The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell Bernard, Trustee) has announced that its 2010 donation to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will total $1 million dollars, marking the largest single donation in BC/EFA history. The foundation, which is funded by royalties from the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb's vast catalogue of work, makes an annual donation to BC/EFA.
"
Fred Ebb was as passionate and generous as he was gifted and brilliantly creative. With
John Kander, Fred gave us some of the most delightful and groundbreaking musicals of the last 50 years. Now, he has given us all another remarkable gift," said
Tom Viola, BC/EFA's executive director. "This extraordinary award of $1 million is the largest single donation made to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in its history. In these very challenging times, this gift enables us to hold steady in our support for the important work of The Actors Fund and more than 400 AIDS and family service organizations across the country. Indeed Fred answers the infamous question he so famously posed in Chicago: ‘Whatever happened to class?' Fred, it's you. All you. Thank you."
The
Fred Ebb Foundation, in association with the
Roundabout Theatre Company (
Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) also presents an annual award, named for Mr. Ebb, to aspiring musical theatre songwriters. This year's award, which includes a $50,000 prize, was presented to
Douglas J. Cohen. Past winners include
John Bucchino (2005),
Steve Lutvak and
Robert L. Freedman (2006),
Peter Mills (2007),
Adam Gwon (2008), and
Marcy Heisler and
Zina Goldrich (2009).
As a writer, lyricist, composer and director,
Fred Ebb made incalculable contributions to the New York theatrical community. Mr. Ebb is a Tony®, Grammy®, Emmy®, Olivier® and Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award winning recipient.
Fred Ebb's first professional songwriting assignment came in 1953 when he and Phil Springer were hired by
Columbia Records to write a song for
Judy Garland called "Heartbroken." Mr. Ebb was introduced to composer
John Kander in 1964 by music publisher
Tommy Valando and became one of the most legendary songwriting teams in American history. The first successful collaboration was on the song "My Coloring Book," recorded by
Barbra Streisand. Their second theatrical collaboration, Flora, the Red Menace, created a star out of
Liza Minnelli in her Tony® Award-winning Broadway debut. In 1966, their collaboration Cabaret, opened and received seven Tony® Awards including Best Musical and Best Score. A 1972 movie version of Cabaret starring
Liza Minnelli was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won eight awards and was nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards and won three including Best Picture, Musical or Comedy. The same year, the songwriting team wrote a number of songs for Minnelli's television special "
Liza with a Z," which received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Program - Variety or Popular Music. In 1975, the two wrote the Broadway musical Chicago, directed by
Bob Fosse and starring
Gwen Verdon,
Chita Rivera and
Jerry Orbach. The musical was successfully revived 20 years later at
City Center ENCORES! and subsequently transferred to Broadway where it is currently the longest running revival in Broadway history. In 1977, the team collaborated with
Martin Scorsese on the movie New York, New York; the title song was introduced by Minnelli and later recorded by
Frank Sinatra becoming the unofficial theme song of New York City. The Minnelli Broadway vehicle The Act also opened that year. After a four-year absence, Mr. Ebb and Mr. Kander returned with Woman of the Year (1981), The Rink (1984), Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1985) and Steel Pier (1997). They were honored by the Kennedy Center with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. Miramax's 2002 feature film Chicago was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture and was nominated for eight Golden Globe Awards and won three, including Best Picture, Musical or Comedy.
At the time of Mr. Ebb's passing, he and Mr. Kander were at work on several new musicals. Curtains, starring
David Hyde Pierce and
Debra Monk, debuted at CTG/
Ahmanson Theatre in 2006 and came to Broadway in 2007, receiving a Tony Nomination for Best Musical as well as a Best Score nomination for Kander & Ebb. In 2007, All About Us was staged at
The Westport Country Playhouse. The Visit, starring
Chita Rivera and
George Hearn, received a staging at DC's
Signature Theatre in 2008. Earlier this year, The Scottsboro Boys debuted at New York's
Vineyard Theatre. The production received an additional production at the
Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis before coming to Broadway this fall.
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 BC/EFA has raised over $195 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.
BC/EFA is the major supporter of seven programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the
Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative, the
Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic and more. BC/EFA also awards annual grants to more than 400 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide.
For more information, visit
www.broadwaycares.org.
