Broadway's Julie Benko on Originating Her First Role in “Harmony — ”and Why the Story Is 'So Timely' (Exclusive)

The actress, who won over audiences as the Fanny Brice alternate in 'Funny Girl,' now stars in Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's 'Harmony'

Just a few days after Julie Benko gave her final bow as Fanny Brice in the revival of Funny Girl, she headed five blocks down to the Ethel Barrymore Theatre to settle into a new role on Broadway.

For the first time, Benko, who made her Broadway debut as an ensemble member in Les Misérables in 2014, is originating her first major role on Broadway as Ruth in Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's Harmony: A New Musical, which opened last month.

The musical tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, a six-person German vocal group in the late 1920s that was disbanded as the Nazis came to power.

After winning over audiences as an alternate in Funny Girl — first taking over the role of Brice after Beanie Feldstein left the show and later as an alternate for Lea Michele — Benko tells PEOPLE it's an "honor" she gets to originate the role of Ruth, a Jewish activist married to a non-Jewish member of the Harmonists.

Read on for more from Benko as PEOPLE catches up with the star about Harmony, her newly released holiday EP and her time in Funny Girl.

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Related: A Complete Timeline of the 'Funny Girl' Casting Saga

What about Harmony drew you to want to be a part of the show?

I was really moved by the story and I wanted to be a part of something of real value to say, especially in this time. When I took the role, I was thinking, 'Wow, this really speaks to the rise in antisemitism we're seeing in our country.' I took this role last spring, and we've only seen a huge rise in antisemitic rhetoric and hate crimes and all these things in just the last two months.

I'm very grateful that I'm working on this project right now because it's really nice to have something to funnel all of my feelings into because the show is so timely and it feels really relevant to what we are all experiencing in the Jewish community today.

I have had the experience since October 7th, I've had to learn how to handle all of those feelings of holding all of that, the weight of the antisemitism that we're all experiencing in the show and not carry it around all the time. I would sit in my dressing room at intermission and look at Instagram like we all do, and I would see some horrible new occurrence just popping up on my feed and just be filled with so much, so much fear, so much anger, just so full of everything we're going through, despair, all of it.

What has it been like to originate a Broadway role for the first time?

There have been a million Elphabas or Glindas from Wicked. And they're all following the path that Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth laid down for those characters. They get to decide where you walk, and when you walk.

When you're originating a role, you decide what feels natural. It's just really creative and I think it's scarier because you're the one who's setting the path when you are originating the role. You get to draw on all the creative skills that you develop as an actor over time. It's an honor.

That's part of why creating a new character and a new piece is so exciting because you never know what life is going to have for that show down the road. And there will always be a piece of you the material and you get to contribute to something that will live on past you.

Now that it's been over a month since Harmony is officially on Broadway, how are you feeling?

We're settling in really nicely. We're just starting to deepen into everything and relax into everything.

We're all really close as well. It's a really lovely group of people and so many people are making their Broadway debuts, which is a really lovely feeling to be a part of. There's just so much excitement to be at work every day.

Working with Sierra Boggess (Mary) has been just a delight. I've learned a lot from sharing the stage with her. And Chip Zien (Rabbi) is just amazing. He is so good in the show. He's such a great dramatic actor and he's so funny. But backstage, he just is a riot. We never stop laughing.

Are you still in touch with your Funny Girl castmates?

I'm in touch with a lot of people. The understudies at Funny Girl, we really bonded and we are on a text thread that doesn't stop. We're with each other forever and go to all of each other's shows, and a lot of them have come to see the show.

I recently was doing Duolingo and I had a little sentence come up, I've been doing French and it said, Julie and Lea are going to a party, and so I sent it to Lea [Michelle] and I was like, 'Lea, we're going to a party.' She was like, 'Sounds great!'

She's going to come to see Harmony.

You recently released a new holiday EP, Christmas With You. What was the inspiration for the project?

It's four songs, three of them are covers. The original idea was to do a Christmas album with all songs by Jewish composers. Then I had the thought of, 'Oh wait, but I am also a Jewish composer and I could contribute.'

I got an idea for this song while I was on the subway, and just started it on my phone and got to the [Funny Girl] theater and rushed to that little closet where I worked on it and wrote it all and sent a little demo I made on my phone to my husband, who I collaborate with.

He's my arranger and a pianist, and I sent it to him and he said, 'We have to do something with this.' We talked about recording it and then that led to the EP.

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