Laura Bell Bundy is putting on a charity concert called Double Standards to celebrate women’s rights, health and empowerment this Sunday, November 12th at the Town Hall in NYC.
The event will feature big band jazz duet performances by female stars of Broadway, music, and comedy including Rosie O’Donnell, Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, Annaleigh Ashford, Denée Benton, Liz Callaway, Deborah S. Craig, Eden Espinosa, Ana Gasteyer, Lena Hall, Linda Hart, Morgan James, Judy Kuhn, Lesli Margherita, Jessie Mueller, Orfeh, Adrienne Warren, and more! All proceeds will go to the National Breast Cancer Coalition, Planned Parenthood of New York City and the ACLU.
To support the Double Standards charity concert, make sure to pick up your tickets here!
Ahead of the event, we were able to have a chat with Laura Bell Bundy about the Double Standard charity concert and its importance for women’s rights. Make sure to follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and continue below for the full interview!
Hollywood.com: What initiated the spark to create the Double Standards charity concert?
Laura Bell Bundy: The whole thing kind of started when the election was taking place and I noticed how scrutinized Hilary was compared to a lack of scrutiny for Donald Trump. It just became glaring to me what the double standard was, you know? Picking on her that she’s not smiling enough, or she’s smiling too much, or she’s cackling, or this and that, or what she’s wearing. Like really? Are we going to focus on these things? This is a very intelligent woman who has years of experience in political office and this other person is getting away with saying very irresponsible things, especially about women.
So when the election results came out, I, like many people and many women, couldn’t believe it. Everyone took to Facebook with all the things they believed. People were absolutely upset with it and they couldn’t do anything. It was shocking to a lot of people and we learned a lot about where we stand. I realized, as a woman in my own country, that some of the things we worked really hard for were at risk like insurance for birth control.
I felt almost paralyzed by the result and I had a friend talk to me about what an artist’s duty is. She showed me this Nina Simone quote saying that “an artist’s duty is to reflect the times.” As a singer, a recording artist, songwriter, and actress, I realized I am in a position to make positive change, to bring awareness to this subject, and to activate and mobilize a group of women. This event is essentially the concert version of a women’s march that is putting all of the proceeds to ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the National Breast Cancer Coalition. This is what we can do as artists to not only entertain but also educate and support the causes that support us as a gender.
HW: Will you be performing a duet with anyone in particular at the concert or are you flying solo for the night?
LBB: I am singing a duet in the opening with Adrienne Warren from Shuffle Along. We’re singing a jazzy version of “Sisters doing it for themselves” to open the show and then I’m singing with Linda Hart, who played my mother in Hairspray. At one point I also sing with Sara Bareilles and Jessie Mueller.
HW: If you could perform a duet with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
LBB: You know, every person I look up to is a woman and I would love to do a duet with Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, or Carol Burnett. Any of them!
HW: Is there a specific reason why Town Hall was chosen as a venue for the concert?
I had this gut instinct to put this concert at the Town Hall in New York City because I knew it was a beautiful concert venue. What I didn’t know was that it was founded by suffragists in 1921 for female causes. Essentially, women were trying to earn the right to vote. They built it so they could have a place to speak about important things for those who did not have a voice. When it was finally built, the right for women to vote had already been passed and Nina Simone happened to have her very first public concert there. It just also happens to be the 100 year anniversary of women getting the right to vote in New York. We are celebrating that and we are doing it at this sacred place that I didn’t know was filled with women’s history.
