Idina Menzel and Others Added to September 25th Katrina Benefit

On Sunday evening, September 25 at 8:30 PM, the New York theatrical community will join forces in one of the most important evenings of the season. In an incredible demonstration of support and camaraderie, scores of Broadway performers will take the stage at the Gershwin Theatre (222 W. 51st St.) for Broadway's Celebrity Benefit for Hurricane Relief. 100% of the profits from this spectacular event will go directly to America's Second Harvest – The Nation's Food Bank Network and Quilts for Kids, two charitable organizations working directly with the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Tony Award winner Idina Menzel has just joined the list of performers for the evening, and Sunday night will mark the first time she has performed on the Gershwin Theatre stage since leaving her starring role in Wicked last January.

Produced by company members of Wicked and made possible through the generosity of the Nederlander Organization, the event will star Ben Vereen & Liza Minnelli and feature Christina Applegate, Bryan Batt, Shoshana Bean, Victoria Clark, Charlotte D'Amboise, Jill Eikenberry, Raul Esparza, Ricky Ian Gordon, Adam Guettel, Shuler Hensley, Megan Hilty, Bill Irwin, Cheyenne Jackson, Brian d'Arcy James, Isabelle Keating, Judy Kuhn, Adriane Lenox, Susan Lucci, Terrence Mann, Rue McClanahan, Michael McElroy, Idina Menzel, Julia Murney, Bebe Neuwirth, Phyllis Newman, Kelli O'Hara, Denis O'Hare, Elizabeth Parkinson, Bernadette Peters, David Hyde Pierce, Patrick Quinn, Phylicia Rashad, Keith Roberts, Jai Rodriguez, Carole Shelley, Christopher Sieber, Daniel Sunjata, Michael Tucker, Frederick Weller, Patrick Wilson and The Broadway Inspirational Voices, plus the casts of Avenue Q, All Shook Up, Hairspray, The Light in the Piazza, Mamma Mia!, Rent, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Wicked.

"On Monday August 29th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast like no other storm in recorded history," says Ben Vereen. "For hundreds of thousands of people just like you and me, life will never be the same again. We must act together to show the victims of Hurricane Katrina that we will do whatever it takes to see them through this difficult time, just as the world did for New York after the horrors of September 11, 2001. When ticket sales hit an all time low and businesses were struggling to keep their doors open, our fellow Americans rallied around our city. They came to stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants, shop in our stores… and they came to see our shows!"

America's Second Harvest -- The Nation's Food Bank Network is the nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization with a Network of more than 200 regional member food banks and food - rescue programs serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The America's Second Harvest Network secures and distributes nearly two billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually. It supports approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies operating more than 94,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs, and Kids Cafes. Last year, the America's Second Harvest Network provided food assistance to more than 23 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including more than nine million children and nearly three million seniors.

Quilts for Kids is a grass-roots organization founded to transform discontinued designer fabrics into quilts for battered and abused children as well as children suffering from life-threatening illnesses. In its five years of existence, they have distributed nearly 30,000 quilts worldwide. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 140 families have been relocated to the Philadelphia area, with more to come. As Quilts for Kids has its headquarters in Yardley, PA, the organization has expanded its mission to include the collection and distribution of clothing, toiletries, linens and everyday necessities for these displaced families.

Tickets for Broadway's Celebrity Benefit for Hurricane Relief are $100 and $300, and are available at the Gershwin Theatre box office (222 W. 51st St.) or through Ticketmaster, 212-307-4100 or www.ticketmaster.com.