Beginning tonight – Playbill is proud to present Pride Plays 2020 in celebration of Pride month. The festival, taking place throughout the month of June will feature four primetime live streams of key LGBTQIA+ plays and culminate in a musical celebration with Playbill’s Pride Spectacular June 28. The event, presented by Playbill, will serve as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The Pride Plays season will include: • one in two by Donja R. Love at 7PM ET tonight, June 12 • Masculinity Max by MJ Kaufman at 7PM ET June 19 • The Five Lesbian Brothers reuniting for a one-night-only live reading of their 1992 play Brave Smiles…Another Lesbian Tragedy at 7PM ET June 22 • Mart Crowley’s The Men From the Boys, directed by Zachary Quinto, at 7PM ET June 26. All live streams will air on the Playbill website at Playbill.com/PridePlays. Honoring iconic LGBTQIA+ musicals, creators, and musical performers, the Spectacular will feature performances by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop), Tony Award winner John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Tony nominee Jenn Colella, Tony nominee Caitlin Kinnunen, Pose star Mj Rodriguez, Tony nominee Brandon Victor Dixon, Cheyenne Jackson, and more.
Theater fans – what to watch tonight? How about TV and Broadway star Michael Urie (Ugly Betty, Torch Song) recreating his award-winning performance in the one-man play Buyer & Cellar live from his living room? About the Show:
In the basement of a house on her Malibu estate, Barbra Streisand created a private fantasy world to display her accumulated tchotchkes: a narrow, cobblestoned “street” of boutiques, from an antique doll store and confectionery with its own taffy-making machine to a dress shop filled with favorite costumes from her films. In this one-man comedy, Urie plays Alex More, who is down on his luck after being recently fired from Disneyland. He lands a job curating the basement of Barbra Streisand.
Presented by Broadway.com, the livestream will serve as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund which is helping those onstage, backstage and behind the scenes receive urgent medical care and financial assistance during the pandemic and work shutdown. Hit the play button below at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.
InstaHunk Green.Joel Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Hunky Green.Joel (above) makes it black and white – he wants you to “Rise up and attack the day with enthusiasm!!” • Boy Culture: Matt Rettenmund pays tribute to Madonna on the 30th anniversary of the Blond Ambition Tour with lots of rare video clips from the record-setting production. • The Gaily Grind: Ireland’s prime minister, openly gay Leo Varadkar, will be returning to medical practice to work as a doctor as the country battles the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The prime minister left the medical profession in 2013 after working as a doctor for seven years. By 2017, he’d become the country’s youngest-ever prime minister. • Out Music: California native St. Panther recently released her debut single, “Infrastructure,” in advance of her upcoming album later this summer. The out hip-hop artist brings a 90s sensibility to a very ‘now’ soul sound. Drop the beat below.
• LA Times: Event production companies, that usually build tents, staging and facilities for tens of thousands of revelers at music, sports and dining events have seen hundreds of such events canceled. But they are now busy using their resources to help build temporary hospital stations to help accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic. • NY Times: A member of the crew of the coronavirus-infected USS Theodore Roosevelt died Monday of complications related to the disease, 11 days after the aircraft carrier’s captain was fired for pressing his concern that the Navy had done too little to safeguard his crew. Of the 4,860 crew members aboard the Roosevelt, 585 have tested positive for COVID-19. • NY Post: Bishop Gerald O. Glenn, the Pastor of New Deliverance Evangelistic Church in Richmond who proudly defied coronavirus safety guidelines in order to hold church services, died from COVID-19 complications on Saturday. He told the congregation he’d keep preaching “unless I’m in jail or the hospital” because “people are healed” in his church. • Broadway Cares: The stream of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ benefit concert celebrating Disney on Broadway’s 25th anniversary will be rescheduled for Friday, April 17, 2020, at 7 PM ET after the American Federation of Musicians dropped its opposition to the stream. The online playback will raise money for Broadway Cares’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, which is helping everyone in the theater and performing arts community impacted by the pandemic.
Back in November, Disney celebrated 25 years on Broadway with a charity concert features songs and artists from the many shows produced by the Mouse House on the Great White Way. The concert event, produced by Disney, served as a charity fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS bringing in over $570,000 to help folks. Broadway Cares, which has been raising money for a COVID-19 assistance fund, sought to stream performances from the concert this coming Monday with actor Ryan McCartan weaving in interviews between performances. And then a snag occurred. From the NY Times:
Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, the unions which represent actors and stage managers, agreed to allow the streaming of the concert without fees, but the American Federation of Musicians, which has been focused on winning greater compensation for streamed content, did not.
“Members of the American Federation of Musicians are suffering from the sudden cancellation of all work as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak,” the union’s international president, Ray Hair, said by email. “During the height of this crisis, Disney Theatrical has come to us asking to stream media content without payment to the musicians involved in the production. Especially now, with zero employment in the entertainment sector, the content producers should care enough about the welfare of those who originally performed the show to see to it that they are fairly compensated when their work is recorded and streamed throughout the world.”
“I understand being told no,” Tom Viola, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement. “When that happens — and it does — I can usually see why or understand the extenuating circumstances. It never feels simply meanspirited. This was different and the result, particularly now, is heartbreaking.”
Broadway Cares shares that, if forced to pay the musicians for an already recorded concert, the organization would have to pay the other unions. Additionally, Broadway Cares has already given $50,000 this year to musicians’ assistance programs and offered to give another $25,000 to a musicians’ emergency fund, which Viola said would be more than the value of the payment Hair was seeking. But Hair refused that offer, saying he wanted the 15 musicians, who were paid in November for their efforts then, paid their streaming rights. You can check out a short montage of performances from the November concert event below.
(image via Tom Viola/Facebook) The photo above was shared on Facebook by my friend Tom Viola, who heads up the world’s leading HIV support organization, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Tom writes that an intrepid staff member made the trip into the BC/EFA offices slathered in hand sanitizer to pick up mail and donation checks for their COVID-19 Emergency Fund. The staffer looked out the office windows and amid abandoned Times Square saw a secret message of strength and spirit. I’ll let Tom explain the photo, but for reference know that you’re looking down into the heart of Times Square at the TKTS booth.
Times Square may be abandoned but our hearts are not bereft. Earlier today, a member of the BC/EFA staff made the solo trip to the office – in a mask and gloves, slick with Purell and taking every precaution – in order to retrieve mail and deposit the large donations that are coming in as checks for our COVID-19 Emergency Fund.
In looking out my office window, this is what was seen below. Fashioned out of now-empty tables and chairs. Done not knowing if anyone would see. A message of hope, renewal, and assurance that Broadway and NYC will be back. Thank you! I LOVE NEW YORK! We will be back one day soon to fill that very plaza in celebration.
As most folks know, New York City has become the epicenter of the coronavirus threat. On Friday, New York state reached a grim milestone as the coronavirus has now killed more New Yorkers (2,935) than the terrorists who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 (about 2,700). And the death toll is only expected to grow. But New Yorkers are a tough bunch. Count on that.
The cast of Hadestown offered the chance to pose with a ‘Best Musical’ Tony Award. From theatrical treasures to selfies with stars, from exclusive auction experiences to coveted signed show posters and Playbills, there was something special for every Broadway fan at the 33rd annual edition of the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction on September 22, 2019. The biggest day for Broadway fans, produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS, raised $870,167.
The day featured 56 tables, 62 of Broadway’s brightest stars and 219 live and silent auction items. Fans and collectors hunted for unique theatrical treasures from tables representing Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, theatre owners and producing organizations, unions, guilds, marketing groups, ticket agencies, concessionaires and fan clubs. This year’s grand total will help to provide lifesaving medication, healthy meals, emergency assistance, and social service support to those most in need in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. The 33 editions of the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction have collectively raised $15.4 million. The day concluded in Shubert Alley with the live auction, which raised $310,950.
I’m told they even auctioned off an autographed show poster from the 1995 Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! which featured yours truly – my debut on the Great White Way. My friend Lawrence Pfeil Jr., from TheOUTfront.com (all photos thanks to him), says the show poster fetched $800. In our email exchanges, Lawrence kept referring to the show poster as ‘my autograph’ LOL Check out some of the action at the Broadway Flea Market below. For more info about Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, click here.
Cast members of ‘Broadway Bares: Take Off’ (photo: Billy Bustamante)
Broadway’s sexiest event of the year, Broadway Bares, offered a spectacular romp around the world this past weekend, and we’ve got the video to prove it.
Over two performances at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City Sunday night, Broadway’s hottest dancers raised a record-breaking $2+ million forBroadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. Thanks to BC/EFA, men, women and children across the country receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance.
This year’s theme, Broadway Bares: Take Off, featured nearly 200 performers onstage including Tony & Grammy Award winner Billy Porter, two-time Tony nominee Christopher Sieber, GLEE alum Alex Newell and Grammy/Tony nominee Ashley Park.
Check out the highlights reel:
The travel theme allowed the creators to take the audience on a sexy, sensual, fun-filled trip around the world.
One number, titled “Ground Crew,” showed what happens when a flight is delayed on the tarmac and the all-male ground crew has to sweat through their shift.
Led by Adam Perry, the number (choreographed by Andrew Turteltaub) featured buff baggage handlers taking care of business.
Other highlights included a sexy ‘mile-high club’ number; an all-female excursion through Amsterdam’s Red Light district; and a Parisian fashion show led by Pose star Billy Porter that evolved into a vogueing battle.
With this year being the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, the show’s travels ended (where else?) with a performance set in the historic Stonewall Inn.
Porter also returned at the end of the show to perform his new Pride anthem, “Love Yourself.”
Addressing the packed crowd, Porter spoke passionately of “community” and “unbowed determination.”
“Broadway Bares is about the joy of community, the love we share and the care we show for each other,” said the Tony Award winning actor. “These are both glorious and difficult days. We have so much to celebrate and be proud of. But at the same time we are surely shaken, angry and saddened by the cruelty, inequality and torrent of lies that confront us on a daily basis.”
“But as I look over this beautiful audience and see thousands standing together, unbowed, we will not be dismissed or demeaned. For we are empowered by love, determination and courage,” he continued. “We will not be stigmatized for the very things that make us beautiful, expressive beings.”
And yes, it does take a village. In addition to the 200 onstage performers, backstage there were 41 stage managers and 700 volunteers, including 70 MAC makeup artists, all helping to make the magic.
With 29 editions of the ‘striptacular’ event now on the books, Broadway Bares has raised an amazing $21.1 million for BC/EFA.
Since its founding in 1988, BC/EFA has raised over $300 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses.
Just to give you a sense of how massive the event is, here’s a clip from the finale via Broadway Bares creator, Tony Award winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell:
‘Broadway Bares: Take Off’ takes flight tonight in NYC
In the mid-1980s, I was a young actor pursuing my dreams of working on the Broadway stage in New York City as the world was reeling from the AIDS epidemic.
It was a time when friends disappeared seemingly overnight. You would hear of someone’s diagnosis, and in a matter of weeks, they were dead.
Until 1987, when AZT was approved for treating HIV, there were practically no effective treatments. Even then, while AZT slowed the progress of the disease, there could be severe side effects (nausea, vomiting, headache, numbness).
But it was something.
The theater community can be quite tribal, and artists from all walks of life in the Broadway community felt the need to mobilize and do something.
And boy, did they.
On of my personal heroes – Tom Viola, executive director Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (photo: Jennifer Broski)
Actor’s Equity Association, the union that represents actors and stage managers, created Equity Fights AIDS in 1987. The mission was to mobilize the unique abilities of the entertainment industry to address the needs of those affected by the crisis. In those early years, the aim was to help fund the newly-created AIDS initiative program of The Actors Fund.
Almost in tandem, a group of producers formed Broadway Cares in response to the death of Tony Award winning director/choreographer Michael Bennett (A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls). Their focus was to provide grants and funding for many of the young (and struggling) AIDS service organizations in New York city and other large cities heavily affected by the disease.
In 1992, the two organizations decided to merge, join forces for maximum impact, and officially become Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Over the years, the result has been an unbelievable confluence of community coming together with purpose and passion.
It was around this time that I had been cast in the National company touring of the Broadway musical, CATS.
By 1987, we had already lost a cast member, Philip Mollett, and our dance supervisor, T. Michael Reed, to AIDS. Even out on the road, living in suitcases and constantly moving, as a group of artists we needed to find a way to help, so we organized fund raising concerts and countless other efforts.
Just one example – a massive staged tribute to the aforementioned Michael Bennett we presented in Kansas City. For weeks, we would handle our CATS duties, then sneak into empty ballrooms or conference rooms in whatever hotel we were in and rehearse sequences based on each of Bennett’s ground-breaking musicals late into the night.
The local Kansas City AIDS organization did the leg work for us finding a theater to present the event, and the PBS affiliate even sent a three camera crew to record and preserve the production for future fund raising efforts.
We were in Kansas City for a two-week run, and in the afternoons we’d go to the Uptown Theater and figure out how this was going to work. The Monday in the middle of those 14 days was our one night to pull this off.
Looking back, I remember standing in the audience of the theater with my cast mates that Monday afternoon feeling a bit overwhelmed by the task in front of us. Now that the day had arrived we were faced with the reality of how to tech our little show.
We hadn’t really thought out any lighting plot, and I guess we thought we’d just sing very loud to carry the songs out to the audience we hoped would show up. We
It was at that time – timing is everything – that members of our stage crew, who handled lights, sound, sets and costumes for CATS wandered into the theater. ‘Big Larry,’ our head carpenter and ‘Moose,’ our head spotlight operator, were looking around, exploring and chatting.
Now, we had seven one-week stops ahead of us after we left Kansas City. With one-weekers, we travel on our one day off, and the crew gets to the next theater and has to put the magic back together in time for opening nights on Tuesdays.
So we didn’t ask our guys to help out because they weren’t going to have a day off for two months. But here they were.
Community.
‘Big Larry’ waved us off telling us to just keep rehearsing.
The next thing you know, lights are coming on, floor mics cannibalized from CATS equipment were being installed at the front of the stage, and curtains were moving.
‘Moose’ only liked one of the house spotlights, so he ran off and rented another, better unit. Out of his own pocket.
I remember they told us, “This is important to you guys, so it’s important to us.” They truly were the heroes that day.
We all kept moving. It was straight out of a Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney movie – “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!”
At half-hour, I peeked out at the audience and it was only a third full. My heart sank. All this work and effort!
And then twenty minutes later, we were told we had to hold because there was a line outside the theater wrapped around the block to get in.
We ended up performing our tribute to a packed house. The audience’s response was one of the most vivid theatrical memories I have. We finished the opening number, a full staging of the opening of A Chorus Line, and the applause roared for several minutes.
Waves of love and applause came thundering across the footlights. I don’t know who was more excited, us or our audience.
I share that single effort to illustrate the determination that just one set of theater artists had in wanting to make a difference.
That night, which raised an amazing $30,000 for HIV support organizations in Kansas City and NYC, embodies the spirit of generosity that pervades the mission of Broadway Cares.
Today, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations.
By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington DC.
Thanks to BC/EFA, men, women and children across the country receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance.
BC/EFA is also a major supporter of essential social service programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts.
And more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide are awarded grants annually.
Throughout the year, BC/EFA helps organize fundraising events like the scintillating Broadway Bares, a fun evening of bawdy, sexy production numbers created by Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde) and performed by the theater community’s hottest dancers.
The 28 editions of Broadway Bares have raised more than $19.1 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
This year’s edition, Broadway Bares: Take Off, will be held Sunday, June 16, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. It’s one of the biggest nights on Broadway, so don’t miss it.
There will be two performances tonight – one at 9:30pm and a repeat performance at midnight. (Note – Tickets may not be available by the time you read this).
There’s also the annual Red Bucket Follies (originally known as the Gypsy of the Year event) that features original acts from each production on Broadway in a talent show format. For six weeks before the event, actors make an appeal to their audiences each night after taking bows collecting donations in red buckets.
Since 1989, the event has raised over $76 million for HIV grants.
For the 2010 edition of Gypsy of the Year, I was asked to take part in the opening number honoring the legendary Carol Channing.
I made my Broadway debut in the 1995 Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! with the iconic star, and spent two and a half years working with the star. So, I was more than happy to put on my dancing shoes and share the stage with my dear, wonderful Carol while raising money for BC/EFA.
Here’s the number so you can get a sense of how amazing BC/EFA events can be.
I’m the blond guy next to Carol throughout the number who’s clearly high on the moment LOL.
Audiences for this year’s globetrotting edition of Broadway Bares will get to travel the world and check out the sexy sights when New York City’s hottest dancers take to the stage of the Hammerstein Ballroom on June 16 for two amazing performances.
Broadway Bares: Take Off, the 29th edition of the sexy annual fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, will offer sky-high striptease set to today’s pop music. With skin-tastic, travel-inspired modern burlesque, Broadway Bares: Take Off will definitely put the lust in wanderlust.
According to press materials, this worldwide romp will feature dance vignettes “from a risqué red light district to a tantalizing taming of the bull; from a mega-hot Burning Man to a celebratory return to Stonewall, you’re invited on a worldwide romp with sexy dancers as your frisky flight crew, tour guides and cultural attachés.”
Created in 1992 by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Hairspray, The Full Monty), the soon-to-be Broadway director/choreographer invited six friends to join him for a night of go-go dancing at a New York City bar. That evening raised over $8,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Fast forward to 2018, where Broadway Bares: Game Night, a tantalizing twist on board games, raised a whopping $1.875 million. The 28 editions of Broadway Bares has raised more than $19.1 million.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDSis the major supporter of essential social service programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts. BC/EFA also awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide.
The two performances of Broadway Bares: Take Off are scheduled for 9:30pm and midnight. The evening is guaranteed to be some of the most fun you’ll have on a Sunday night, so get your tickets now.
It’s a great day in the Broadway neighborhood today!
Gorgeous weather, happy crowds of theater fans finding treasures of all kinds in Shubert Alley and down W. 44th and 45th Streets at the 2018 Broadway Flea Market.
Lots of money being raised that will soon be put to very good work.
Thirty-two years ago, the #BroadwayFlea Market & Grand Auction was little more than the cast of A Chorus Line selling some scrounged-together items from their dressing rooms to raise money for friends living with AIDS. Look how far we have come.
I’m so proud and humbled to see this remarkable event grow into the biggest day of the year for the Broadway fan in all of us – whether we work onstage, backstage or cheer from the audience. Every dollar earned today will go back into our community and across the country as Broadway Cares continues to provide vital, lifesaving support to the people who need it most. The money we raise from a signed Playbill or prop, a walk-on experience or opening night ticket package has the potential to change someone’s life.
Thank you to everyone who is helping make our 32nd edition already a smashing success. And we’re just getting started. We’ll be here until 7 o’clock tonight. So if you’re in New York, come join us in Shubert Alley and along West 44th and West 45th Streets for a day theatre lovers won’t soon forget.
Thanks to Larry at The OUTfront for sending some pics my way (below) from the happy event.
What can you find at the Broadway Flea Market? Tons of stuff!
From autographed Playbills, show posters and cast albums to super-special items like the red dress Broadway legend Chita Rivera wore in her Chita Rivera and All That Jazz tour and Broadway teddy bears from Rachel’s Bears.
Plus, there’s an autograph table where stars of the Great White Way will give you their signature for a $35 donation.
The flea market continues today until 7pm, so if you’re in the NYC area, head on down!
Broadway favorite Jen Cody helps sell CDs and Playbills – and Chita Rivera’s dress! – at the 32nd Broadway Flea Market
How adorbale is this Hello, Dolly! teddy bear?
And this Dear Evan Hansen teddy bear?
Plus, hotties from the annual blockbuster event, Broadway Bares
Plus, scores of folks registered to vote in NYC and districts across the nation.
Beginning tonight – Playbill is proud to present Pride Plays 2020 in celebration of Pride month. The festival, taking place throughout the month of June will feature four primetime live streams of key LGBTQIA+ plays and culminate in a musical celebration with Playbill’s Pride Spectacular June 28. The event, presented by Playbill, will serve as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The Pride Plays season will include: • one in two by Donja R. Love at 7PM ET tonight, June 12 • Masculinity Max by MJ Kaufman at 7PM ET June 19 • The Five Lesbian Brothers reuniting for a one-night-only live reading of their 1992 play Brave Smiles…Another Lesbian Tragedy at 7PM ET June 22 • Mart Crowley’s The Men From the Boys, directed by Zachary Quinto, at 7PM ET June 26. All live streams will air on the Playbill website at Playbill.com/PridePlays. Honoring iconic LGBTQIA+ musicals, creators, and musical performers, the Spectacular will feature performances by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop), Tony Award winner John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Tony nominee Jenn Colella, Tony nominee Caitlin Kinnunen, Pose star Mj Rodriguez, Tony nominee Brandon Victor Dixon, Cheyenne Jackson, and more. 
