Jenny Bender always wanted to be on Broadway, but Broad Street was close enough.
“So much work went into it, but I won, so it was worth it,” said Bender, who used her theatrical side to win the 2020 Fake It to Make It: The Lip Sync Challenge at the Miller Theater on Broad Street.
The event has been a wildly successful fundraiser for SafeHomes of Augusta Domestic Violence Intervention Center, and Bender will perform at the 2022 competition which features some of the best contestants from years’ past, according to Aimee Hall, SafeHomes executive director.
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In 2020, Bender went for something people hadn’t seen in other shows. She created a medley of songs from Disney’s The Little Mermaid for the first half of the show, and then another selection of songs from “The Greatest Showman” for Act II, she said.
“I have red hair, so there’s a running joke that I always wanted to be Ariel,” she said.
Hall said the first lip sync battle was patterned after one on Jimmy Fallon’s show, and Fake It to Make It has radically evolved since its inception with contestants trying to one-up the previous year’s competition.
“With Jenny Bender, the judges liked the theatrical. Her costumes were beyond unreal. You couldn’t tell she was lip-syncing,” Hall said.
Some of the performers are inspired by the music videos related to the songs they sing, but their creativity is the surprise element, she said.
The first event was held at the Imperial Theatre, but it outgrew that facility. It moved to the Miller Theater, but quickly outgrew that one too, she said.
Now, it’s moved to the new Columbia County Performing Arts Center, and Hall said tickets are going fast.
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All-star teams include Life of the Party, led by Kris Fisher, Life of the Party Mobile DJ Service; Mike Drop led by Mike Goodwin of Goodwin Construction and Hefner Pools; Nuthin’ but an E Thang led by Dr Chris Ewart of Augusta Plastic Surgery; Soul SiSTARS led by Angela Taylor of Doctors Hospital and Young, Scrappy & Hungry, led by Kate Sanders of Alison South.
While the evening is all about having fun, it does have a serious side.
There’s even one dance within the show that brings home the message of domestic violence.
Hall said the organization receives a lot of government funding as well as grant monies. That funding stream comes with strict regulations on how it’s spent, but there are costs involved in running a 24-hour crisis line, emergency shelter and other programs that fall outside those parameters.
SafeHomes also offers counseling, support groups and life skills training.
The event has a fundraising goal of $275,000, and as of Jan. 19, nearly $250,000 had been raised, according to the SafeHomes’ website, safehomesdv.org.
Fake It to Make It will be at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28. Tickets start at $25. For tickets, visit thecenterofcc.com.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Managing Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
