News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

Roger Bart, Andrea Martin, Barrett Foa & More Will Lead DISASTER! Benefit Reading on 1/25

By: Dec. 08, 2014
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

Robert Ahrens, Jim Burba and Bob Hayes, in association with Stephen CuUnjieng and Mary J. Davis, present a reading of Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick's critically acclaimed musical comedy Disaster! A 1970's Disaster Movie Musical to benefit TheActors Fund.

Starring Tony Award and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Roger Bart, Tony Award nominee Kerry Butler, multiple Tony Award nominee Kevin Chamberlin, "NCIS: Los Angeles" star Barrett Foa, two-time Tony Award winner and Emmy Award winner Andrea Martin, original Disaster! cast member Lacretta Nicole, Tony Award nominee Adam Pascal, SiriusXM radio host Seth Rudetsky, Jennifer Simard in her Drama Desk nominated performance as "Sister Mary Downey," and Drama Desk winner Rachel York, Disaster! will play The Los Angeles Theatre Center (514 South Spring Street) on Sunday, January 25, 2015, at 6pm. Tickets for this one night only benefit concert start at $40.

Disaster! is co-written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick. Directed by Jack Plotnick with music direction by Larry Pressgrove, this side-splitting homage of the disaster films of the 1970's, employs some of the most memorable pop, rock and disco hits of the 70's, including "Hot Stuff," "I Am Woman," "Knock On Wood," "Daybreak," "Signed, Sealed Delivered" and more.

"I love the Actors Fund and I am very proud of our past collaborations on benefit concerts of Dreamgirls, Funny Girl, Chess and Hair. I personally know many people who've been helped by their amazing work and am honored to be able to raise funds for them again," said Seth Rudetsky. "We were having some trouble getting the rights to Broadway shows to do another concert, so I said 'Why not do a musical where the person who holds the rights is sure to say yes? In other words, myself!' I can't wait to do this concert on the West Coast with my best friend and co-writer, Jack, and this amazing cast we have assembled."

It's the summer of 1979, and the hottest A-listers are blowing out their feathered hair and putting on their best polyester bell-bottoms and platform shoes for the grand opening of The Barracuda, Manhattan's first floating casino and discothèque. The crowd gathers to gamble and boogie the night away, but their partying is soon interrupted by multiple catastrophes and natural disasters. Can earthquakes, killer bees and tidal waves ruin this epic night of getting-down?

Disaster! debuted at New York's Triad Theatre on January 22, 2012, and ran through March 25, 2012. The critically-acclaimed musical comedy moved Off-Broadway to St. Luke's Theatre, where it played from October 14, 2013 through April 11, 2014, topping many "best of 2013" lists includeThe Daily News' "Theater's 10 best of 2013." Time Out New York rated Disaster! five out of five stars, and raved, "I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud at the theater as often as I did at Disaster! Blissfully silly! Built with meticulous ingenuity. It's knockout fun, and it leaves you seeing stars!"

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 more than 17,000 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 financial assistance, health care and insurance counseling, housing, and employment and training services. With offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, The Actors Fund has been-for 132 years-a safety net for those in need, crisis or transition. Visit www.actorsfund.org.







Videos