Stars of two Chicago-set TV series have come aboard the planned March 20 Concert for America in the Windy City.
Chicago Med stars Torrey DeVitto and Colin Donnell, along with Chicago Fire’s Yuri Sardarov, will sing out for a variety of human rights charities alongside Tony Award winners Chita Rivera and Alice Ripley, and the Windy City cast of Hamilton. Also joining the concert lineup: Alex Newell of Glee, the Chicago Children’s Choir, and Christine Pedi, who is currently in Chicago to launch the Hamilton parody Spamilton there.
Concert for America: Stand up, Sing Out! will be held at 8 PM at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 East Congress Parkway in Chicago. Other previously announced guests include Grammy Award winner Melissa Manchester, Broadway star and former Saturday Night Live cast member Ana Gasteyer, Emmy Award winner Sharon Gless, blues singer Lynn Jordan, Jefferson Award winner Marya Grandy, musical prodigy Emily Bear, and others to be announced.
This will be the third in the Concert for America series. Previous Concert for America events have been held in Florida and New York. Another New York concert is being organized in April.
Organized by Playbill columnist Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, in association with Your Kids, Our Kids and with support from The Actors Fund, the “concert of songs, comedy, and commentary” will benefit five national organizations working to protect human rights: Southern Poverty Law Center, National Immigration Law Center, The Sierra Club Foundation, NAACP and National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Lisa Mordente will direct the concert.
Rudetsky told Playbill, “We love how the theatre community is helping with each Concert for America! Not only did the Actors Fund just come on as a sponsor but a bunch of cast members from the Chicago company of Hamilton are coming to sing on their day off! We think theatre fans will especially love our Chicago concert because of performances like Tony Award winner Alice Ripley singing the beautiful ‘Who Will Love Me As I Am.’ We first heard her solo version on the recent Playbill Cruise and became obsessed with it. And then we have theatre icon Chita Rivera. Since we’re in Chicago, we asked if she'd sing a song from her Broadway hit of the same name and she said yes! And people know that besides Broadway, I’m obsessed with ’70s music. We have a belter I first heard on the radio back in the 70’s...Melissa Manchester! And, for you people who always want a musical theater pedigree attached to a singer, did you know she played the Bernadette Peters part on the national tour of Song and Dance!?”
Watch Tony winner Jessie Mueller sing “Beautiful” during the January 20 Concert for America:
Buy tickets, ranging $18 to $103, or watch the livestream at ConcertsforAmerica.com. The livestream begins at 9 PM EDT March 20.
Rivera, Ripley, Pedi, and Rudetsky have all been featured guests aboard Playbill’s Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Playbill’s inaugural river cruise along the Rhône River in May 2017 is sold out, but cabins are available for the Rhine River cruise in August 2017, featuring Rudetsky, Andréa Burns, Faith Prince, Terrence Mann, Charlotte d’Amboise, Santino Fontana, and more exciting talent to be announced. Visit PlaybillTravel.com for booking and information.
