Christian Borle, Ben Platt, the SIX Queens & More to Join the Return of the Easter Bonnet Competition

Stars, standouts and the most sensational ensembles of Broadway will unveil their best bonnets and skits at next week's long-awaited return of the Easter Bonnet Competition, which is produced by and benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The 34th annual edition is set for 4:30 pm on Monday, April 24, and 2 pm Tuesday, April 25.

The Easter Bonnet Competition, which has been on a pandemic-induced hiatus since April 2019, marks the celebratory conclusion of six weeks of competitive, in-theater fundraising by 42 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring companies

This year's show will take place at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre, home to Disney's The Lion King. The total amount raised by shows and supporters across the country, winners of top fundraiser and best bonnet design, will be announced Tuesday by Annaleigh Ashford (Sweeney Todd), Jessica Chastain (A Doll's House), Josh Groban (Sweeney Todd) and Lea Michele (Funny Girl).

The Easter Bonnet Competition will be hosted by a cast of this season's favorite performers, including Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot), Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo) , Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt (Parade), Bongi Duma and Lindiwe Dlamini (The Lion King); Kimberly Marable (Chicago); Stark Sands (& Juliet); Will Swenson (A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical) and the current queens of Broadway's Six, Bella Coppola, Leandra Ellis-Gaston, Zoe Jensen, Taylor Imán Jones, Nasia Thomas and Hailee Kaleem Wright. Carolee Carmello (Bad Cinderella), Arian Moayed (A Doll's House) and Brandon Uranowitz (Leopoldstadt) will introduce the judges at Tuesday's performance.

Shows scheduled to present songs, skits or dances, each topped by their stunning handcrafted bonnets, include Bad Cinderella; A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical; Chicago; Hamilton; Kimberly Akimbo; The Lion King; Little Shop of Horrors; Parade; The Phantom of the Opera; Six and Some Like It Hot as well as Broadway Cares affiliate organizations Broadway Green Alliance, Broadway Serves and R.Evolución Latina. The show will also pay tribute to Starlite Deli, Broadway's favorite sandwich shop, which will be closing this month after 39 years as owner Jung Min Kim retires.

A limited number of Easter Bonnet Competition tickets, starting at $30, are available at broadwaycares.org.

Bonnie Milligan (Kimberly Akimbo) will perform David Friedman's "Help Is on the Way," the longtime Easter Bonnet Competition closing anthem.

A panel of distinguished judges will determine best presentation honors at Tuesday's performance. This year's judges are veteran Broadway producer and Broadway Cares Trustee Barry Brown, Kevin Cahoon and Caroline Innerbichler (Shucked), Wayne Cilento (Bob Fosse's Dancin'), Jordan Dobson and Linedy Genao (Bad Cinderella), Tovah Feldshuh (Funny Girl), Elijah Rhea Johnson (MJ The Musical) and Paulo Szot (& Juliet).

Performing shows and special guests are subject to change.

The opening number will be directed and written by Billy Hipkins. Alex Sanchez will choreograph the number. The fundraising efforts of national tours across the country will be represented in a number conceived and choreographed by Lainie Sakakura. Parsons Dance will present a piece on behalf of Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

This year's Easter Bonnet Competition will be directed by Paul Smith with Mahlon Kruse serving as production stage manager, Ted Arthur as music supervisor and Charles Gordon as orchestra coordinator. Sound design is by Greg Reif; lighting design is by Jessica Creager.

Each spring, bands of volunteers and cast members in theaters across the country join the time-honored tradition of in-theater #RedBuckets fundraising. These efforts lead to the awarding of grants to social service organizations across all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico that provide meals, medication, counseling and more essential services to those living with HIV/AIDS or other life-threatening illnesses or personal crises. Their fundraising efforts are celebrated in the two performances of the Easter Bonnet Competition.

In-theater Red Bucket fundraising takes place twice a year during six enthusiastic weeks of onstage audience appeals in the spring and fall. The iconic Red Bucket first returned after Broadway reopened at a handful of shows in the fall of 2021, before making a spirited return in Spring 2022 with a cautious team of vaccinated and masked staff and volunteers leading the charge with buckets at theater exits. Then, in October 2022, the New York theater community stepped up for the Red Bucket Fall Fundraising Campaign. Collectively, the three efforts raised, through memorable post-show appeals, more than $9 million toward meals and medication, health care and hope.

The last in-person editioned of the Easter Bonnet Competition, held four years ago, raised a record-breaking $6,594,778. Since the Easter Bonnet Competition began in 1987, the event has raised $87.5 million.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the philanthropic heart of Broadway, 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 theater community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other critical illnesses across the United States.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the major supporter of the social service programs at the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative and The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts. Broadway Cares also awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance.

For more information, please visit Broadway Cares online at broadwaycares.org, at facebook.com/BCEFA, at instagram.com/BCEFA, at twitter.com/BCEFA and at youtube.com/BCEFA.