The contestants for the sixth annual The Broadway Beauty Pageant have been announced. Participants include Andrew Chappelle (Mamma Mia!), Wilkie Ferguson (Porgy and Bess), Corey Mach (Godspell), Jesse Swimm (Mary Poppins), and Anthony Wayne (Priscilla Queen of the Desert). Brent Barrett (Chicago) and past Pageant winners Frankie James Grande (Mamma Mia!) and Michael Cusumano (Chicago) are set to perform. As previously announced, four-time Tony nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning actress Tovah Feldshuh will host the event which will take place on Monday evening, March 19th, 8p.m., at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th St.). The popular event is the annual benefit of New York's Ali Forney Center.
The Broadway Beauty Pageant will feature Chappelle, Ferguson, Mach, Swimm, and Wayne as they represent their respective Broadway shows, competing for the title crown through talent, interview and swimsuit competitions. The contestants will go head to head in front of a panel of celebrity judges, but ultimately, the final vote is in the audience's hands. Past judges have included Bruce Vilanch, Carson Kressley, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Michael Musto, Christine Ebersole, Beth Leavel, Charles Busch, and Seth Rudetsky.
The Broadway Beauty Pageant is written and conceived by Jeffery Self and directed by Ryan J. Davis, with musical direction by Christopher Denny. The evening is presented by Time Warner NYC, HBO and The Corcoran Group, and produced by Ryan J. Davis, Wil Fisher and Matthew Oberstein. The casting is by Daryl Eisenberg, and the lighting design is by Brian Tovar. Choreography is by Erin Porvaznika.
The Ali Forney Center (AFC) was started in June 2002 in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT youth in New York City. They have grown quickly to become the nation's largest and most comprehensive organization dedicated to homeless LGBT youth. They are committed to providing LGBT youth with safe, dignified, nurturing environments where their needs can be met and where they can begin to put their lives back together. The center provides short and long term housing in Manhattan and Brooklyn, plus free medical care, HIV testing, mental health services, showers, food, computer access and job training and placement at its drop-in centers in Chelsea and Brooklyn.
Tickets for The Broadway Beauty Pageant are available at www.SymphonySpace.org or by calling the box office at 212-864-5400, and are $25, $50 and VIP $150. Individual Sponsored tickets range from $250 to $1000 and can be purchased by contacting wfisher@aliforneycenter.org.
This year's celebrity judges will be announced shortly.
