Linda Hart, Jenny Powers and More Set for Larry HartÂ's PRAISE! Benefit Tonight

Broadway actors Linda Hart (Hairspray, Anything Goes, and Catch Me if You Can), Jenny Powers (Grease and Little Women), Ramon Del Barrio (Guys and Dolls and Jersey Boys), Angela Grovey (Leap of Faith), Jeremy Gumbs (Scottsboro Boys), Nehal Joshi (Les Misérables), Grammy Award-nominated singer Ryan Shaw (Real Love and It Gets Better), and members of the Middle Church artists community lend their voices to Larry Hart's PRAISE!: An Irreverently Reverent Gospel Experience tonight, December 3 at 7 pm at Middle Collegiate Church (112 Second Avenue near East Seventh Street).

Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright (Motown: The Musical), the high-energy music of PRAISE! is inspired by The Common themes shared in world religions.

Larry Hart is a Grammy Award–winning composer and singer. Michael Jackson was executive producer of Hart's musical Sisterella. Linda Hart won a Theatre World Award for her performance in Anything Goes. Gospel music runs through Larry and Linda Hart's veins. As children, siblings Larry and Linda Hart toured the country with their family and sang in a weekly gospel television series, The Harts. The Harts released more than 25 gospel albums and sold more than 10 million copies. The movie The Apostle with Robert Duvall, was based on the life story of Linda and Larry Hart's father. The executive producer of PRAISE! is Mark Lamica.

PRAISE! is a benefit for The Middle Project, a non-profit, think-act tank whose programs include an interFaith Young adult leadership training that focuses on spiritual practice and social justice and an annual conference for leaders invested in social justice who seek to build multi-racial, multi-ethnic congregations. At The Middle Project, progressive young people and veteran clergy gain tools on how to create change, manage conflict, and navigate difference in the work place and in congregational life.

Tickets to PRAISE! are $50, $25, and $10 and can be purchased at http://bit.ly/Praise2012. For more information, visit www.middleproject.org. This event was originally scheduled for Sunday, October 28 but has been rescheduled to Monday, December 3 at 7 pm because of Hurricane Sandy.

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