Every year Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald and hundreds more sleep out on the streets of New York for one night to raise awareness of the homeless issue and to raise money for The Covenant House, an organization dedicated to bringing homeless youth off the streets and into shelters. This year, she’s taking her participation one giant step further by putting together and hosting A Night of Covenant House Stars which will be available for streaming tonight on Broadway on Demand.
Joining McDonald as host of this event is John Dickerson of 60 Minutes. Both he and McDonald are on the board of The Covenant House.
They’ve assembled quite the line-up of performances and appearances for tonight’s event. Amongst the scheduled participants are Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Jon Bon Jovi, Rachel Brosnahan, Stephen Colbert, Martin Short, Dolly Parton, Dionne Warwick, Stephen J. Block, Tony Shalhoub, Charlie Day, Chris O’Dowd, Zachary Levi, Zachary Quinto, Robin Thicke, Deborah Cox, Quentin Earl Darrington, Ariana DeBose, Darius de Haas, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Eden Espinosa, Jordan Fisher, Stephanie Hsu, Randy Jackson, Capathia Jenkins, Jeremy Jordan, Ramona Keller, Alex Newell, Karen Olivo, Dawn O’Porter, Laura Osnes, Benj Pasek, Jodi Picoult, Shereen Pimentel, Andrew Rannells, Keala Settle, Jake David Smith, Will Swenson, Bobby Conte Thornton, Ana Villafane, Frank Wildhorn, the Broadway Inspirational Voices Choir, Covenant House Youth and more!
The producer of this event is two-time Tony nominee Jeff Calhoun (Newsies! and Grease), who is also on the board at The Covenant House.
The activities of The Covenant House are not exclusive to New York City. They are a multi-national organization providing support of homeless and trafficked youth in 31 cities in six countries. They have been active for nearly 50 years and have expanded their efforts to include and the front-line staff working around the clock to keep these youth safe during the COVID-19 crisis.
In addition to Broadway on Demand, A Night of Covenant House Stars can be streamed on iHeartRadio Broadway, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, and Stars in the House.
Photo of Audra McDonald courtesy of her website.