54 BELOW, Broadway’s Supper Club and 2022 Tony Awards® Honoree for Excellence in the Theatre, presented Jimmy Awards standout Anna Zavelson in her 54 Below solo debut on May 17, helmed by Carter Van Erp, with Music Direction by Tyler Driskill.
Director Carter Van Erp, Anna Zavelson, Ruthie Ann Miles and Driskill Tyler. Photo by Lia Chang
Anna Zavelson is an Asian American artist who is proud to have made her New York City debut as Clara in the critically acclaimed Encores! revival of “Light in the Piazza.” In 2022, she was a finalist in The Jimmy Awards, bringing the song “Higher” from the musical “Allegiance” to life. Television credits include NBC’s “Revolution” and Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why.” Anna won a 2024 Clive Barnes Award for Dance and Theatre and has been nominated for a LGBTQ Critics’ Dorian Theater Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production for her turn in The Light in the Piazza. She is pursuing her BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan.
Anna presented an evening of songs and stories that she loves across a variety of music genres, from pop to folk to musical theater. Hailing from Austin, TX, Anna grew up around a culture that embraces live music, and shared her melting pot of influences with New York audiences.
Anna Zavelson. Photo by Lia Chang
Special guest vocalists included her The Light in the Piazza co-star, Tony Award winner Ruthie Ann Miles and Nickie Barron. Scroll down for photos and the set list below.
Set list:
“If You Knew My Story” – Brightstar (Steve Martin, Eddie Brickell)
“I Have Dreamed” – The King and I (Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein)*
“Think of Me” – The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, and Richard Stilgoe)
College Audition Medley:
- – “Dead Mom” – Beetlejuice (Eddie Perfect)
- – “Requiem” – Dear Evan Hansen (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul)
- – “She Used to be Mine” – Waitress (Sara Bareilles)
- – “Vanilla Ice Cream” – She Loves Me (Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick)
- – “For the First Time in Forever” – Frozen: The Broadway Musical (KristenAnderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)
- – “No One Else” – Natascha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Dave Malloy)College Audition Medley Part 2:
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- – “Problem” (Ariana Grande)
- – “Pieta Signore” (Alessandro Stradella/Anonymous)
- – “The Joke” (Brandi Carlile)“I See the Light” – Tangled (Alan Menken and Glenn Slater) Performed with Nicholas Barron “I Know Things Now” – Into the Woods (Stephen Sondheim, revised lyrics by Carter Van Erp and Anna Zavelson)
“What I Want” – Broken Ground (Jason Ma)
Anna Zavelson and NIckie Barron. Photo by Lia Chang
“Nature Boy” (Eden Ahbez)
“Too Little Time” (Danny Seligman)
“The Beauty Is” – The Light in the Piazza (Adam Guettel)
“Statues and Stories” – The Light in the Piazza (Adam Guettel) Performed with Ruthie Ann Miles
Ruthie Ann Miles and Anna Zavelson. Photo by Lia Chang
Ruthie Ann Miles and Anna Zavelson. Photo by Lia Chang
Ruthie Ann Miles and Anna Zavelson. Photo by Lia Chang
“Perfect” (Anna Zavelson)
“A Case of You” (Joni Mitchell)
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (Elton John)***Nancy LaMott’s arrangement
**inspired by Sara Bareilles’ arrangement
Anna Zavelson. Photo by Lia Chang
Anna Zavelson. Photo by Lia Chang
Anna had her parents, grandparents and her University of Michigan classmates and Jason Ma, the composer/lyricist of “What I Want” from the new musical, Broken Ground, in the audience to cheer her on.
Anna Zavelson with her University of Michigan classmates. Photo by Lia Chang
Anna Zavelson is flanked by her father, Dave Zavelson, her mother, Tracy Matsuo Zavelson, her grandmother, Gail Zavelson and her grandfather, Tom Zavelson. Photo by Lia Chang
Up next for Anna is Ted Sperling’s salute to a Broadway icon in Wonder of Wonders: Celebrating Sheldon Harnick, Jun 1- 3, 2024 at 92NY Center for Culture & Arts, Kaufman Concert Hall.
Join Ted Sperling for a celebration of the extraordinary legacy of triple Tony Award-winning Broadway legend Sheldon Harnick. Filled with unforgettable songs from Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, Fiorello! and more – “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Miracle of Miracles,” “Tonight at Eight,” When Did I Fall in Love” and others – and reflections on Harnick’s wondrous life in musical theater, it’s the kind of tribute you’ll only find at Lyrics & Lyricists.
Featuring Adam Heller, Adam Kantor, Anna Zavelson, Sam Gravitte, and Alysha Umphress. Click here for tickets.
Ruthie Ann Miles, Anna Zavelson, Lia Chang
Lia Chang. Photo by Kalin Ivanov
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer, activist, documentarian and an Award winning filmmaker and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Lia is also the host and Executive Producer of BACKSTAGE PASS WITH LIA CHANG, an Arts and Entertainment and Lifestyle program that airs on Sundays at 6:30pm on FIOS 34, RCN 83, Spectrum 56/1996 and streams on MNN2. Lia was recently profiled on Asian American Life. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. www.liachang.com www.liachangphotography.com
Lia Chang Photography 