Broadway leading lady Shoshana Bean talks 'Wicked', and being vulnerable ahead of solo concert

After more than 20 years in the spotlight, Shoshana Bean is preparing to release her seventh and most exposing album yet, with songs set to be performed for the first time in a one-night-only concert in London later this month.

Broadway star Shoshana Bean is reflecting on her first concert in London. “I’m going by hair colour — I had red hair and bangs, which would be 2010? I can’t remember. Shame on me,” she laughs. With a career as accomplished and impressive as Bean’s, it’s only natural that some of the earliest chapters feel like a whirlwind.

Many will know her as the first actress to replace Idina Menzel as Elphaba in the original Broadway production of Wicked. For others, she is Shelley from Hairspray, Jenna from Waitress or, more recently, Jersey in the Alicia Keys musical Hell’s Kitchen, which earned her a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album as principal vocalist. Outside of musical theatre, Bean is also an acclaimed singer-songwriter with six independent albums and EPs, and a new one on the way. Songs from her upcoming album will be debuted with fans in a one-night-only TodayTix Live concert at the St. Martin’s Theatre in the West End on 28 September.

So why has she chosen London to reveal her new album? “I immediately fell in love with London audiences,” says Bean. “I remember feeling, ‘Gosh, they’re really quiet’ and learning really quickly after the show that it’s just rapt attention. I really wanted to share this new music that no one has heard yet with them first.”

Bean sat down with LondonTheatre.co.uk to discuss the making of her new album, her excitement to be performing in London once again, and how playing Elphaba has helped to shape her career.

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How does it feel to be starring in two concerts in London this year?

London is my absolute favourite [city]. I was coming over for Songs for a New World on 21 September — any chance to work with Jason Robert Brown is an immediate yes — and it felt like a great opportunity to squeeze in my solo show on 28 September. There are some musicians over there that I love very dearly, too, and it’s great to have the opportunity to work with them again.

What can we expect from your new album?

This album is the most me of any project I've ever made. It is the closest to the heart I've ever gotten — the most vulnerable, the most raw. Sonically, there are elements from [my other albums] Shadows to Light, O Farrell Street, and Spectrum. I was getting closer to myself on each project as the sounds evolved. But this one, rooted in rock and soul, this one feels like breathing.

Talk to me about the songwriting process behind your single “Hard Woman to Love”.

The song really began with me needing to reconnect with myself as a writer. After the Tony Awards last year, I finally took a week off from Hell’s Kitchen and decided to spend it in Nashville. I’d never really spent time there, didn’t know anyone, but I felt pulled to go and write. I needed to remind myself that I’m more than just a performer showing up eight times a week — I wanted to create again.

My friend, who produced the album, asked me what kind of sound I wanted, then out of nowhere sent me a calendar filled with writing sessions with complete strangers. For me, songwriting in a room like that feels like getting naked — it’s so vulnerable. But some of the songs from that week ended up making the album.

We recorded “Hard Woman to Love” in Memphis, in this legendary studio steeped in soul and R&B history, and it instantly felt like the centrepiece of the whole project.

What inspired the lyrics specifically?

I was working with [singer-songwriter] David Ryan Harris and we were sitting in the studio, listening to music and finding inspiration. We played a Nina Simone song and he said, “God, that had to be a hard woman to love.” I remember being struck by what a profound statement it was. I knew that he meant she was layered and complicated. It’s hard to be a woman and it feels like it’s impossible to be what everybody wants. I think we should really be proud of the fact we are emotional, sensitive, strong, that we are all things. As the song evolved, I started to own that title as more of a badge of honour. Being hard to love doesn't mean you aren't easy to love, it just means you are unwilling to compromise your self. So really it means it takes something to love you.

It’s been 20 years since you starred as Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway. How did that role set you up for success later in your career?

It was an incredibly challenging, important training ground for what it means to be a leading lady, for what it means to show up eight times a week, for endurance, stamina, self-preservation, and for how much to give and how much to keep for yourself.

It was a crash course on the highest level, and then you add to that that I succeeded one of the biggest stars in the musical theatre world in the past 30 years. Wicked became this insane hit, and it was also the moment that YouTube and bootlegs started. It was wildly exposing. It was being thrown into the deep end and figuring out how to swim.

There’s a particular respect for women who have played Elphaba. If someone knows you’ve played the role, they know what you’re capable of — whether they’ve heard you or not. It’s an elite club even though there have been hundreds of women who have played this role around the world. I feel very proud of that. I went to the 20th anniversary on Broadway with my friend Eden [Espinosa, who also played Elphaba], we held hands, and said: “I can't believe we did that.”

And it must be incredible to see it made into a movie musical…

When they pulled the trigger and we knew that the film was happening, there was no question it was going to be massive because it was already a global brand. I performed in the show 20 years ago and the fact my six-year-old niece is like “Paint me green” is wild to me.

Has it been challenging balancing your music and theatre careers?

It's such a layered, tough answer. Life has been very clear with me when I’m needed elsewhere and those opportunities seem to flow beautifully into one another. Case in point: I finished Hell’s Kitchen, starred in [Sarah Silverman’s musical] The Bedwetter, and I’m like, “I have an open summer. This is the time to make the album.”

I think it’s hard to navigate when I shift course from doing a show to my own music and seeing who sticks around and who falls away. With social media, it’s really challenging to watch the numbers, the engagement being a certain way in response to my theatre versus my own work. Making sure that I’m staying true to myself versus doing what other people want has been the challenge. That's why I’m very excited about this album — I’ve finally made one that I want to listen to.

What was it like collaborating with Alicia Keys on Hell’s Kitchen?

It was awesome. She had been an artist who I admired for so long. Sometimes your dreams unfold in a better way than how you first dream them, because really all I wanted to do was write a song with her, and this was a year and a half of friendship, collaboration, and getting to know her whole family. She spins a million plates at once and you never see her without a smile on her face.

You’ve previously said she is one of three creatives you’d love to work with. Who are the other two?

John Mayer and Adele. I would just love to sing with Adele. She feels like such a lovely openhearted human. And John Mayer has inspired me a lot as a songwriter.

What can fans expect from your solo concert this month?

I think it’s really special to introduce the new material by first looking back at the songs and moments that brought me here. That means pulling from my original [work], past projects, covers, and musical theatre — not just pieces I’ve performed, but also music that’s influenced me and shaped who I am as an artist. Each one feels like a brick in the road that’s led to this new album.

The evening will be intimate and conversational — both a retrospective and a glimpse forward, like a journey we take together. My hope is that it feels less like a traditional concert and more like a shared listening party, where the music sparks connection and conversation.

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Photo credit: Shoshana Bean. (Courtesy of Shoshana Bean). Inset: in Wicked as Elphaba, and in Hell's Kitchen with Maleah Joi Moon. (Photos by Joan Marcus).