This year’s Detroit Concert for a Cure – happening on Monday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. at Ferndale’s The Loving Touch – could also be called “Phantom, After Hours.”

Why? Because individual cast members from the touring production of “Phantom of the Opera” (playing at the Detroit Opera House Jan. 11-22) will be performing non-Phantom songs, cabaret-style, on what would otherwise be their day off.

Proceeds from the Detroit Concert for a Cure show benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Ferndale Schools’ orchestras; local drag queen Sabin will emcee (and a surprise guest performer or two may also show up); there will be a silent auction and a cash bar; and Nashville-based Mackinac will perform during the afterglow.

“I saw him perform once before, and he’s great,” said show organizer Brad Harder of Mackinac (also known as Steven Mullan). “He’s a singer/songwriter from Michigan who relocated to Nashville, and he’s always working on neat projects. … It’s nice, because after the benefit show, cast members will get a chance to mingle with people in the audience during the after-party.”

Though not an annual event, the Detroit Concert for a Cure has previously featured performers from touring companies of shows like “In the Heights” and “Shrek: The Musical.” Harder estimates this to be the sixth iteration of the benefit, and it sprang, in part, from his experience as a company manager for touring productions, as well as his work as part of the Broadway and off-Broadway communities. READ THE REST HERE