J LIVE welcomes Jonah Platt

J LIVE welcomes Jonah Platt

Actor, musician, and writer Jonah Platt will bring a powerful dose of soulful singing and timely comedic relief to the Gordon Center on March 3, 2018, as he and his band headline our 2nd annual J Live at the Gordon fundraising gala to benefit need-based scholarships for JCC children and teens.

Jonah has appeared on the stages of Broadway, Carnegie Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl; Philadelphia’s Trocadero, Palestra, and Wells Fargo Center; and LA’s Catalina Jazz Club, Roxy, Whisky A-Go-Go, and Troubadour. As a Hollywood writer, he has written for Fox’s Family Guy and NBC’s Parks and Recreation.

Jonah’s work as an actor spans nearly 20 years of stage, screen, and (web) streaming. He spent last year starring as “Fiyero” in the smash Broadway musical, Wicked. Recently, he starred opposite Janel Parish in the indie film The Purple Rose, and currently stars as “Bender” in The Last Breakfast Club at the Rockwell Table & Stage in Hollywood.

Jonah comes to J Live with a strong connection to Baltimore and a nationally-acclaimed pedigree (his father, film and Broadway producer Marc Platt, grew up in Pikesville and the extended family still live in town; his brother, Ben recently appeared in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway). Jonah will weave anecdotes of “growing up Platt” into his performance.

In a family reunion of sorts, Jonah is thrilled members of his extended family are coming to see him perform at J Live. Having travelled to Baltimore many times for weddings, b’nai mitzvahs, Jewish holidays, and to visit his grandparents and cousins, Jonah knows Owings Mills well.

The J Live show, Jonah says, will be “a smattering of all things I love to do – Broadway covers, original songs, pop and jazz. It will be an incredible range of fun, different things for everyone.”

“I love being on stage more than anything, and being a part of something like J Live creatively excites me on a very high level.”

Jonah’s parents raised Jonah on musical theater.  When Jonah was young, he attended the Adderley School for Performing Arts in Santa Barbara, CA. “This is where I first fell in love with being on stage,” he says, recalling his first solo performance, the Broadway hit song “Sit Down Your Rocking the Boat” from Guys and Dolls.

“I love the ‘liveness’ of the stage,” Jonah says. “The authenticity – the anything-can-happen-live-in-the-moment-of-performance.”

March 3, 2018 – don’t miss what’s LIVE at the Gordon on this Saturday night – J Live, with Jonah Platt.

and

7:30pm Pre-Show Reception
Light Fare, Open Bar, Live Auction and raffles

8:30pm
JONAH PLATT on stage at the Gordon Center

Keith Shapiro and Zhanna Maydanich, co-chairs