SiriusXM’s Seth Rudetsky and his husband, producer James Wesley used their power to help the immigration crisis with the latest iteration of their critically-acclaimed event Concert For America at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday (September 21) in Los Angeles.
The event was filled with stars of the stage, screen and dance floor that delivered moving and thrilling performances as well as calls to action and those who have been most impacted by the recent immigration crisis. Raising funds for the National Immigration Law Center — the only organization whose mission is to defend and advance the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their families — the production raised over $110,000 (and still counting) to support this essential mission.
“Being at ‘Concert for America’ means supporting people that are less fortunate than me; people in a circumstance that they cannot help and I am in a place where I can help them,” Juli Wesley, daughter of Seth and James, tells Celeb Secrets prior to the event.
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In terms of performances, newlyweds Chris Wood (Supergirl) and Melissa Benoist (Supergirl herself!) dazzled the audience with their own rendition of “An Old-Fashioned Wedding” from Annie Get Your Gun. Dancing With The Stars couple Kate Flannery and Pasha Pashkov were joined by Pasha’s wife Daniella Karagach to show off their moves. Flannery also performed alongside her longtime friend and collaborator, and recent Emmy Award winner, Jane Lynch.
Also on hand to lend their voices were Wayne Brady (Let’s Make A Deal), Liz Callaway (singing her Oscar-nominated song from the film Anastasia), Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives), Grant Gustin (singing Pasek & Paul’s “Running Home To You” from The Flash), Tony Award winner Rachel Bay Jones (Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen), Emmy and Tony Award winner Laurie Metcalf (The Conners), Grammy Award winner Melissa Manchester, Emmy Award winner Eric McCormack (Will & Grace), Caroline Rhea (Disney Channel’s Sydney To The Max), Gina Torres (Pearson), Elyfer Torres (Betty en NY), Eden Espinosa (Falsettos, Wicked), Carrie Manolakos (Mamma Mia!, Wicked), and Yuri Sardarov (Chicago Fire) telling the harrowing tale of how his mother escaped from Azerbaijan all the while clutching him as baby. And how, through the kindness of strangers, they finally came to America.
“The song I’m performing tonight means so much more than what it was in the movie,” performer Liz Callaway tells Celeb Secrets. “I think it strikes a chord to people and I’m really happy that I get to sing this particular song to inspire people, and connect with the audience that will hopefully inspire them to open their wallets and hearts. This is something we all need to be apart of and need to fix.”
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CONCERT FOR AMERICA was co-presented by Greg Berlanti, Robbie Rogers, and their Berlanti Family Foundation and clips from previous concerts can all be found at ConcertForAmerica.com.
“We’re so thankful to Greg and Robbie for agreeing as soon as we wrote them to underwrite all the costs of this concert. And to our volunteers and our artists who performed up a storm for no money whatsoever!” said Rudetsky and Wesley. “And to the National Immigration Law Center for fighting to keep the values of the America we all love. As Laurie Metcalf said in her call-to-action, ‘Everyone should post #DefendDaca! If you’re young, that’s ‘hashtag Defend Daca’, and if you’re over 40, that’s ‘number sign Defend Daca’!’”
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CONCERT FOR AMERICA was created and organized by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, in association with Your Kids, Our Kids, as well as with the generous support of Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS. It debuted on January 20, 2017, and toured the country, benefitting five national organizations fighting for civil, human, and environmental rights. This was the 13th CONCERT FOR AMERICA benefit, the most recent one taking place last summer in NYC starring Idina Menzel, Audra McDonald Tina Fey, Patrick Wilson, among others.
