A few times a year the touring productions of Broadway shows take one of their Monday night’s off to raise money for a good cause. When Wicked was last here they held an event for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Actors Fund. On Monday, the cast of Les Misérables, currently running at the Hollywood Pantages through June 2nd, will hold their own event at Catalina Jazz Club. Les Mis-Cast takes place on Monday night and serves as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and PAWS/LA.
The Broadway community has a regular event in New York called MisCast that serves as a fundraiser for MCC Theater. The conceit of that annual production is actors/singers perform songs from shows in which they would never be cast.
Whether that will be the concept for Monday night’s benefit remains to be seen. However, you have to applaud the efforts of the Les Misérables cast for putting this show together whatever it is. Remember, Les Mis is not the shortest of Broadway shows. They also do 8 shows a week; five on weekends (including Friday night’s performance.) It’s not like they don’t deserve a day off.
Rather, they’ve decided to do a show that benefits two significant organizations. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is a non-profit AIDS fundraising organization. They also provide a significant number of grants each year. And their works is not limited to assisting AIDS organizations. Women’s health, housing and other issues are addressed in all 50 United States, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. Since 1988 they have raised over $300 million dollars.
PAWS/LA (Pets Are Wonderful) is an organization supporting pets who accompany people battling serious illness. The money raised finances the care and feeding of these animals who are often in the homes of people whose health-issues have decimated their finances. They currently serve approximately 1200 people in Los Angeles and 2000 pets.
Tickets for Les Mis-Cast are $25 and $40. It might seem tough to go out on a Monday night, but no matter how good the rest of the cultural offerings this week, this is one event not to miss.
Thanks to the cast of Les Misérables (and we challenge every other major tour to do the same thing) for giving those most in need One Day More.
For tickets go here.
Links to both organizations can be found above.
Photo: The touring company of Les Misérables (Photo by Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of the Hollywood Pantages)