For composer, music director and performer Ben Toth, it all began at Kleinhans.
While a junior at City Honors, he shared the stage with theater icon Ben Vereen and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, performing “The Entertainer.” This opportunity led him to his career of performing, composing and music directing, and it led him back to Kleinhans.
“Ben Toth and Friends” will take place Oct. 30. The nearly sold-out performance will feature Toth, Broadway actors Grace Wall and Dawn Cantwell, and Williamsville East freshman Elena Izquierdo, and will benefit the hall which gave Toth his start.
“The space has a lot of great memories for me, and I was honored to be invited back,” Toth said.
From City Honors, Toth went on to receive a degree in modern art and architecture from Brown University. He also studied composition, voice, piano, and orchestral conducting at the Eastman School of Music. Toth has worked with some of the biggest names on Broadway: Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, and Mandy Patinkin. His current project is a musical play titled “Untuned Ears Hear Nothing But Discord,” about anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.
The project got its start as a song cycle. Toth collaborated with librettist Meghan Brown on it, and the cycle’s premiere was the centerpiece of Toth’s appearance on Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. At an after party, Toth said, Ira Glass approached him about developing the cycle into a one-act musical play. Glass has signed on as creative producer of “Untuned Ears Hear Nothing But Discord.” Toth is also working with Todd Almond on a musical about The Troubles in Ireland, which they are hoping to workshop early next year.
With so much in development, Toth expects the next two years to be critically important to his career. He is optimistic that both the American and British theater communities will embrace these projects. If they do so, though, he emphasizes that this is no accident.
“Jobs lead to more jobs, but career decisions lead to a career,” Toth said. He shared a story to illustrate this point: soon after he moved to New York, he got a lucrative offer to go on tour with a show. Although it was more money than he’d ever made, he turned it down to keep developing connections. It turned out to be the right move.
“My internship led to a years of performances with some of the top performers in show business; the actor in my 10-minute musical became a Tony winner with whom I continued collaborating; the director for my first full-length musical is now one of the head theatrical producers at Twentieth Century Fox,” Toth said. “Fresh graduates – especially those with high student loans or, indeed, fearful parents – might find this kind of advice challenging to implement, but I believe it’s more important for them than anyone else.”
While in town, Toth took the time to return to his alma mater to share this advice and more with City Honors theater students in a workshop and question-and-answer session.
“Attending City Honors was a highlight of my education. City Honors had go-getters, big talkers, poets in the hallway, classical musicians at lunch, Harvard-bound hackey-sackers, and White House-bound Richmond speakers. Whatever success I have, it’s in large part thanks to the independent spirit that City Honors engendered,” he said.
Toth is proud to be returning to his hometown as a successful performer, composer and music director. But like most everyone else who returns for a visit, he’s also proud to just have a chance to show off Buffalo to someone who’s important to him.
“My girlfriend will be visiting Buffalo for the first time, so I will happily be introducing her to authentic Buffalo pizza and wings. If I can throw in a beef on weck sandwich from Schwabl’s within her 48-hour visit, my time will be complete,” he said.