Best Known for ‘Will & Grace,’ Eric McCormack Is Still a Music Man at Heart, Headlining a Benefit Concert Oct. 12-13 at El Portal Theater

He played a gay man in the landmark TV series “Will & Grace,” appeared on Broadway in “The Music Man,” and grew up performing musical theater. So it should be no surprise that Eric McCormack will headline a benefit concert, on Saturday and Sunday at the elegant El Portal Theatre.

But it is. Especially now that most TV viewers know him as the good doctor on the hit TNT show “Perception.”

“I was trained in musical theater … my first professional job was a musical in Toronto,” says McCormack, from the office in his LA home.

All of the proceeds from the concert will go to the Stand Up To Cancer charity (McCormack lost both his parents to cancer). But “The Concert I Never Gave” also gives the actor-singer the chance to live out his youthful “pop star fantasies,” he says with a laugh.

With his buddy Loren Gold assembling “a great band” and performing on keyboards, McCormack expects to rock out with distinction.

Gold has performed most recently as keyboardist with The Who, and has been music director for other performers, including Demi Lovato, Jordan Sparks and Selena Gomez.

“Loren and I met years ago doing a benefit for Project Angel Food,” says McCormack, who has continued to support causes related to the LGBT community after “Will & Grace” ended.

This musical collaboration will culminate with the two performances, at 8 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday, at the El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

“A lot of the songs I’ll be singing this weekend are by artists that people know, the songs they won’t,” says McCormack, who explains that his musical taste is more “B-side.”

“It’s not a like a cabaret or a one-man confessional, it’s a concert. And the songs [will] come with context, a funny story that goes with Will & Grace, or how I got to know Elton John, how I met Pete Townsend, it’s a celebrity tell-all fun stuff [in] a concert.

For ticket info go to www.elportaltheatre.com, or call (818) 508-4200.