Stars Come Out for BROADWAY SINGS FOR FLORENCE Benefit Concert

Performers from some of the biggest hits on Broadway will be raising funds for hurricane relief and recovery during the Broadway Sings for Florence concert on Monday, Oct. 22 at Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

All ticket sales and donations at the event will be given to hurricane recovery efforts. A similar Broadway benefit in 2016 raised more than $56,000 for hurricane relief following Hurricane Matthew.

Craig Schulman, who has performed the lead roles in Les Misérables, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera and Jekyll and Hyde, has assembled a cast of Broadway veterans, who will sing selections from many of their favorite shows.

"We want to raise as much money as possible," Schulman said. "The performers saw the devastation in North Carolina and want to do whatever they can do to help. The benefit after Hurricane Matthew was so successful that I wanted to see if we could help some more."

The cast will include Schulman; Lawrence Clayton (The Color Purple, The Civil War, Dreamgirls, Ain't Nothing But the Blues); Lana Gordon (Disney's The Lion King, Chicago, The Color Purple); Tamra Hayden (Les Misérables, Cabaret, The Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof); and Gary Mauer (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Show Boat, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber).

The show is expected to be filled with the music from shows such as The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Wicked, Mamma Mia!, Evita and others.

Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster and through the center's website, DukeEnergyCenterRaleigh.com. VIP seats, which include a post-concert reception on stage with the artists, are $100. Reserved seats are $45, $35 and $25.

Broadway Sings for Florence is presented by Show N Tell Ministries, a 501 (c) 3 organization. The City of Raleigh is among the sponsors.

All admission fees and donations at the event will go to the N.C. Baptist Men, who have made a two-year commitment to disaster relief in North Carolina. The NCBM had 10 kitchens operating in the disaster area within days of Hurricane Florence and had more than 2,000 volunteers working in the area within a week.

The group rebuilt 280 homes in the area following Hurricane Matthew. Some of those homes were damaged by Florence.

"From what we are seeing so far, Florence is far worse than Matthew," said Richard Brunson, who heads the NCBM's relief efforts. "People have been overwhelmed by the devastation. They have lost everything they owned."

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