BROADWAY RECALL: Everyone Still Wears a Hat!

Welcome to BROADWAY RECALL, a bi-monthly column where BroadwayWorld.com's Chief Theatre Critic, Michael Dale, delves into the archives and explores the stories behind the well-known and the not so well-known videos and photographs of Broadway's past. Look for BROADWAY RECALL every other Saturday.

In the face of adversity, the theatre community does what it does best.  Entertain.  Art and humor are necessities of life with a value that glows more luminously during troubled times.  Since its first edition in 1987, the annual Easter Bonnet Competition has capped off weeks of fundraising for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS with dozens of shows from Broadway, Off-Broadway and tours offering song and dance presentations, often featuring outlandish insider humor, topped off by the modeling of wildly creative Easter bonnets.

This year’s competition will be held on April 23^rd and 24^th at the Minskoff Theatre.  For a refresher course, here are some highlights from last year’s competition:

The horrific effect that the AIDS epidemic had on the theatre community was especially visible through the Broadway production of La Cage Aux Folles.  The 1984 Tony winner for best musical was a major breakthrough for portraying gay relationships in a dignified and loving manner and its first act closer, “I Am What I Am” became an anthem for human rights.  But in the early years of the epidemic, a significant number of company members were getting sick and quickly dying.  In a poignant and emotional moment during last year’s competition, Chris Sieber and the company of La Cage’s latest production saluted those who came before them.

We like to think of the theatre as a very open-minded community, but even so we’re not immune to some of the issues that trouble the nation as a whole.  Often, our strength in attacking injustice lies in creativity and satire.  In 2008 the company of The Lion King took a satirical swipe at the lack of opportunities for minority actors.

Yogi Berra once said of the shrinking crowds at ballgames, “If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em.”  The same goes for theatre.  Sometimes you can do everything right and see the critics greet your new show with rave reviews, but the box office still remains a ghost town.  Speaking from experience, here’s the cast of A Class Act in 2001:

Photo of the cast of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (2011) by Peter James Zielinski.

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