Happy Birthday to Tony Winner Laura Benanti!

How we adore this funny lady with a soprano that does not quit. She has appeared on Broadway for decades in legndary roles such as Maria in The Sound of Music, Cinderella in Into the Woods, Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy, Amalia Balash in She Loves Me - the list goes on and on. Each role different and fabulous in their own unique way. How can we forget the fast talking Candela in Women on the Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown?!

Laura has appeared in a variety of television shows, authored books and appeared in sold-out concerts across the U.S. - frequently at Feinstein's/54 Below which is where she produced her live solo album 'In Constant Search Of The Right Attention.' Laura's mother Linda Benanti is an accomplished voice teacher and cast member of the 1981 cast of Broadway's Brigadoon. She has joined Laura in recent concerts for some beautiful duets like this popular Sondheim number from Into The Woods.

We have highlighted Laura's glorious performances throughout the years before but today in honor of her birthday, we want to shine the spotlight on a recent heartfelt project this talented star has brought to the interwebs. As a result to the COVID-19 pandemic, Laura realized that so many school students were not going to have the opportunity to perform in their school's annual musicals. Laura asked these student performers to publish videos of them performing numbers from their cancelled musicals tagging her plus the sunny hashtag #SunshineSongs. This kind, goodwill gesture to these performers quickly caught the attention of "Good Morning America"!

Laura and her pal Kate Detier-Maradei hoped to bring these inspiring performances to a larger audience and so they partnered with K4Connect & Seniorly.com and SunshineSongs.com was born - bringing hour or so long concerts to communities that are not social media savvy but would appreciate these marvelous performances by Broadway's future! According to their website, audiences grew with these joyful #SunshineConcerts presented to senior living communities, children's hospitals, pediatric hospital units, as well as homes across the country and organizations serving vulnerable children.

Do you have friends or family that might be interested in viewing these concerts? Would you like to brighten your own day? Have a scroll of these full concert videos, share this article, visit SunshineSongs.com and give birthday queen Laura Benanti a follow on Twitter and Instagram.

Sunshine Concert - May 2, 2020

Sunshine Concert - May 30, 2020

Sunshine Concert - June 20, 2020

Sunshine Concert - July 2, 2020

For more on this uplifting concert series, visit SunshineSongs.com.