Chita Rivera is standing up and singing out…
The 83-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress, dancer, singer and Broadway star will be spending inauguration day at a concert in New York City raising money for human-rights organizations.
Rivera, the first Hispanic woman and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award, will perform at the Concert for America: Stand Up, Sing Out!
The event will be held at The Town Hall in Manhattan on January 20. It’s intended to be the first in a series of monthly benefit concerts and will be streamed live on Facebook.
In addition to Rivera, a two-time Tony Award winner, the lineup includes Kelli O’Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Betty Buckley, Jessie Mueller and Billy Porter.
Others slated to perform include Sharon Gless, Andrea Martin, Bebe Neuwirth, Rosie O’Donnell, Rosie Perez, Caroline Rhea, Stephanie Mills and Charles Busch.
The concert is the brainchild of Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, who also organized the Broadway for Orlando fundraising concert.
Mueller, currently starring in Waitress, will reach back to her Tony Award-winning role as Carole King to sing “Beautiful.” She hopes its message of love and tolerance resonates.
“Hate comes from a lack of love, so we can’t fight it with more of its own toxicity; we have to fill it with love,” she said. “There are really big things at stake. Things we can’t save or solidify or safeguard alone. We have to think bigger, we have to ask for help, we have to reach out to one another and band together. I hope this concert can be an example of that.”
Proceeds will benefit groups that protect civil rights, women’s health and environmental protection, including Planned Parenthood, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Immigration Law Center and The Sierra Club Foundation. Tickets range from $25 to $50.
