Tina Fey takes part in a concert to aid migrants
NEW YORK — Tina Fey joined some of Broadway’s biggest stars — including Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel and Chita Rivera — for a concert livestreamed Saturday to benefit migrants on the Mexican border.
It’s was organized by Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, who were prompted to act after seeing photos of children separated from their families.
“Seeing the images, we were really depressed,” Wesley said Friday. “It was so overwhelming. What do you do? All we can do is put on a show and hopefully educate people.”
The concert took place at 5 p.m. at The Cooper Union in downtown New York City. It was broadcast via Facebook Live and at Concertsfor America.com.
The lineup also featured Brian Stokes Mitchell, Norm Lewis, Matt Bomer, Jorge Avila, Mandy Gonzalez, Jeremy Jordan, Olga Merediz, Andrew Rannells, Keala Settle, Shaina Taub and Patrick Wilson.
Highlights included Rivera singing “America” from “West Side Story” and the reuniting of McDonald and Mitchell for “Wheels of a Dream” from the musical “Ragtime.” Settle flew into New York specifically to perform “This Is Me” from the film “The Greatest Showman.”
The concert is the latest in a series of benefit shows created and hosted by Rudetsky and Wesley, the host and producer of Sirius XM’s “On Broadway” show who also organized the Broadway for Orlando group’s recording of “What the World Needs Now Is Love.”
The concert comes in response to the government’s push to prosecute all migrants caught entering the country without authorization. President Donald Trump has halted his policy of taking children from their detained parents under public pressure but around 2,000 of them are still being held, with many families saying they don’t know how to locate them.
Proceeds from the concert will benefit four nonprofits that aim to protect the civil and human rights of families: Al Otro Lado, Texas Civil Rights Project, ACLU Foundation of Texas, and Florence Project. Representatives from the groups will offer their perspectives from working on the front lines.