Stephanie Gibson and Chester Gregory Will Join BROADWAY BELTS For PFF!

Stephanie Gibson (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Chester Gregory (Motown: The Musical) will join the star-studded list of performers at this year's Broadway Belts for PFF!, hosted by Broadway's Julie Halston. The event will take place on Monday, March 12 at The Edison Ballroom. This once-in-a-lifetime event is sold out. Click here to make a donation to the event.

This year's Broadway Belts for PFF!, will feature New York Yankees legend and Latin Grammy-nominee, Bernie Williams, whose father passed away from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Bryan Terrell Clark (Broadway: Hamilton, Motown), Robert Creighton (Broadway's Frozen, Cagney), Olivier Award-Winner Lesli Margherita (Broadway's Matilda, Dames at Sea) as well as the "Sweet Sixteen" reunion of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's Tony-Award winning musical Hairspray to honor Broadway producer Margo Lion. Original cast members include cast of Hairspray including Harvey Fierstein, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Andrew Rannells, Jackie Hoffman, Julie Halston, Jenn Gambatese, Adam Fleming, Clark Thorell, John Hill, Judine Somerville, Hollie Howard along with John Waters, Josh Bergasse, David Rockwell and Bernie Telsey.

The evening raises money to fight pulmonary fibrosis (PF), a devastating and progressive disease involving scarring in the lungs. PF affects 200,000 Americans and results in more than 40,000 deaths annually. Fifty-thousand new cases are diagnosed each year. With no known cure, many live only two or three years after diagnosis.

This Hairspray reunion has special meaning as the segment will honor original producer, Margo Lion, a long-time supporter of Broadway Belts! and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. Also, Michael Kuchwara, former Associated Press theatre critic, who passed away from pulmonary fibrosis and in whose memory Broadway Belts for PFF! was created, said in his original review of Hairspray: "Witty score, a marvelously pop-flavored concoction by composer Marc Shaiman and his co-lyricist Scott Wittman. Hairspray" has something more. Heart. It tells a warm, funny and very humane story with characters you want to cheer on."

An annual sold-out event that is an exclusive New York musical theater experience, Broadway Belts for PFF! was created in 2010 by one of the PFF's leading advocates nationwide, the beloved Broadway actress and comedienne Julie Halston (Ken Ludwig's Murder on the Orient Express, Hairspray, Gypsy, You Can't Take It With You). Ms. Halston's husband, the venerated newscaster Ralph Howard, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis a short time later and has received a lung transplant.

This year's event will take place on Monday, March 12 at 5:30 pm at the Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street) in New York City.

To date, Broadway Belts for PFF! has raised over $1 million for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, and is the largest single fundraiser for the national advocacy organization, based in Chicago.

Broadway Belts for PFF! is directed by Carl Andress (The Divine Sister) with Christopher McGovern (Cagney) as Musical Director and Ed Windels as Music Coordinator. The benefit is produced for the eighth straight year by D. Michael Dvorchak, Sue Frost (Memphis, Come From Away), Julie Halston and Ed Windels.

Broadway Belts for PFF! is generously sponsored by Genentech, Doug and Gay Lane Charitable Foundation and Steffy Family Foundation.

For more information about the event or for current sponsorship opportunities, visit PulmonaryFibrosis.org.

The mission of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation is to mobilize people and resources to provide access to high quality care and lead research for a cure so people with pulmonary fibrosis will live longer, healthier lives. The PFF collaborates with physicians, organizations, patients, and caregivers worldwide. For more information, visit PulmonaryFibrosis.org.

For more information about joining Broadway's best in supporting those with Pulmonary Fibrosis through a sponsorship or donation, please click HERE.

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