The 23rd ANNUAL EASTER BONNET COMPETITION was a great success with $3,402,147 being raised this year by the 58 participating Broadway, Off-Broadway, and National Tour companies to benefit Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS. Since it began in 1987, 23 editions of the Annual Easter Bonnet Competition have raised nearly $39 million for BC/EFA.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS presented the 23rd Annual Easter Bonnet Competition on Monday, April 27 and Tuesday, April 28 at the Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th Street). The proceeds from the event benefited BC/EFA.
This year's winners were announced by Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Geoffrey Rush.
This year's fundraising award winners were:
Broadway:
3rd $139,304 - Shrek
2nd $155,103 - Billy Elliot
1st $176,714 - Wicked
Winner $183,546 - 33 Variations
Off Broadway:
Most money raised, $31,819 - Distracted
National Tours:
3rd
130,570 - Jersey Boys Chicago
2nd
135,111 - Mamma Mia!
1st runner up
254,888 - Wicked San Francisco
Most raised
352,060 - a record, National Touring company of Rent.
Design Awards
3rd prize - Naked Boys Singing
2nd prize - Billy Elliot
1st prize - 33 Variations
Winner of Best Presentation - 33 Variations, The winning bonnet was designed by David Masenheimer.
Leading the highlights from this year's competition was EASTER BONNET favorite, Doris Eaton Travis at age 105 appeared with the cast of Billy Elliot, teaching Greg Jbara, Liz Pearce and the corps of young, wannabe ballerinas "Ballin' the Jack," a number she performed over 80 years ago. Travis made her Broadway debut at the age of 14 in 1918 in the legendary Ziegfeld Follies at The New Amsterdam Theatre.
Other highlights included:
Liza Minnelli's surprise performance of "New York, New York" during EASTER BONNET COMPETITION's opening number entitled "Broadway Don't Bring Me No Bad News."
The cast of Mary Poppins presented "I Think We Need a Tap Number Here," showing how adding a tap number to West Side Story, Jersey Boys, Wicked, and South Pacific would ensure a long run.
After 9 year absence at the EASTER BONNET COMPETITION, the cast of Chicago re-entered the fray with a hilarious take-off of "The Cell Block Tango," entitled "The Chopping Block Tango" in which characters from Spamalot, Gypsy, Young Frankenstein, Hairspray, Spring Awakening, and Grease sing of the end of their respective runs on Broadway.
Off-Broadway's The Marvelous Wonderettes presented a delightful five-part harmony rendition of the classic, "Let's Talk Dirty to the Animals."
The extraordinary fundraising by 23 national touring shows was represented by a modern dance choreographed by Shea Sullivan to Dolly Parton's "Travelin' Thru" and culminating in a bonnet built as an airplane with a jet stream of the 23 colorful show logos.
Avenue Q's presentation, "You're Nothing Without Me," reunited current cast members Benjamin Schrader and Howie Michael Smith along with "Rod" with original cast member John Tartaglia.
The Little Mermaid's Trevor Braun rebuffed his agent's suggestions that he audition for age-appropriate roles in Billy Elliot, Oliver, and 13 and instead auditioned for the up-coming revival of Dreamgirls with a performance of "And I Telling You I'm Not Going."
