By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — "How I Met Your Mother" star Neil Patrick Harris and The Rev. Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. graced the stage at Avery Fischer Hall on Thursday for the first of four performances to benefit the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
The show, Stephen Sondheim's "Company," will go up again Friday night and twice more on Saturday at the Lincoln Center auditorium.
In Chelsea, a diverse collection of entertainers, including "Law & Order: SUV" star Mariska Hargitay, celebrity chef Mario Batali, and singer Sarah McLachlan, who posed together for photographers, gathered for the 2011 Can-Do Awards Dinner to benefit the Food Bank for New York City.
That unlikely trio was also joined by R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, who was almost unrecognizable sporting a wooly gray beard, and New Jersey's favorite son, Jon Bon Jovi.
Celebrity chefs Tom Colicchio and Anthony Bourdain were also there, as was "Late Night" star Jimmy Fallon.
Also at Lincoln Center, Jazz great Wynton Marsalis and legendary guitarist Eric Clapton performed together for an audience that included Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Oprah BFF Gayle King and musician John Legend.
