Art for art’s sake may be a controversial issue. But art for the sake of others is something everyone can get behind. That’s what Joyce Mallery and John Haskell, a Hampden-based wife-and-husband team of socially conscious artists, were hoping for when they put together a troupe of actor-singers to perform a musical revue. Money raised from the show will be given to assist survivors of the devastating tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people in about a dozen Asian nations on Dec. 26, 2004.

“At this phase of my life, when I’m touched by a crisis, it feels good to put energy into making a contribution that is for other people,” said Mallery, a schoolteacher and singer.

Several years ago, Mallery and Haskell organized a dinner theater event around the musical revue “Closer Than Ever,” by lyricist Richard Maltby Jr. and composer David Shire, whose best-known collaborations are “Baby,” “Big – The Musical,” and “Starting Here, Starting Now.” “Closer Than Ever,” which collects songs about middle-age foibles and feelings, is a sequel of sorts to “Starting Here,” which is about growing up.

The show was so popular when it played in a downtown restaurant in Bangor that the creative team decided to revive it, with a few cast and song changes, at Opus, one of Bangor’s newer restaurants. At last Friday’s premiere, the evening consisted of dinner between 6 and 8 p.m., with the show starting at 8 p.m. The costs included the price of dinner plus a $10 donation that the producers will give to Maine’s tsunami relief fund. The 12 musical participants are donating their time and skill at no cost. The show will be reprised with the same lineup Friday, April 8, at Opus.

Artists, said Haskell, who is the music director and accompanist for the show, are often the first to step up to helping others in need.

“It’s not that artists have more empathy or that their heartstrings vibrate differently from anyone else,” said Haskell, a well-known player in Maine’s music scene. “But they have something at hand, something ready. At my church, the leaders just ask for money. But people in music, people who have creative avenues, can do it another way.”

The show opened to a full house of about 60 diners, who sat at tables and at the bar in the main room of Opus. The cast members – Katherine Bate, Amy Bridges, Sue Hunt, Darlene Mogul, George Redman, Kevin Bate, John Greenman, Anne Pooler and David Wilson – joined Mallery and Haskell to perform songs about love triangles, friendship among women, pregnancy and motherhood, mid-life crises and second marriages. Steve Gormley, another local singer, will join the cast when the show repeats on Friday.

After eating richly, the diners became the audience and settled in for a two-hour show in cabaret format. Maltby’s lyrics are mostly funny and insightful, so each song, whether a solo, duet or larger, elicited laughs and applause – as well as whoops of delight, which greeted Bridges’ jazzy version of “Ms. Byrd,” about a woman whose private life is far more interesting than her co-workers know, Kevin Bate’s comical “What Am I Doing Up on the Roof?” about a man obsessed with a woman no longer in love with him, and Pooler’s captivating and witty rendition of “Life Story.”

“It’s baby boomer music,” said Haskell, who keeps the tempo at a sharp pace on his electric piano. “It’s jazz-oriented and predictable, but the words are fleshed out so beautifully. I prefer it to some of the old musical classics because it feels more like my generation. Richard Rodgers wrote beautiful, simple melodies. But this music speaks to me more.”

Mallery and Haskell are hoping to raise at least $1,000 to donate to the tsunami relief fund. It’s not always easy, they said, to stay positive when others are suffering. But their efforts help them feel engaged in the world and keep them connected to their art as well as their basic beliefs about assisting others.

“For us, having a good time while raising money for people is a positive thing,” said Haskell. “I don’t think it helps victims for us to sit around and mope and be depressed.”

“We think of it as keeping the vibration of joy alive,” said Mallery. “Food and music certainly vibrate with joy.”

“Closer Than Ever” will be presented 8 p.m. April 8 at Opus, 193 Broad St. in Bangor. Seats fill up quickly. Reservations are recommended. For information, call 945-5100.