Gary Beach to Host 'Mr. Broadway 2007' Pageant

Gary Beach, Tony award-winner and current cast member of Les Miserables has been announced as host of "Mr. Broadway 2007," the inaugural Broadway beauty pageant, set for Monday evening, April 30th at New World Stages (340 West 50th St.). The event will benefit the Ali Forney Center.

The event will feature male cast members representing their respective Broadway shows, competing for the title crown through talent, interview and swim suit 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.

Mr. Broadway 2007 is written and conceived by Jeffery Self and directed by Ryan J. Davis, with musical direction by Eric Svejcar. The pageant includes original songs by Lisa Lambert (Tony Award-winner for The Drowsy Chaperone), Glen Kelly (The Producers, The Drowsy Chaperone), Eric Svejcar (Caligula), Ben Cohn and Sean McDaniel. The evening is produced by Ryan J. Davis, Nick Malone and Jeffrey Self, in association with Tim Hur.

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 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. AFC is also dedicated to promoting awareness of the plight of homeless LGBT youth in the United States with the goal of generating responses on local and national levels from government funders, foundations and the LGBT community.

Gary Beach received the 2001 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for the role of Roger DeBris in the Broadway production of The Producers. He can currently be seen as Thenardier in Broadway's Les Miserables. Other Broadway experiences include Beauty and the Beast (Tony nomination and Ovation Award nomination), Sweet Adeline, Doonesbury, The Moony Shapiro Songbook, Annie, Something's Afoot, and 1776.

Tickets for "Mr. Broadway 2007" are available at Telecharge.com and range from $50, $100, and $250 with a limited number of VIP tickets available for $500, which includes admission to a pre-show cocktail party. Business and private sponsorships are available by contacting  MrBroadway2007@gmail.com. 

The complete list of contestants will be announced shortly.

Photo of Gary Beach by Linda Lenzi