STAGE TUBE: Shoshana Bean and Eva Noblezada Sing 'Take Me or Leave Me'

Former WICKED star Shoshana Bean and MISS SAIGON's Eva Noblezada recently faced off in a duet at Bean's concert in London on Saturday night. Below, watch the pair sing RENT hit, "Take Me or Leave Me"!

Shoshana Bean is an American stage actress, singer and songwriter known for her roles in Broadway musicals. She is best known for playing Elphaba on Broadway in the musical Wicked.

Shortly after moving to New York City, she was cast in the 2000 Off-Broadway revival of Godspell. Bean subsequently performed in the national tour of Leader of the Pack. She was also an original cast member in the Tony Award-winning production of Broadway's Hairspray, originating the role of Shelley and understudying the roles of Tracy Turnblad, Velma Von Tussle, and Prudy Pingleton. During this time she was also a member of the Broadway Inspirational Voices Gospel Choir.

In 2001, she sang back-up for Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary concert celebration at Madison Square Garden.

Bean joined the Broadway production of Wicked, originally cast as Idina Menzel's standby. She officially took over the role of Elphaba on January 11, 2005. She actually began performing the lead role full-time on January 8. Bean's year-long run in the lead role concluded on January 8, 2006. At her closing performance on Broadway, Megan Hilty presented her with the same red track suit that Idina had worn during the curtain call at what would have been her last show on Broadway on January 9, 2005. The suit was autographed by Menzel.

During her run in Wicked, Bean made appearances on MTV's Made, Soul Train Christmas Starfest, and performed alongside Brian McKnight to honor Aretha Franklin at the 2005 Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards.

Bean reprised the role of Elphaba in the 1st national tour of Wicked for a brief run in the fall of 2006, beginning September 6, 2006. She departed the touring cast on December 31, 2006. Since leaving Wicked, Bean has recorded background vocals for the film soundtracks to Hairspray, Enchanted and The Wayans Brothers' Dance Flick. Bean and Megan Hilty also began performing a variety show together called The Meg an' Sho Show. They often perform a "Wicked swap", in which Bean sings a medley of Glinda's songs and Hilty sings Elphaba's.

Bean released her debut solo album, Superhero, on December 2, 2008 on her own label Shotime Records. In its first week of sales "Superhero" hit #5 on the iTunes R&B charts making it the only independent album in the top 100. The first single, also entitled "Superhero", launched October 3, 2008 on iTunes, and was used to promote NBC's Monday night line-up in the fall of 2008. As a singer-songwriter her work has also been featured on MTV's The Hills, "Mercy", "The Bad Girl's Club" and Showtime's "The Big C".

In December 2008, she performed at the Kennedy Center in a concert of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

In May 2009, Bean starred as the Narrator in the Pittsburgh CLO production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and following her run in Pittsburgh, she performed at the Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles to kick off L.A.'s Gay Pride weekend. Bean sang both the music of her idol Barbra Streisand, as well as her own original material from her album.

In June 2009, she joined the new production of Peepshow in Las Vegas alongside Holly Madison.Her three-month contract lasted through September, when she was replaced by Aubrey O'Day. Bean can be seen in an episode of The Girls Next Door as the girls (Kristina and Karissa Shannon and Crystal Harris) go to see Madison in the show. Also in June, her voice could be heard singing the jingle in a national Tide detergent commercial.

On November 30, 2009 Bean made her New York City concert debut at Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Her single "Superhero" won an Independent Music Awards for Best R&B Song. Bean was also the Independent Music Awards Vox Pop winner for "Superhero".

In July 2010, Shoshana Bean made her Australian debut at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.[citation needed]

On August 17, 2010, Bean made her solo concert debut in London's West End at the Ambassadors Theatre. The two concerts featured guest appearances from Oliver Tompsett, Dianne Pilkington, Gavin Creel, Michael Arden and Daniel Boys.

During the summer of 2011 Bean starred in the musical "Dear John Mayer" for which she wrote the music and lyrics. Fellow CCM graduate Eydie Faye (Cohen) wrote the show's book.

On January 16, 2013 it was confirmed by Bean on her Facebook page that her new album will be named "O' Farrell Street" and will be released in early February. Such album has already been promoted by the singles "Runnin' Out of Days" and "Blood from a Stone". The records was produced and engineered by Tim K.

In 2015 Bean became a guest vocalist for Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox for several videos.