Nikki M. James, Andrew Rannells, et al. Set for BROADWAY STANDS UP FOR FREEDOM, 7/25

The New York Civil Liberties Union today announced a star-studded lineup of award-winning performers for Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, its annual benefit show scheduled for Monday, July 25 at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts.

"We're fortunate to have so many talented performers honor and celebrate the vital link between civil liberties and the arts," NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said. "It will be a great evening of music and laughs."

Dozens of Broadway's finest will perform - including renowned playwright and director Moisés Kaufman, The Book of Mormon's Nikki M. James and Andrew Rannells, Baby it's You!'s Beth Leavel, Erica Ash, and "The Shirelles", Nellie McKay (I Want to Live!), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys), John Tartaglia (Avenue Q), Gavin Creel (Hair), Steven Pasqual (reasons to be pretty), Christina Sajous (American Idiot), Lindsay Mendez (Everyday Rapture), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Spelling Bee), De'Adre Aziza (The Hot L Baltimore, Passing Strange) and founding performer Liana Stampur with Clinton Curtis, with more to come.

Seth Rudetsky will host and musical direct, and the show will directed by Daniel Goldstein (upcoming Broadway Godspell).

Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, a longtime NYCLU member, is the honorary chairman for the event. Joining Tony as honorary chairs this year are: Susan Sarandon, Alan Cumming, Harvey Fierstein, Bill Irwin, Tom Kitt, Stephen Schwartz, Billy Crudup, Marc Shaiman, Scott Whitman and Disney Theatrical's Tom Schumacher.

The Producer's Circle includes Barbara Whitman (producer of Red, Next to Normal, 33 Variations), Michael David (producer of Jersey Boys, Farnsworth Invention), David Richenthal (producer of Finian's Rainbow, I Am My Own Wife) and Dini von Mueffling, Nina Lannan (general manager of Billy Elliot: The Musical, 9 to 5), Jordan Roth (President Jujamcyn Theatres), and Broadway Across America.

Proceeds from the show benefit the NYCLU's youth programs, including its work with LGBT teenagers; its Teen Health Initiative, which educates teenagers on their rights to access health care in New York City; and its work to stop overly aggressive policing and military recruiting in the city's public schools.

For more information about the show, including a complete list of performers, and to purchase tickets, visit www.nyclu.org/bway.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos

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