Lyric Stage Company Hosts HIGH HOPES, Celebrating Sinatra, Tonight

Upstage Lung Cancer (ULC), a Boston not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing funding and advocacy for lung cancer, will present High Hopes, a celebration of the music of Frank Sinatra on the heels of his 100th birthday, tonight, November 10, 2015, at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston.

Emmy Award-winning Arts and Entertainment Editor Joyce Kulhawik will be our host, and she will be joined onstage by award-winning performers Leigh Barrett, Brian De Lorenzo, Hildy Grossman, John F. King, Paula Markowicz and former WBZ newsman Scott Wahle, who will be diving into Sinatra's incredible song list, including, of course, his uplifting "High Hopes."

If "Ol' Blue Eyes" were around today, we imagine he'd be pleased. After all, he was no stranger to the impact that lung cancer can have, having lost dear friends such as Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney and Nat King Cole to the disease.

Sadly, since the heyday of the Rat Pack, lung cancer has become the leading cancer killer of both men and women, and while the role of tobacco in lung cancer is well recognized, even nonsmokers can get lung cancer. In fact, 65 percent of new diagnoses are among those who never smoked or are former smokers. We still have no simple and easily available means for early detection and diagnosis. Finding that will help more people survive, and, as we go forward, lung cancer could become a treatable chronic illness.

Since its inception in 2008, ULC's mission has been to promote awareness, advance understanding and remove the social stigma of lung cancer. Today, of all the cancers, lung cancer receives the lowest level of federal funding per life lost although it is the number one cancer killer. Hildy Grossman, ULC's founder and lung cancer survivor, is fighting to change this staggering fact using Boston's vibrant performing arts scene to alter negative stereotypes so that lung cancer can receive the research funding it deserves. ULC is the first cancer charity to exclusively use music and the performing arts to raise funds for innovative research on early detection and diagnosis of lung cancer.

ULC has set a lofty goal to increase the early detection and diagnosis of lung cancer and has teamed up for the fifth year with LUNGevity Foundation to fund over $1 million in research and grants.

Join ULC on November 10 at 7:30 p.m. at The Lyric Stage in Boston for an evening of great music, fun and hope, as we pay tribute to Sinatra's music just days before his 100th birthday. The evening also includes a silent auction and a post-concert reception. All proceeds go to lung cancer early detection research. For tickets, information or to donate to ULC, visit UpstageLungCancer.org.