Stritch will read a selection from a new play and Busch will host and sing. Ben Harburg will perform the songs of his grandfather, the legendary composer Yip Harburg ("The Wizard of Oz").

The event will include scenes from Theater for the New City's current season, including the ballet company The Love Show performing an excerpt from their show Nutcracker; Rated R and scenes from Laurel Hessing's new musical The Further Adventures of Uncle Wiggly: The Windblown Visitors, with music by Arthur Abrams.

The event is the fourth annual benefit for Theater for the New City's Emerging Playwrights Program.

Tony and Emmy winner Stritch has starred on Broadway in Company, Sail Away, Goldilocks, Show Boat, A Delicate Balance, Pal Joey, Call Me Madam, Bus Stop and, most recently, Elaine Stritch at Liberty. Busch is the writer and star of such plays as The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset and Vampire Lessons of Sodom and wrote the Tony Award-nominated play The Tale of the Allergist's Wife.

Grimes has won Tony Awards for Private Lives and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Wallach has been on Broadway in The Rose Tattoo (Tony Award), among many other plays. Jackson's many Broadway credits include Middle of the Night (Tony nomination). The National Arts Club is located at 15 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan. Tickets are $125. For reservations and more information, call (212) 254-1109 or visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net.