Cynthia Erivo and Joshua Henry to Star in Benefit Performance of THE LAST FIVE YEARS

It was announced today Tony Award-Winner Cynthia Erivo and Tony Award nominee Joshua Henry will star in a special one-night-only benefit concert version of Jason Robert Brown's seminal musical, The Last Five Years, on September 12th, with the composer himself leading the orchestra. Produced by SubCulture and Jason Robert Brown, the evening will take place at Town Hall (123 West 43rd St), and 100% of the proceeds will benefit The Brady Center, the national organization determined to create a safer America by cutting gun deaths in half by 2025.

"Sometimes all of the elements come together serendipitously, and that has been the case with every element of this event," Brown said. "From the moment I heard Cynthia sing 'I Can Do Better Than That' at the Royal Festival Hall in London last year, I have been determined to see her interpretation of Cathy, one of the most nuanced and difficult roles I've ever written; and who could possibly be a better partner than Joshua, a singular extraordinary performer who was the definitive Jim Conley in Parade last year at Geffen Hall. To have such amazing artists bring my work to life is thrilling enough, but to be using this performance to benefit the invaluable and desperately important work of the Brady Center is a particular honor, the fulfillment of a real obligation for me and, I think, for everyone in the theatrical community - to raise awareness and raise funds to stop one of the defining moral failures of our time."

Tickets for the concert begin at $50, and will go on sale at 10:00AM EST on Wednesday, August 18. To purchase tickets, and for more information on the event, please visit www.TheTownHall.org, or call (212)840-2824.

Cynthia Erivo is a multiple award-winning actress who has made a name for herself on both West End and Broadway stages. Erivo made her Broadway debut reprising her starring role as 'Celie' in the critically acclaimed revival of The Color Purple. She first played the role in 2013 at London's Menier Chocolate Factory, earning rave reviews and an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination for Best Musical Performance and a WhatsOnStage Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Her performance on Broadway earned her the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, as well as the Drama Desk Award, Theatre World and Outer Critics Circle Awards and a Drama League Award nomination. In spring 2015, Erivo appeared as 'Puck' in the Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Nick Bagnall. In fall 2014, she returned to her classical roots in the Donmar Warehouse's acclaimed all-female production ofHenry IV, opposite Dame Harriet Walter, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. In summer 2014, she played the lead in the European premiere of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical Dessa Rose at Trafalgar Studios. Erivo's additional theatre credits include the Perfect Pitch musical, Lift, directed by Steven Paling; Kneehigh Theatre's production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at the Gielgud Theatre; the starring role of 'Deloris Van Cartier' in the UK tour of Jerry Zaks' production of Sister Act; Harry Hill and Simon Cowell's critically acclaimed musical, I Can't Sing, at the London Palladium in the West End; Simon Stephens' Marine Parade, which premiered at the 2010 Brighton Festival, John Adams' experimental song play, "I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky," at Theatre Royal Stratford East; and Dominic Hill's The Three Musketeers and The Princess of Spain at Traverse, Belgrade and English Touring theatres. In addition to her stage career, Cynthia is an accomplished songwriter, having written the song, "Fly Before You Fall," for the 2014 feature film Beyond the Lights. In March 2015, she made her solo concert debut with the show entitled "Hear My Soul" at Kings Place in London. A UK native, Erivo graduated from the famEd Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2010.

Joshua Henry recently completed his starring role as Noble Sissle in Scott Rudin's new Broadway musical Shuffle Along opposite Audra McDonald.Shuffle Along was directed by George C. Wolfe and choreographed by Savion Glover. Joshua just filmed a lead role in the action thriller The Lakeopposite J.K. Simmons and Sullivan Stapleton, which releases Jan 2017. He received critical acclaim for his Tony nominated turn opposite Sutton Foster in the musical Violet on Broadway, which garnered him Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Award nominations for his thrilling, show-stopping performance. He was previously nominated for a Tony Award for his starring role in Susan Stroman's The Scottsboro Boys. Joshua's other Broadway credits include leading roles in Diane Paulus' revival of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess and Green Day's American Idiot. Joshua recently sang with Sutton Foster in concert with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He is scheduled to return to the Houston Symphony in February 2017 in an original show called A Salute to Stevie Wonder. In March of 2017, he'll be starring at Carnegie Hall in the show Life is A Cabaret: The Songs of Kander and Ebb. He also recently starred as Jim Conley at Avery Fisher Hall in Jason Robert Brown's Parade. Other film credits include Sex and the City and Winter's Tale.

Jason Robert Brown is the ultimate multi-hyphenate - a three-time Tony Award-winning composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, director and performer - best known for his dazzling scores to several of the most renowned musicals of his generation, including the award-winningThe Bridges of Madison County, the influential The Last Five Years, his debut song cycle Songs for a New World, and the seminal Parade, for which he won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Score. His major musicals as composer and lyricist include: The Bridges of Madison County, adapted by MarSha Norman from the blockbuster novel, and starring Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale; 13, written with Robert Horn and Dan Elish, which began its life in Los Angeles in 2007 and opened on Broadway in 2008 (and was subsequently directed by the composer for its West End premiere in 2012); The Last Five Years, which was cited as one of Time Magazine's 10 Best of 2001 and won Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics (and was subsequently directed by the composer in its record-breaking Off-Broadway run at Second Stage Theatre in 2013); Parade, written with Alfred Uhry and directed by Harold Prince, which premiered at Lincoln Center Theatre in 1998, and subsequently won both the Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Musical, as well as garnering Jason the Tony Award for Original Score; Honeymoon In Vegas, based on Andrew Bergman's film, which played on Broadway starring Tony Danza; and Songs for a New World, a theatrical song cycle directed by Daisy Prince, which played Off-Broadway in 1995, and has since been seen in hundreds of productions around the world. A film version of The Last Five Years was released in 2015, starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan and directed by Richard LaGravenese; and a film version of 13 is in development with CBS Films. Parade was also the subject of a major revival directed by Rob Ashford, first at London's Donmar Warehouse and then at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and was performed in concert at New York's Avery Fisher Hall in February 2015 with a full orchestra conducted by the composer. His orchestral adaptation of E.B. White's novel The Trumpet of the Swan premiered at the Kennedy Center with John Lithgow and the National Symphony Orchestra, and the CD was released on PS Classics. He has also contributed music to "Sesame Street" and "The Wonder Pets." Future projects include songs for the Broadway-bound King Kong; The Connector, a new piece with Daisy Prince and Jonathan Marc Sherman; a collaboration with MarSha Norman and Rob Ashford; a new production of The Last Five Years in London this fall; and a new solo album for release in 2017.www.jasonrobertbrown.com..

THE BRADY CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE is committed to cutting the number of U.S. gun deaths in half by 2025 through sensible policies that keep guns out of dangerous hands. Brady does that through efforts focused on expanding Brady background checks to all gun sales, stopping "bad apple" gun dealers who flood our streets with crime guns, and educating the public about the myths and dangers associated with a gun in the home. Further, as the nation's most effective gun violence prevention organization, the Brady Center is breaking new legal ground in the courts. Through the Center's Legal Action Project, Brady is helping give victims of gun violence their day in court and holding irresponsible gun industry leaders accountable.

SUBCULTURE is a music and performing arts venue located in the historic NoHo neighborhood of downtown Manhattan. Founded by brothers and lifelong music lovers Marc and Steven Kaplan, the venue was designed to foster an intimate connection between artists and the audience by incorporating the absolute best in sound and lighting technology into a room with naturally strong acoustic and architectural features. SubCulture's programming bridges genres, featuring curated performances that engage, provoke, and inspire. The venue has received praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, and Time Out New York for its exquisite sound, comfortable aesthetic, and unparalleled hospitality for guests and artists alike.