Music for a cause: Ukraine telethon, colorectal health concert will raise funds, awareness

Stars in the House, which has raised more than $1 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS since the start of the pandemic, is hosting a 10-hour telethon to raise money and awareness for those affected by the war in Ukraine.

The telethon will aid live from noon to 10 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, March 26, and can be watched and listened to at starsinthehouse.com, the Stars In The House YouTube channel or SiriusXM Stars109.

Hosted by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, the event just added Ben Stiller, Christine Baranski, Kristen Bell, Andrew Rannells, Piper Perabo, Avi Schiffman, Tony Shalhoub and Brooke Adams, Chandra Wilson, David Hasselhoff, Rumer Willis, Beth Malone, Betsy Wolfe, Julia Murney, Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, Abby Mueller, Paul Castree & Darius deHaas, David Phillips, Angie Swan, Maria Chilewicz, Andrea McArdle, Derek Klena, Shayna Steele, Tom Cavanaugh, Camryn Manheim, Milo Manheim, Jessica Vosk, Miss Peppermint, Marcia Cross, and Ukrainian artists Slava Babenkov, Eteri Chkadua, Elena Heimur, Andriy Milavsky, Anna Zhukovskaya, Rita Markova and Katya Stanislavskaya.

They join the previously announced Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin, plus Steve Martin, Annette Bening, Billy Porter, Audra McDonald, Cynthia Nixon, Laurie Metcalf, Tituss Burgess, Kristin Chenoweth, David Hyde Pierce, Kelli O’Hara, Robin de Jésus, Donna Murphy, Annaleigh Ashford, Jessie Mueller, Josh Groban, John Stamos, Lindsay Mendez, Laura Benanti, Norman Lear, Betty Buckley, Rosie Perez, Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody, Rachel Bloom, Patrick Wilson, Shoshana Bean, Brittney Johnson, Miranda Sings, Debra Monk, Bonnie Milligan, Alli Mauzey, Adam Pascal, Donna Lynne Champlin, Javier Muñoz, Norbert Leo Butz, Katie Finneran, Ruthie Ann Miles, Andy Karl, Morena Baccarin, Christine Pedi, Colin Donnell, Dagmara Doiminczyk, Santino Fontana, Judy Kuhn, Kevin Chamberlin, Jenn Gambatese, Sepideh Moafi, Danielle de Niese, Orfeh, Patti Murin, Susan Kelechi Watson, Yuriy Sardarov, Mary-Mitchell Campbell and Dr. Jon LaPook.

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Donations will benefit the International Rescue Committee. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will match every donation, up to $50,000.

In addition to the celebrity guests singing and reading donations, the event also will feature Ukrainian citizens speaking and performing, including Ukrainian actor Oleg Karpenko, a Ukrainian theater and film actor who co-starred with President Zelensky in "Servant of The People."

To donate to the IRC, visit help.rescue.org/donate/ukraine-web.

For more on the telethon and other Stars in the House ventures, visit starsinthehouse.com.

Playathon for Ukraine

The New Jersey Youth Symphony, a program of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts, will donate 25 percent of its proceeds from its 2022 Playathon event to Doctors Without Borders, to support the organization's efforts in Ukraine.

The Playathon will take place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 27.

It will feature almost 450 young musicians performing pops and Broadway favorites, and will stream live from the Westfield National Guard Armory.

WNYC host David Furst will serve as emcee.

Wharton Arts recently donated $8,865 to Doctors Without Borders from its March 10 “Together We Celebrate” Gala Silent Auction.

Playathon is an annual event that helps support performing arts education, including scholarships and tuition assistance for NJYS.

NJYS, founded in 1979, offers ensemble education for students in grades 3 to 12. It has grown from one orchestra of 65 students to over 500 students in 15 different orchestras and ensembles. Wharton Arts is New Jersey’s largest nonprofit performing arts education organization, serving nearly 2,500 students of all ages and abilities through a range of classes and ensembles.

The 2022 “Playathon for Ukraine” will be livestreamed at Playathon.Givesmart.com. To make a donation to support music education and relief efforts for Ukraine, text PLAYATHON to 76278.

Colorectal Cancer Awareness concert

Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds, Kerry Ellis and many more rock, jazz, hip-hop and classical musical artists will lend their voices to colorectal health awareness in a free streaming concert on March 31.

The Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month concert includes performances and video appearances, including a message from Katie Couric and introductions by Jamie Bernstein (author, narrator, filmmaker and daughter of Leonard Bernstein) and actors from "The Mandalorian" and "Mad Men."

The American College of Gastroenterology's "Tune It Up: A Concert To Raise Colorectal Cancer Awareness” will stream at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 31. The concert is directed by Dr. Benjamin Levy.

Levy, a cellist and gastroenterologist, said he is “always looking for ways to combine music and medicine.”

“My goal was to create a concert with music celebrities and empowering health education messages," he said.

Ellis' performance will feature a song with Queen guitarist Brian May that they wrote during the pandemic.

"This virtual concert is an amazing way to build bridges within the gastroenterology community and beyond to connect in new and meaningful ways through music to bring attention to potentially lifesaving colorectal cancer screening," said ACG President Dr. Samir A. Shah.

Performers include:

• Rufus Wainwright – Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter

• Tim Reynolds – solo acoustic guitarist, Dave Matthews collaborator

• Hilary Hahn – three-time Grammy Award-winning violinist

• Ben Folds – rock singer/songwriter and artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra

• Ben Kweller – rock singer/songwriter

• Aoife O’Donovan – Grammy Award-winning folk singer, performing with Eric and Colin Jacobsen

• Cincinnati Pops – Grammy Award-nominated orchestra and conductor John Morris Russell

• The Knights – performing with violinist Gil Shaham

• Will Liverman – recently starred in “Fire Shut Up In My Bones” by Terence Blanchard, the first opera ever performed at the Metropolitan Opera written by a Black composer

• Dave Douglas – 13-time Jazz Trumpet Player of the Year in DownBeat Magazine, performing with saxophonist Joe Lovano, drummer Joey Baron, pianist Lawrence Fields and bassist Linda May Han Oh

• Kerry Ellis – West End/Broadway singer who appeared as first British Elphaba in London’s West End “Wicked"

• Haley Whitters – country singer who has written songs for Little Big Town, Alan Jackson, and has written with Lori McKena

• Karen Gomyo – violinist who recently premiered John Adams’ Chamber Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

• Ari Hest – Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter for his duets album with Judy Collins

• Maddie Poppe – singer/songwriter who won “American Idol” Season 16

• John D’earth – jazz/rock trumpeter and director of jazz performance at the University of Virginia, who has performed/recorded with the Dave Matthews Band

• ·Willie Jones III – jazz percussionist and adjunct professor at Northwestern University

• David Broza – Israeli singer-songwriter, recognized for his guitar performances and humanitarian efforts.

• Angela Brower – American mezzo-soprano, former member of the Bayerische Staatsoper ensemble

• K.F. Jacques – hip hop artist, singer and songwriter who combines hip-hop with opera

• Sarah Willis – French horn player and member of the Berlin Philharmonic

• Toronto Symphony Orchestra – Grammy Award-winning orchestra

• Toby Lightman – singer/songwriter whose single “My Sweet Song” was featured in the movie "P.S., I Love You"

• Allie Moss – singer/songwriter who performs guitar and sings in Ingrid Michaelson’s band

• Oran Etkin – Grammy Award-nominated jazz clarinetist

• Another Michael – rock band from Philadelphia

• Floatie – rock band from Chicago

• Carter Faith – country singer/songwriter

• Katie Pruitt – alternative country/rock singer-songwriter based in Nashville

• Samantha Clarke – Australian/British soprano vocalist

• Shaun Munday – bassist who has performed with John Mayer, The Wailers (Bob Marley’s band) and Mary Wilson of The Supremes

• Mathilda Edge – soprano at Lyric Opera of Chicago

• Davis Senior High School Baroque Ensemble – with guest violinist Dr. Ronald Hsu

• The Beacons – band of ACG gastroenterologists Daniel J. Pambianco, Samir A. Shah, Costas H. Kefalas, Patrick E. Young and John R. Saltzman

Actress Emily Swallow of "The Mandalorian” and actress Stephanie Drake of "Mad Men” also will make an appearance.

The concert can be livestreamed at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, March 31, at gi.org/concert.

In the United States, colorectal cancer is the third-most common cancer, yet it is one of the most preventable types of cancer, the ACG says. It is highly treatable and is often curable when caught early.

Screening colonoscopy can find growths in the colon called polyps so they can be removed before they turn into colorectal cancer. Learn more at gi.org/ColonCancer. To find a gastroenterologist near you, visit gi.org/findaGI.

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. She highlights arts advocacy and education, theater fundraisers and more through her column, "Sightlines." Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; ikeller@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Music for a cause: Ukraine telethon, colorectal health concert