Memories of Idina Menzel, Benefit for MS

NJPAC's Prudential Hall was filled on Thurday night, as Idina Menzel presented , a benefit concert to raise money for the NJ Metro Chapter of the National MS Society. 

Lucky Patch contest winners, including Katherine Evans (South Orange Patch), Eileen Leff (Livingston Patch), Patricia Haney (Clark - Garwood Patch) and Michele Benas (Caldwells Patch), were given tickets. Each winner answered a trivia question correctly and was then chosen in a drawing.

"It was very moving," said one of the contest winners, there with a teenage daughter. "It was very inspiring to hear from the Kushner family about their story and the work they have done."

Musical Moments for MS was launched in 1998 by philanthropists Lee and Murray Kushner of Livingston, after Lee Kushner was diagnosed with MS in the mid-1990s. To date, Musical Moments for MS has grossed over $10 million and has funded two endowed chairs at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), both dedicated to advancing MS research and treatment. “We are grateful to our supporters whose generosity has improved and or spared the lives of so many,” says Murray Kushner. 

Each concert-goer received a t-shirt marking the event, a thrill to many of the younger fans in the audience who know Menzel for her role in Wicked and the television show Glee. 

Menzel sang songs from those shows, from Rent and from Enchanted, as well as popular standards. The Tony-award winner also spoke warmly from the stage, telling the audience that she turned 40 this week, has a baby, and a dog named Sammy Davis, Jr. 

The last Musical Moments event, in 2009, supported research and funded all of the MS Centers in the State of New Jersey: CentraState Medical Center, Holy Name Hospital, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, St. Barnabas Medical Center, and UMDNJ. “Musical Moments is a spectacular evening that has an enormous impact on people who are living with Multiple Sclerosis,” says Jim Roberts, President of the New Jersey Metro Chapter of the MS Society. “Advances in research are moving us closer to stopping the disease, restoring function and ending MS forever.  It has moved from being an untreatable disease in 1993 to a treatable one today for the vast majority of people now diagnosed, thanks to funds raised from events like Musical Moments.”

Musical Moments for MS also honored several individuals who have made significant contributions in supporting the 14,000 people in New Jersey living with MS. Honorees this year included Christopher Martin of Wall Township, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer The Provident Bank (Corporate Excellence Award); Thomas J. Sullivan of Princeton, President and Chief Executive Officer Symmetry Medical Inc. (Humanitarian Award); and John R. Richert, M.D. of Boston, MA Vice President & Senior Neurology Fellow Biogen Idec (Medical Excellence Award). All were recognized in a souvenir program and from the stage. 

"It was a great night," said one Patch winner. "I didn't want it to ever end."