Foster and Rudetsky Team Up for THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG Benefit, 8/30

The Actors Fund is proud to present Tony Award winner Sutton Foster and Seth Rudetsky in a one-night-only concert performance of THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG, on Monday, August 30, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre at John Jay College (899 Tenth Ave.)

THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG features a book by three-time Tony Award winner Neil Simon, music by Oscar and Tony Award winner Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Oscar and Grammy Award winner Carol Bayer Sager.

When Vernon Gersch (Seth Rudestky), an established and wisecracking composer, takes on the kooky and offbeat lyricist Sonia Walsk (Sutton Foster) as his new collaborator, their initial match is a professional success but a personal disaster. Together, the two undergo a series of trials and overcome a number of hurdles before finding true love by the final curtain.

THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG is directed and choreographed by Denis Jones with musical direction by Steve Freeman. Additional casting will be announced soon.

THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG originally opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in February 1979, where it played for more than two years and earned four Tony Award nominations.

Tickets for The Actors Fund benefit performance are $75, $100 and $150 and are available by calling 212-221-7300 ext. 133 or by emailing tickets@actorsfund.org. Premium orchestra seats are available for $250, which includes an exclusive post-show reception with the cast and creative team).

All proceeds benefit the programs and services of The Actors Fund. For more information, visit www.actorsfund.org.

PRINCIPAL BIOGRAPHIES

SUTTON FOSTER (Sonia Walsk) will soon co-star in the new Off-Broadway play, Trust, at Second Stage. She recently starred on Broadway as Princess Fiona in Shrek: The Musical, for which she was honored with Tony and Drama Desk nominations, and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Prior to that, Sutton was Inga in the Mel Brooks musical, Young Frankenstein, Janet Van De Graaff in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations, LA Ovation Award) and Jo March in Little Women: The Musical (2005 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations). She is the recipient of the 2002 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Astaire Awards for her performance as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, a role she created in the 2000 La Jolla Playhouse premiere. Other Broadway credits include Les Miserables, Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Grease!. Regional productions include What the World Needs Now (Old Globe), Dorian (Goodspeed), The Three Musketeers (San Jose Musical Theater), Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Sally in Me and My Girl (both at Pittsburgh CLO). She has toured nationally in The Will Rogers Follies, Les Miserables, and Grease!. She has appeared as Svetlana in Chess in Concert and as the "I'm the Greatest Star" Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in Concert, both benefits for The Actors Fund. On television, Sutton recently guest starred on "Law & Order: SVU." Other appearances include the Disney Channel's "Johnny and the Sprites" and several episodes of the HBO series, "The Flight of the Conchords." Sutton has performed in concert at Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, at the Café Carlyle, with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, at Feinstein's, Joe's Pub, and at concert halls and theaters across the country. Recordings include The Maury Yeston Songbook (PS Classics), Jule Styne in Hollywood, and the original cast recordings of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein and Shrek. Her debut solo CD, Wish (Ghostlight Records), was released last year to critical acclaim and is available in stores. Earlier this year, she completed a sold-out limited run of the highly-anticipated City Center Encores! production of Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, starring as Nurse Fay Apple. She will star as Reno Sweeney in the 2011 Roundabout revival of Anything Goes. She is a proud teacher at New York University and Ball State University. Visit her website: www.suttonfoster.com.

SETH RUDETSKY (Vernon Gersch) is the afternoon Broadway host every day on Sirius/XM Radio. As a musician, Seth has a classical piano degree from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and played in the pits of more than a dozen Broadway shows including Ragtime, Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera, and was the vocal coach for the Legally Blonde reality show on MTV. He was the Artistic Producer/Music Director for the first five annual Actors Fund Fall Concerts including Dreamgirls with Audra McDonald (recorded on Nonesuch Records) and Hair with Jennifer Hudson (recorded on Ghostlight Records, Grammy nomination). As a comic, he won the title "Funniest Gay Male in NY" at Stand-Up NY, had a long-running show at Caroline's Comedy Club and spent two years as a comedy writer on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" (three Emmy nominations). As an actor, he played Arnold in the Gallery Players production of Torch Song Trilogy, had a recurring role on "All My Children" and a guest spot on "Law & Order: C.I." and in 2007 made his acting debut on Broadway in The Ritz, directed by Joe Mantello, playing Sheldon Farenthold and singing "Magic To Do" in a (devastating) unitard. He's written the books The Q Guide to Broadway and Broadway Nights, both in their fourth printing. Broadway Nights was released as an audio book on audible.com featuring himself, Jonathan Groff, Andrea Martin and Kristin Chenoweth. Last summer, he performed his show "Seth's Broadway 101" (originally done as an Actors Fund Benefit) to sold-out audiences in New York. Currently, he writes a weekly column at Playbill.com and is constantly uploading his video deconstructions on his website www.SethRudetsky.com. He'll soon be featured on the finale of the Bravo's Emmy Award-winning "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List."

The Actors Fund is a national human services organization that helps everyone - performers and those behind the scenes - who works in performing arts and entertainment, helping nearly 12,000 people directly each year, and hundreds of thousands online. Serving professionals in film, theatre, television, music, opera, radio and dance, The Fund's programs include social services and emergency assistance, health care and insurance, housing, and employment and training services. With offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, The Actors Fund has - for over 125 years - been a safety net for those in need, crisis or transition. Visit www.actorsfund.org.