Matt Cavenaugh & Jenny Powers Kickstart Debut CD with $15K in Friend & Fan Funding

Five weeks ago, married Broadway stars Matt Cavenaugh and Jenny Power had a dream of making an album of romantic songs together. Today they have $15,827, raised from 147 friends, family members and fans on the website KickStarter.com, enough to finish the CD and release it sometime in February.

“The response was immediate and overwhelming,” said Cavenaugh, who played Tony in West Side Story on Broadway and also appeared in Grey Gardens and Urban Cowboy. “In less than four days, we exceeded our initial goal of $10,000, with 25 days left to go. So we made a new goal of $15,000 and exceeded that!” KickStarter allows people to raise money for creative ideas by asking their community to reach set goals. If a goal isn’t met, the project is considered unfunded and no money changes hands.

The upcoming recording of pop covers, which has yet to be titled, will feature 10 songs that tell, according to Cavenaugh, “a story of two people searching for and finding love with each other.” Artists represented include Etta James, Sam Cooke, Queen, Diana Ross and the Supremes and Joni Mitchell. Cavenaugh and Powers are currently finishing up the recording with album producers Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews in Los Angeles, where Powers is prepping for a starring role in the new musical Dangerous Beauty at Pasadena Playhouse. She was previously seen on Broadway in Grease and Little Women.

“It’s very humbling and touching,” Cavenaugh says of the people who have invested money in the project. “There are fans that Jenny and I don’t know personally and friends from long ago. People I haven’t spoken to in 20 years have given generously. That’s very emotional. It only inspires us and motivates us to put out the best album we can.”

Cavenaugh and Powers aren’t the only Broadway talents to turn to KickStarter to reach out to fans. Performer Matt Doyle (Spring Awakening, Bye Bye Birdie) raised over $20,000 for his upcoming CD and Deidre Goodwin (A Chorus Line) is currently attempting to raise the same amount for a warm-up exercise video for performers that she is developing with voice teacher Kim Stern.

Visit their KickStarter.com campaign page to learn more about the upcoming album from Cavenaugh and Powers.