MOULIN ROUGE! Will Donate Profits and Present MAKE IT RAIN RALLY to Benefit Australian Wildfire Relief Efforts

As the world watches the devastating wildfires unfold in Australia, everyone at Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway is heartbroken. The production's roots in Australia run deep: the film was made in Australia, brought to life by the great Australian artists Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, and Nicole Kidman. The musical was brought to the stage by Australian-based producers Carmen Pavlovic, Gerry Ryan and their production company, Global Creatures. The Broadway musical features Australian actors in the cast.

The bohemian values of truth, beauty, freedom, and - above all - love, have inspired Moulin Rouge! The Musical to rally together to support the relief efforts currently underway down under.

Sunday, January 26th is Australia Day. For that day's performance of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, profits from the performance will be donated to support Australian wildfire relief efforts.

On Monday, January 27th, Moulin Rouge! The Musical and Friends will present the "Make it Rain Rally" a benefit for the Australian bushfires at (Le) Poisson Rouge (LPR) at 158 Bleecker St in New York City. An initiative by Australian cast members Karli Dinardo and Reed Luplau, this special event is directed by Mr. Luplau and will feature performances by singer-songwriter Ben Folds; the band Postmodern Jukebox with Morgan James; cast members of Moulin Rouge! The Musical along with performers from other Broadway shows including Frozen, Hamilton and Tootsie; drag personality Alexis Michelle; and more to be announced. The event is produced by Mr. Luplau and Hayley Isaacson. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets. #MakeItRainRally

All proceeds from the Australia Day performance of the Musical and the "Make it Rain Rally" will be donated to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund and WIRES Australian Wildlife Rescue. Those who cannot attend in person or are looking for more ways to help can donate directly to these charities by clicking here.

ABOUT AUSTRALIAN RED CROSS - RED CROSS DISASTER RELIEF AND RECOVERY

As bushfires affect communities across Australia on an unprecedented scale, Red Cross is right there, providing practical, local support where it's needed to tens of thousands of people during and after the emergencies. It's all thanks to people like you. Learn more about what Red Cross is doing and how your donations are helping in our regular updates. Your donation helps Red Cross give people the support they need in disasters, whenever and wherever they happen. We have decades of experience in caring for people affected by earthquakes, cyclones, floods, storms, fire, drought and other emergencies. This includes: recovery programs and emergency assistance in communities affected by disasters like bushfires, heat, floods cyclones and other emergencies; helping people and communities prepare for disasters and protect what matters most; training, equipment, logistics and coordination of our volunteers.

ABOUT WIRES AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE RESCUE

WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc.) has been rescuing and caring for wildlife for over 30 years and is the largest wildlife rescue organization in Australia. We are passionate about supporting smaller volunteer organization in the wildlife sector with the same mission, as well as Universities, Veterinary Associations and other leading scientific and environmental groups. In the last 5 years WIRES has been working with WWF, National Parks Association, Humane Society International, The Wilderness Society, Nature Conservation Council, Birdlife, RSPCA, Animal Welfare League and IFAW and we thank these organizations for their significant ongoing contribution to the wildlife rehabilitation sector. While WIRES presence is mostly in NSW where we are responding to more than 90,000 rescues each year, we also receive around 170,000 calls to our 1300 WIRES line annually, including thousands of interstate calls where we provide rescue advice. WIRES also plays a major role in national community wildlife education. Normally WIRES has several hundred thousand unique visitors to our website annually but we have had over a million unique visitors in the last couple of days. Following these catastrophic fires WIRES is also very keen to pursue additional opportunities to help wildlife more broadly across Australia wherever possible, including partnering on projects to improve long-term outcomes for native animals. We will be announcing in the coming days our support for new projects to assist bushfire affected animals in all regions. We have over 2500 volunteers in 28 branches involved in the rescue and care of wildlife and we have a dedicated Rescue Office that operates 365 days a year assisting the community to help native animals in distress. WIRES helps tens of thousands of animals every year, receiving up to 95,000 requests for rescue advice and assistance every 12 months.

ABOUT Moulin Rouge! THE MUSICAL

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, directed by Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers and with a book by Tony Award winner John Logan, choreography by Sonya Tayeh and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Justin Levine, is now playing on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 W. 45th Street, NYC). Baz Luhrmann's revolutionary film comes to life onstage, remixed in a new musical mash-up extravaganza. Moulin Rouge! The Musical is a theatrical celebration of truth, beauty, freedom, and - above all - love. Moulin Rouge! The Musical is more than a musical; it is a state of mind. As in the film, Moulin Rouge! The Musical celebrates some of the greatest popular music of the last 50 years. The stage musical features many of the iconic songs from the movie and also includes recent hits released since the movie premiered 18 years ago. Global Creatures (Carmen Pavlovic and Gerry Ryan OAM) serves as Lead Producer and Bill Damaschke is the executive producer. General management is by Foresight Theatrical.

ABOUT Ben Folds

Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation. The multi-platinum selling singer-songwriter has created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and numerous collaborative records. His last album was a blend of pop songs and his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra that soared to #1 on both the Billboard classical and classical crossover charts. For over a decade he's performed with some of the world's greatest symphony orchestras, and currently serves as the first ever Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. In addition to solo rock and orchestral touring, Folds has recently written his critically-acclaimed memoir "A Dream About Lightning Bugs," which debuted as a New York Times Best Seller, and is described as a collection of interrelated essays, anecdotes and what Folds refers to as "cheap lessons" about art, life, and music. He is also no stranger to television, having been featured for five seasons as a judge on NBC's critically-acclaimed a capella show "The Sing Off." He continues to appear in cameo roles on cable and network TV shows, and composes for film and TV. An avid photographer, Folds is a member of the prestigious Sony Artisans of Imagery, has worked as an assignment photo editor for National Geographic, and was featured in a mini-documentary by the Kennedy Center's Digital Project on his photographic work. An outspoken champion for arts education and music therapy funding in our nation's public schools, in 2016 Ben held the distinction as the only artist to appear at both national political conventions advocating for arts education, has served for over five years as an active member of the distinguished Artist Committee of Americans For The Arts (AFTA), and serves on the Board of AFTA's Arts Action Fund. He is also Chairman of the Arts Action Fund's ArtsVote2020 national initiative to advocate for a greater commitment to the nation's creative economy through improved public policies for the arts and arts education, and hosts a podcast series of interviews on arts policies with current 2020 presidential candidates.

ABOUT Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ)

Started by Scott Bradlee in 2009, Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ) has gone on to amass over one billion YouTube views with 3.5 million subscribers, and have chalked up more than 1.7 million fans on Facebook. For the past half-decade, PMJ has toured the world, playing hundreds of shows to sold-out houses on six continents. They've also performed on shows like "Good Morning America," topped iTunes and Billboard charts, and caught the attention of NPR Music, NBC News and a wide array of celebrity fans.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos