Broadway Stars Raise $180,000 for PF Research
Supporters of the pulmonary fibrosis (PF) community and Broadway stars came together for the PF Foundation (PFF)’s sixth annual “Broadway Belts for PFF!” fundraising event, which raised $180,000. All proceeds will go to a foundation fund to support idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis research, education and advocacy .
The late February event was held at New York’s Edison Ballroom, with the actress and PF Foundation advocate, Julie Halston, serving as host. Halston and her husband, Ralph Howard, founded the event in 2011 after a close friend, the theater critic Michael Kuchwara, died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Howard has since been diagnosed with PF and underwent a lung transplant.
The evening’s cabaret-inspired show, directed by Christopher McGovern and Carl Andress, included stars from a variety of Broadway offerings: Telly Leung (Allegiance), Robert Creighton (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Lisa Howard (It Should Have Been You), Margo Seibert (Rocky), Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (Once Upon a Mattress), and Zakiya Young (Disgraced). And it showcased a number of notable performers — the Grammy Award-winning Daveed Diggs (Hamilton), and the Tony Award winners Randy Graff, Cady Huffman, and Judy Kaye (City of Angels, The Producers, and Phantom of the Opera, respectively).
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