Broadway Bares XXI: Masterpiece, the modern-day burlesque spectacular featuring 192 Broadway dancers, made history Sunday by raising a record-breaking $1,103,072 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Last year's 20th Anniversary edition of Broadway Bares had set the previous record at $1,015,985. The first Broadway Bares, in 1992, featured seven dancers stripping on a bar and raised just over $8,000. To date, the 21 editions of Broadway Bares have raised more than $8.6 million for Broadway Cares.
Broadway Bares, created by
Jerry Mitchell (Catch Me If You Can, Legally Blonde) who serves as executive producer, is produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS lead by Producing Director
Michael Graziano. This year's edition was conceived by director
Josh Rhodes (Company at the
New York Philharmonic, The Drowsy Chaperone, Working at the
Old Globe Theatre) and associate director
Lee Wilkins (Spamalot, Wonderful Town).
Jerry Mitchell said: "This was the most expressively beautiful edition of Broadway Bares in its 21 year history! When this many people come together for an event this large, for something that literally exists in the heat and light, the sweat and mist for just one extraordinary night. It simply takes my breath a way. It's such an affirmation of life! It's coming together as a community and taking care of each other. It's what Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS stands for and what Broadway Bares is ultimately about. I feel blessed to be a part of it all."
Broadway Bares XXI: Masterpiece flipped the traditionally staid art auction into a racy, risqué and altogether sexy parade of art-come-to-life provocative paintings and seductive statues, serving up a modern-day burlesque spectacle featuring Broadway's hottest dancers.
Broadway Bares is the hotly anticipated annual event combining the naughtiness of burlesque and the razzle-dazzle of Broadway. The 2011 edition was held at Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street, with two performances on Sunday, June 19. For more information and merchandise, visit
http://broadwaybares.com/.
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 awards annual grants to more than 400 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide and is the major supporter of seven programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the
Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative and the
Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic.
For more information, please visit the Broadway Cares online
http://broadwaycares.org/
Photos by Kevin Thomas Garcia
Brandon Rubendall
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Christopher Sieber and Michael Reidel
Robin De Jesus
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Jim Parsons and Rory O'Malley
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Josh Buscher
Beth Leavel and David Hyde Pierce
Beth Leavel and Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Patina Miller
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Reed Kelly
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Performers, Broadway Bares 2011: Master Piece!
Nicholas Cunningham
Beth Leavel
