This week, Ira Sternberg spoke with Benjamin D. Hale.
Benjamin D. Hale, who is currently starring as Johnny Cash in “Million Dollar Quartet,” will be presenting a “Night of Cosmic American Music” in Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center on Saturday, January 31st at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Classically trained and well-practiced, Benjamin D. Hale is known for his unique ability to create music that blends a wide range of influences into one powerful voice. A lifelong career of onstage music has provided Hale with opportunities to be in multiple bands.
Previously, Hale covered the role of Raoul, the romantic lead, in “Phantom the Las Vegas Spectacular” for six years. The show brought him to Las Vegas. He is originally from Orem, Utah where his parents own and operate The Hale Center Theater, a community theater in the round. Hale’s theater is one of a few that where originally started by his grandparents, Ruth and Nathan Hale, whose theater in Burbank, California owns the title of the longest running community theater in the round in the United States.
Hale has two performing sides to him, the musical theater side and the rock’n’roll side. His dad was a rock’n’roll singer before he began to run the theater in Orem, Utah. From a very young age, Hale was exposed to both the theater and the rock’n'roll.