Benefits

Singing for Dollars: “Because We Care,” a benefit for two local AIDS support programs held at the Mark Taper Forum Monday night, attracted a full house, raising $20,000 and dozens of bags of groceries. Cast members of “Phantom of the Opera” performed excerpts from various Leonard Bernstein shows for a 700-plus crowd to benefit “Hollywood Helps,” a consortium of 15 entertainment unions that provides direct financial assistance to entertainment industry people with the disease, and Necessities of Life, a food pantry program of AIDS Project/Los Angeles.