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News and Announcements

Broadway Royalty to Headline Annual Autism New Jersey Benefit

Posted in: School of Communication and Media News

Sierra Boggess

Sierra Boggess, who is best known as Broadway’s original Ariel in “The Little Mermaid,” will headline the seventh annual SCM benefit concert for Autism New Jersey, which will be presented in Memorial Auditorium on Monday, April 22.  The event will once again be produced by the students in the School’s PRSSA chapter.

Boggess was nominated for three Broadway awards for her 2008 performance as Ariel, winning a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Female Breakthrough Performance.  In 2009, she costarred with Kristen Chenoweth in the Encore series revival of Jerome Kern’s “Music in the Air.” In 2011, Boggess was featured with Tyne Daly in the 2011 revival of “Master Class,” which was presented as a fictional master class by opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life in the 1970s. As such, the play featured incidental vocal music by Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini, allowing Boggess to show off her classical singing chops.  She also created the role of Christine Daae in “Love Never Dies,” the sequel to “Phantom of the Opera.”

Boggess joins Broadway superstars Laura Benanti, Stephanie J. Block, the late Marin Mazzie, Melba Moore, film star Moira Kelly, and the Four Seasons’ Don Ciccone, who have headlined previous Autism New Jersey benefit concerts.  The previous events have raised approximately $30,000 for the organization, which is the state’s oldest and most influential advocate for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families.

Further announcements about the benefit concert will be made as more details about the performance are finalized.