA, Calif. (June 4, 2026)—South Coast Repertory (Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Suzanne Appel) announced today that Broadway superstar Laura Benanti and internationally acclaimed actor/playwright/pianist Hershey Felder will headline the 2026-27 SCR Presents Series.

Benanti will perform her celebrated one-woman show Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares in a limited engagement running Oct. 8-11, 2026 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. In 2027, Felder will be in residency for the entire month of July with three offerings: Love Notes, his new work exploring the relationship between composers Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann and Schumann’s wife, Clara, running July 6-18, Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN, running July 21-Aug. 1, and his popular Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook Sing-Along for two performances only, July 3 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Upon meeting and hearing Brahms for the first time, Schumann declared, “Brahms is the new path. He takes over from Beethoven for the new direction in music.” The programming of Love Notes in combination with Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN celebrates that connection.

SCR Presents is a series of curated, limited engagements and special residencies outside of the subscription plays created by SCR.

“As we continue to innovate and explore uplifting, urgent and entertaining stories of our time, the SCR Presents series allows us to bolster our roster of offerings by bringing in artists and productions that add to SCR’s robust slate of offerings,” Ivers said.

“Laura Benanti and Hershey Felder are world-class theatre artists and expand our offerings for those passionate about music,” Appel said. “For audiences who love musicals and comedy, Laura’s solo show will be the perfect treat. She arrives on our stage immediately following our production of Into the Woods, which Laura starred in on Broadway. Hershey, a master pianist and actor, has conducted extraordinary research into the lives of the greatest composers of classical music and adds to our collective understanding of these artistic geniuses.”

Direct from an acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe and two sold-out Off-Broadway engagements comes Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, a one-woman comedy show from the mind of Tony Award-winner Benanti. Known for her dazzling Broadway performances and razor-sharp wit, Benanti takes the stage to share her hilarious, heartfelt, and sometimes brutally honest takes on motherhood, people pleasing and the joys of aging. Blending side-splitting storytelling with original songs, New York Times Critics’ Pick Nobody Cares is a love letter to recovering people pleasers, mothers and anybody working on themselves.

The Times wrote that Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares “points to a new stage—in both senses of the word—for Benanti as a performer and as a woman. (Benanti is) a terrific all-around comedienne.” The New York Stage Review gave it four stars, describing the production as “A virtuosic evening of comedic embarrassment.”

The Scotsman in Edinburgh wrote, “Frank, friendly, touching, [Benanti] sings beautifully and performs impeccably. You would expect nothing less from a Broadway star like Benanti.”

Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares is directed by Annie Tippe with music direction and songs co-written by Todd Almond. The production is based on Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, an Audible Original.

Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares is produced by rigor + ruckus, Jenny Gersten and Ashley Melone and Nick Mills in association with LD Entertainment, Avadon Broadway LLC, Creative Partners Productions and Steve and Cindy Chao. It is suitable for ages 14 and up.

Felder’s new work, Love Notes, takes place in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1853. A young Johannes Brahms steps into the orbit of musical giants, composer Robert Schumann and his wife, pianist and composer Clara Schumann. Brahms plays for the Schumanns and Robert declares him “a genius, the new Beethoven.” One year later, Robert Schumann descends into madness and commits himself to an asylum. The young lion-like Brahms remains by Clara’s side to help her and the Schumann’s seven children and falls deeply in love, yet Clara remains eternally devoted to her husband. What happens between them all is a romantic story for the ages written in sound.

With Felder as Johannes Brahms, Sally George as Clara Schumann and Jonathan Silvestri (Rachmaninoff and the Tsar), as Robert Schumann, Love Notes features a story of passion, longing and love that led to the some of the most beautiful music ever composed.

Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN is based on Dr. Gerhard von Breuning’s factual Aus dem Schwarzspanierhaus, Felder brings Ludwig van Beethoven to life through the eyes of the Viennese Dr. Breuning, who spent his boyhood by the maestro’s side. Featuring some of the composer’s greatest works, from the Moonlight Sonata and Pathétique Sonata to selections from the 5th and 9th Symphonies, Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN is an intense, illuminating, unforgettable journey through time that immerses audiences in the astounding life of Ludwig van Beethoven. Joel Zwick directs this production that has earned rave reviews from critics across the country.

The Chicago Tribune wrote that Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN “is heartfelt, intelligent, proficient, insightful and, at times, strangely moving. BEETHOVEN is a piece that lingers in your head.”

The San Jose Mercury News described Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN as “A riveting walk through the life and music of possibly the world’s greatest composer. … On the scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11.”

Tickets: SCR subscribers for the 2026-27 season may purchase tickets for all SCR Presents events now. Ticket prices for Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares range from $91-$135 and go on sale to the general public Aug. 4. Ticket prices for Love Notes and Hershey Felder, BEETHOVEN range from $76-$145, with prices for Hershey Felder’s Great American Songbook Sing-Along ranging from $92-$145. They go on sale to the public Jan. 5, 2027.

ARTIST BIOS

Laura Benanti

Tony Award-winner and five-time Tony Award nominee Benanti is a highly celebrated stage and screen actress. Benanti co-starred in the hit film No Hard Feelings with Jennifer Lawrence and Matthew Broderick, guest stars in Max’s “Gilded Age,” and “Elsbeth” on CBS and has recurring roles on Hulu’s “Life and Beth” (written by and starring Amy Schumer) and “Younger.” Benanti earned rave reviews for her portrayal of a grieving widow in Netflix’s film Worth, starring opposite Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci and Amy Ryan and reunited with Keaton in the film Goodrich. She will next be seen in the film Everything’s Going to be Great with Bryan Cranston and Allison Janney, and in the hit television show “Mayor of Kingstown” opposite Jeremy Renner.

Ms. Benanti’s iconic impression of Melania Trump on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” continues to be a viral sensation. Other TV work includes “Ziwe,” ”Gossip Girl,” “Supergirl,” “Nashville,” and “Inside Amy Schumer,” among many others.

In the theatre, Ms. Benanti took Broadway by storm at the age of 18, starring as Maria in The Sound of Music and has subsequently starred in 10 more Broadway shows (musicals, straight plays, comedies, and dramas) including Into The Woods, Nine (opposite Antonio Banderas), Gypsy (for which she won a Tony Award), She Loves Me, My Fair Lady, and Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower opposite Amy Schumer and Keegan-Michael Key.

Hershey Felder

Hershey Felder is currently the Artistic Director of FirenzeOnStage, directing Teatro Niccolini in Florence, Italy, (Florence’s oldest theatre, 1648) at the left wing of Florence’s historic Duomo. Felder opened the 2024-25 season with film and stage superstar Jeff Goldblum, and presented international superstars such as Helen Mirren, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Boris Giltburg, Taylor Hackford, Tony winners Santino Fontana, Jenn Colella, the cast of the film of Sound of Music and many more.

For the 2025-26 season, Felder presented the Italian premiere of Caligula the Final Cut, with the presence of its superstars, Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren in a discussion with the audience. The season continues with stars of stage, screen, opera and classical music,

American Theatre Magazine has said, “Hershey Felder, actor, Steinway Concert Artist and theatrical creator is in a category all his own.” Following 28 years of continuous stage productions and over 6,000 live performances throughout the U.S. and abroad, Hershey Felder created Live from Florence, An Arts Broadcasting Company, based in Florence, Italy, which has produced eighteen theatrical films to date. They include the recently-released Noble Genius-Chopin & Liszt; The Assembly; Violetta, the story of Verdi’s Traviata; Dante and Beatrice; Mozart and Figaro in Vienna; the world premiere musicals Nicholas, Anna & Sergei; the story of Sergei Rachmaninoff; Puccini, the story of famed opera composer Giacomo Puccini; Before Fiddler, a musical story about writer Sholem Aleichem; Great American Songs and the Stories Behind Them, Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic, a documentary, and the popular Musical Tales in the Venetian Jewish Ghetto. Two seasons of programming are currently available at www.hersheyfelder.net with season 3 being launched in spring of 2026. Upcoming films include The 60^th anniversary documentary story of The Sound of Music film; The Joe Alterman Project featuring the story of jazz pianist Joe Alterman, and Tender Art, the story of George Sand, Eugène Delacroix and Fryderyk Chopin.

Felder has given performances of his solo theatre productions at some of the world’s most prestigious theatres and has consistently broken box office records. His shows include George Gershwin Alone (Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre, West End’s Duchess Theatre); Monsieur Chopin; Beethoven; Maestro (Leonard Bernstein); Franz Liszt in Musik, Lincoln: An American Story, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, Our Great Tchaikovsky, and A Paris Love Story (Debussy), Monsieur Chopin and Rachmaninoff and the Tsar. Season 2024 saw the world premiere of Rachmaninoff and the Tsar, as composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff opposite Jonathan Silvestri as Tsar Nicholas II. His compositions and recordings include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Fairytale, a musical; Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano; Song Settings; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; An American Story for Actor and Orchestra, and the opera Il Quarto Uomo that premiered in Fiesole, Italy in the summer of 2023 with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Felder is the adaptor, director, and designer for the internationally performed play-with-music The Pianist of Willesden Lane with Steinway artist Mona Golabek; producer and designer for the musical Louis and Keely: ‘Live’ at the Sahara, directed by Taylor Hackford; and writer and director for Flying Solo, featuring opera legend Nathan Gunn. Felder has operated a full-service production company since 2001. He has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music and is married to Rt. Hn. Kim Campbell. Hershey currently resides in Florence where he is the director of a full-service film production studio, Monte Acuto Arti, in Bagno a Ripoli.

Location: South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the David Emmes/Martin Benson Theatre Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available on Park Center Drive, off Anton Boulevard.