Photos: OPENING NIGHT Concert at Town Hall Raises $60,000 for ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project
The concert event took place at Town Hall on September 15.
By: Josh Sharpe Sep. 17, 2025
Earlier this week, Sara Bareilles, Darren Criss, Betsy Wolfe, Patti LuPone, Elizabeth Teeter, and Justin Vivian Bond, gathered at Town Hall for Rufus Wainwright's one-night-only concert presentation of John Cassavetes’ Opening Night. A portion of every ticket sold was donated to the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project, with a total of $60,000 raised. Take a look at photos from the evening here.
"I could not be happier with the show," shared Rufus Wainwright. "Sharing the stage with Broadway and theater legends such as Patti LuPone, Darren Criss, Sara Bareilles and singing with talents such as Elizabeth Teeter or Betsy Wolfe and any opportunity to share a stage with my dear friend Justin Vivian Bond will make anyone happy. To hear the songs that I wrote for Opening Night come alive with these amazing singers and present them to a New York audience was an absolute thrill and doing good by raising funds for the ACLU. What else do you want? Heaven, I am ready!"
“We are so grateful to Rufus and the entire cast and production team for creating space for art and community. As we continue to fight for LGBTQ rights in the courts and the legislatures, we know that we cannot transform our world without powerful artistic interventions that help us imagine the futures we are fighting for," said Chase Strangio, Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.
John Cassavetes' Opening Night is the first stage musical with music, lyrics, and orchestrations by Rufus Wainwright. It premiered in London at the Gielgud Theater in the spring of 2024. The book and direction were by Ivo van Hove and is based on the 1977 movie Opening Night by American avant-garde director John Cassavetes.
It tells the story of an actress, Myrtle Gordon, who is premiering a play written for her that is about a woman coming to terms with aging. Myrtle does not come to terms with her own aging and rebels against the play and throws the entire production into jeopardy. A young female fan asking her for an autograph at the stage door gets killed by a car as she runs off onto the street. Myrtle is being haunted by the ghost of the young girl. On opening night, she arrives completely drunk but ultimately does what she does best: act and improvise. Part "All About Eve" Opening Night is the story of an actress who risks madness for her truth.
The live album features Wainwright’s songs written for the original London West End production performed by the cast, including Sheridan Smith, Nicola Hughes, Benjamin Walker, and Justin Vivian Bond, recorded over the last 4 performances of the play at London’s Gielgud Theater.
According to their website, "The ACLU works to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people can live openly without discrimination and enjoy equal rights, personal autonomy, and freedom of expression and association."
Photo Credit: Sachyn Mital
ACLU's Chase Strangio
Elizabeth Tetetr
Justin Vivian Bond and Patti LuPone
Justin Vivian Bond and Rufus Wainwright
Lissa deGuzman, Olivia Donalson, Nathan Salstone, and Jonathan Christopher
Sara Bareilles and Rufus Wainwright
The company of at The Town Hall's John Cassavetes' OPENING NIGHT Concert
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