| Stars of Stage and Screen To Unite for Inauguration Day 'Concert for America' Benefit in New York City | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 03:02 pm EST 01/06/25 | |
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| STARS OF STAGE AND SCREEN ALI STROKER, BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL, CECILY STRONG, JAVIER MUÑOZ, J. SMITH-CAMERON, KELLI O'HARA, MERLE DANDRIDGE, NINA WEST, PIPER PERABO, ROSIE PEREZ AND MORE TO UNITE FOR INAUGURATION DAY "CONCERT FOR AMERICA" BENEFIT Tickets On Sale Now for Star-Studded Concert Benefiting National Organizations Dedicated to Protecting Civil Rights, Women's Health, Environmental Protection, and More www.ConcertForAmerica.org NEW YORK, NY (January 6, 2025) – Producers Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley Jackson announced today that their next Concert for America fundraising event will take place at The Town Hall in New York City at 7:00pm on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025. First presented on January 20, 2017, Concert for America includes musical and comedic performances from the brightest stars of stage and screen, with inspiring stories and messages from those on the front lines, advocating for freedom and justice for all. This year's event will feature appearances by Ali Stroker, Anika Larsen, Ann Harada, Arielle Jacobs, Brenda Braxton, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bryce Pinkham, Cecily Strong, Charlotte d'Amboise, Hennessy Winkler, J. Smith-Cameron, Javier Muñoz, Jessica Vosk, Judy Gold, Judy Kuhn, Julie Benko, Keala Settle, Kelli O'Hara, Lili Thomas, Lilli Cooper, Liz Callaway, Merle Dandridge, Nina West, Pearl Sun, Piper Perabo, Rosie Perez, Scarlett Strallen, Shayna Steele, Susie Essman and many more. Tickets are now on sale at www.concertforamerica.org. "We did our first Concert for America on Inauguration Day 2017 and we were thrilled! Not only because it sold out so quickly, but because we received so many messages afterwards describing how the concert provided the audience with joy, peace, and hopefulness," said Jackson. "As well as high belting!" added Rudetsky. Jackson continued, "We're going to do it again with the help of the incredible artistic community that always steps up for any community or person facing adversity." "And," said Rudetsky, "we will be there not only on Inauguration Day with entertainment and calls to action, but over the next four years, too. " The event will highlight a number of national organizations working to protect human rights including the Sierra Club, Southern Poverty Law Center, Black Theatre United, The National Immigration Law Center, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and more. Representatives from each of these groups will participate in the program, sharing their stories and letting audiences know how they can help with easy calls-to-action to do on the day of the event and in the future. General Admission ticket prices start at $35. Special donation packages are also available and offer access to VIP seating, a pre-show party, autographed memorabilia, and more. Additional information is available on Ticketmaster, the Concert for America website, and at The Town Hall Box Office. Concert for America was created and organized by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley Jackson in association with Your Kids, Our Kids. Additional creative team members include: director and choreographer Luis Salgado, production stage manager Linda Marvel, sound designer Shannon Slaton, lighting designer Keith Truax, associate producer David Katz, and general manager Maria DiDia. For more information or to make a donation, visit www.concertforamerica.org. ### ABOUT SETH RUDETSKY Seth began working on Broadway as a pianist for shows like Les Miserables and Phantom Of The Opera. He soon connected with Hearts and Voices, an organization that brings live weekly performances to hospitalized people with AIDS and began volunteering for them in 1992, performing at: Rivington House, Roosevelt Island Hospital, the prison ward at St. Clare's Hospital and the Cardinal Cooke AIDS ward. In 2001, he produced and conducted "Dreamgirls" starring Heather Headley, Audra McDonald and Lillias White, the first fall concert for The Actors Fund, which was recorded on Nonesuch Records and raised almost $1 million for The Fund. He followed it with many more Actors Fund concerts including "Hair" with Jennifer Hudson, Adam Pascal, Billy Porter l and many more which was recorded by Ghostlight Records and nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004. Also, for the Actors Fund, he starred opposite Sutton Foster in f "They're Playing Our Song" and hosted and played piano for an array of divas for their 2009 "Nothing Like A Dame" concert with Betty Buckley, Stephanie J. Block, Audra McDonald, Kelli O'Hara and Bebe Neuwirth. Seth has hosted, music directed and helped produce concerts raising money and awareness for organizations like The Humane Society of NY, Harvest Home, Broadway Green Alliance, Broadway Votes and, with his new organization, The Jewish Broadway Alliance, he recently joined producers Amanda Lipitz and Henry Tisch to help produce "Shabbat on Broadway" and the Times Square Menorah Lighting video of "Tomorrow/Maoz Tzur". As a writer, he was nominated for three Emmy Awards for comedy writing on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" and is the author of three volumes of "Seth's Broadway Diary" which has tons and tons of inside Broadway stories, "My Awesome Awful Popularity Plan" and its sequel "The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek" (published by Random House). Recently, he authored "Musical Theatre For Dummies," which is also available as an audio book. Seth and his husband James produced the all-star Broadway for Orlando recording of "What the World Needs Now Is Love," featuring, among others, Carole King, Gloria Estefan, Sara Bareilles, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Billy Porter. The song charted on the Billboard Hot 100, reached #1 on iTunes, and raised over $100,000 for the LGBT Center of Orlando. Seth and James also organized the group to sing at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. He is the afternoon Broadway host on SiriusXM Radio and co-wrote and co-starred in "Disaster!" on Broadway. Currently, he is touring with his one-man comedy shows and his Broadway concert series featuring stars like Jessie Mueller, Audra McDonald and Norbert Leo Butz. He and his husband, James, run Seth's Big Fat Broadway Cruise which is setting sail to Alaska in August and the Canary Islands in October. ABOUT JAMES WESLEY JACKSON In addition to conceiving the idea for Broadway for Orlando, James conceived (and co-produced with Seth) the first-ever benefit on Broadway for foster youth. James recently produced and co-hosted with Seth their 10th annual Voices: Stars for Foster Kids benefit for You Gotta Believe, which helps older foster children find forever families. In response to concerns that marginalized people would suffer after 2016's presidential election, James co-produced and co-hosted with Seth the first of this very concert series. It was held at The Town Hall in New York, New York on January 20, 2017. Over the course of the series (13 in all), some of entertainment's biggest stars, including Barry Manilow, Vanessa Williams, Chita Rivera, Melissa Manchester, Melissa Benoist, and Grant Gustin, generously lent their voices to raise money for national organizations dedicated to protecting civil rights, women's health, and environmental protection, in theaters around the country. In March 2020, in response to the effects of COVID-19 on the performing arts community, James and Seth created the charity livestream "Stars in the House," producing over 500 episodes and raising $1.3 million for the Entertainment Community Fund and over $600,000 for dozens of other charities. Also in 2020, James and Seth produced the all-star recording of "Georgia On My Mind" to help raise awareness for Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight organization's work for the January 5, 2021 run-off Senate election in Georgia. They also produced a special video celebrating the Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, which aired during the January 20, 2021 Inaugural Special. As a writer, James wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed off-Broadway play, "Unbroken Circle", starring Eve Plumb and Tony nominees Anika Larsen and Jennifer Simard. He also wrote "Art and Science", a comedy-drama dealing with the generational differences between two gay men. It starred Tony nominees Tony Sheldon and John Tartaglia. James was also proud to be one of the lead producers on Broadway of his husband's musical, "Disaster!" James and Seth are the proud recipients of the National Leadership Award from the LGBTQ Task Force for their work on Broadway for Orlando's "What the World Needs Now is Love." For their work on "Stars in the House," they received a special Drama Desk Award, the Board of Directors MAC Award, the Founders Award for Resilience from the Cancer Support Community, and a Gotham Icon Award from the Museum of the City of New York. They are the most recent recipients of the TDF Founders Award. |
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