Jane Lynch to Host Concert for Global Equality

Jane Lynch will host of Uprising of Love: A Benefit Concert for Global Equality, a star-studded New York event headlined by Sting and Patti LuPone.

The casts of the Broadway musicals Wicked and Once, as well as the cast of I Am Harvey Milk, have also been added to the previously announced roster of performers, which includes Emmy-nominated Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox, Tony-winning Kinky Boots star Billy Porter, country singer Chely Wright, Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis, and Bollywood actress Celina Jaitly. Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews, composers of the musical Witness Uganda, will also appear.

In partnership with the United Nations Foundation, composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell, Pippin) and out producer Bruce Cohen (American Beauty, Milk, Silver Linings Playbook) are executive producers of the concert, which will be presented September 15 at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre.

The Uprising of Love campaign, initially launched prior to the Sochi Winter Olympics in response to Russia's antigay laws, is now focused on "raising awareness and funds for activists making a difference on the ground in every part of the globe where LGBTI safety and dignity is compromised."

"As the world converges upon New York City for the United Nations General Assembly and the Clinton Global Initiative, we join together to remind global leaders that that LGBTI people around the world are facing harassment, abuse, and violence, and to raise significant funding for grassroots organizations and activists around the world," read press notes about the event.

Directed by Schele Williams with musical direction by Alex Lacamoire, the event will feature a script by Uprising of Love cofounder Dustin Lance Black, an Oscar winner for Milk. Additional performers and speakers will be announced soon.

Net proceeds from the event will benefit Fueling the Frontlines, a campaign for worldwide equality led by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, which bills itself as "the only philanthropic organization in the United States solely dedicated to advancing LGBTI rights globally."

An Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner for her role as cantankerous high school cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester on Fox's Glee, Lynch made her Broadway debut last year as boozy orphanage matron Miss Hannigan in Annie. The out actress detailed her rise to fame and her road to sobriety in her 2011 memoir Happy Accidents.

For tickets and more information visit UprisingofLove.org.