Actors Fund Benefit Luncheon to Celebrate Audra McDonald & Norm Lewis, 6/21

Producer Randie Levine-Miller will launch a new celebrity luncheon series to benefit The Actors Fund. The first in this series is in honor of Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis, musical theater stars, co-starring in this season's hit musical, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Both have been nominated for multiple theater awards for their outstanding performances, including the 2012 Tony Awards®.

The event will take place on Thursday, June 21 at Sardi's Restaurant, 234 West 44th Street. Lunch will be at 12 Noon. The program will begin at 1:15 pm. Tickets are $75 per person.

Audra and Norm are two of the most beloved actors on Broadway—on-stage and off. The conversation between these two colleagues and great friends will be a talkfest of everything Audra and Norm can discuss in one hour. They'll share wonderful behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes of their lives and times in show business.

The afternoon includes Door Prizes donated by Lia Schorr Day Spa, Ellen Easton, REva Paul, Red Wagon Press.

To purchase tickets, visit www.actorsfund.org, email tickets@actorsfund.org or call
212.221.7300 ext. 133.

The Actors Fund is a national human services organization that helps everyone—
performers and those behind the scenes—who works in performing arts and entertainment, helping more than 12,800 people directly each year, and hundreds of thousands online. Serving professionals in film, theatre, television, music, opera, radio and dance, The Fund’s programs include social services and emergency assistance, health care and insurance, housing, and employment and training services. With offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, The Actors Fund has—for 130 years—been a safety net for those in need, crisis or transition. Visit www.actorsfund.org.

Audra McDonald is unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actress. With four Tony Awards®, two Grammy Awards®, and a long list of other accolades to her name, she is among today’s most highly regarded performers. Blessed with a luminous soprano and an incomparable gift for dramatic truth-telling, she is equally at home on Broadway and opera stages as in roles on film and television. Broadway: Carousel (Tony Award), Master Class (Tony Award), Ragtime (Tony Award), A Raisin in the Sun (Tony Award), Marie Christine (Tony nomination), 110 in the Shade (Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), Henry IV, The Secret Garden. Opera: La Voix Humaine and Send (who are you? I love you), Houston Grand Opera; Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, LA Opera. Television: "Private Practice" (Dr. Naomi Bennett) on ABC, "A Raisin in the Sun" (Emmy nomination), "Wit" (Emmy nomination), "Homicide: Life on the Street," "Law & Order: SVU," "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years," "The Bedford Diaries," and "Kidnapped," and the 1999 television remake of "Annie" (Miss Farrell). Films: She Got Problems, Best Thief in the World, It Runs in the Family, The Object of My Affection, Seven Servants, and Rampart (upcoming). McDonald has recorded four solo albums for Nonesuch Records and won two 2009 Grammy Awards for The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. She maintains an active concert career, appearing with her own ensemble and with major orchestras and conductors across the U.S. and abroad. Training: The Juilliard School. Of all her many roles, her favorite is that of mother to her daughter, Zoe Madeline.

Norm has enjoyed both working and living in New York and Los Angeles for over two decades now and has many future endeavors coming up. He just returned from a very successful year's run in London playing the role of Javert in the West End's Les Miserables and was honored to perform the same role for The 25th Anniversary Concert at the O 2 Arena which is now on DVD. He is very proud to announce the release of His debut solo CD Norm Lewis, “This is the Life”. Other Broadway Credits include, Sondheim on Sondheim with Vanessa Williams and Barbara Cook, The Little Mermaid (King Triton), Les Miserables (Javert, Drama League Nomination), Chicago (Billy Flynn), Amour (Painter), Michael John LaChuisa's The Wild Party(Eddie), Side Show (Jake), Miss Saigon (John), Tommy (The Specialist). Off-Broadway: Dessa Rose (Nathan, Drama Desk nomination, Audelco Award), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Valentine, Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous (Doc), A New Brain (Roger). Regional: Ragtime (Coalhouse), Dreamgirls (Curtis, with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd (Sweeney), The Fantasticks (El Gallo). Concerts: Chess (Molokov, with Josh Groban), Dreamgirls (Curtis), Actor's Fund; Golden Boy (Eddie), Encores! Film and television: Sex and the City 2, "Preaching to the Choir," "Confidences," "Mystery Woman," "Cosby," "Strong Medicine," "All My Children" and "As the World Turns."