Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will present the 25TH ANNUAL EASTER BONNET COMPETITION on Monday, April 25 (4:30 PM) and Tuesday, April 26 (2 PM) at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th Street). The event celebrates and concludes six intensive weeks of fundraising by the theatre community benefiting BC/EFA.
A cast including many of the season's biggest Broadway performers will lead the audience through this year's EASTER BONNET COMPETITION. Stars scheduled to appear include Robin Williams (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), Judith Light and Dan Lauria (Lombardi), Christie Brinkley (Chicago), John Leguizamo (Ghetto Klown), Heidi Blickenstaff and Roger Rees (The Addams Family), Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells (The Book of Mormon), Jose Llana (Wonderland), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Good People), Jayne Houdyshell (The Importance of Being Ernest), Maxwell Caulfield (Cactus Flower) and Ron Kunene and Tshidi Manye (The Lion King).
At the Tuesday performance, the Easter Bonnet top fundraising and best presentation awards will be presented by Harvey Fierstein (
La Cage aux Folles), Sutton Foster (
Anything Goes) and Daniel Radcliffe (
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying).
EASTER BONNET judges will include Nick Adams (Priscilla Queen of the Desert), Montego Glover (Memphis), composer Bobby Lopez (
The Book of Mormon), Actors' Equity Association Executive Director Mary McColl, director & choreographer Casey Nicholaw (
The Book of Mormon), costume designer Marty Pakledinaz (
Anything Goes,
The Normal Heart), Estelle Parsons (
Good People), Kate Shindle (
Wonderland) and Kathleen Turner (
High).
Kerry Butler (
Catch Me If You Can) will close the show with the traditional performance of David Friedman's "Help is on the Way," BC/EFA's EASTER BONNET anthem.
This year's EASTER BONNET COMPETITION also will include a special tribute to Doris Eaton Travis, an original Ziegfeld Girl and veteran of 12 editions of Easter Bonnet who died last year at the age of 106.
Productions scheduled to perform and present bonnets include
The Addams Family,
Avenue Q,
Billy Elliot,
Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Chicago,
Freud's Last Session,
La Cage aux Folles,
The Lion King,
Mamma Mia!,
The Phantom of the Opera, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the national tours of Les Misérables,
The Lion King and
Wicked, as well as Dancers Responding to AIDS and R.Evolución Latina.
The EASTER BONNET COMPETITION is a two-day Broadway spectacular that features the companies of more than a dozen Broadway, off-Broadway and touring productions singing, dancing and donning original Easter bonnets. There will be two opportunities to see the EASTER BONNET COMPETITION: Monday, April 25 at 4:30 PM and Tuesday, April 26 at 2 PM.
The 24 previous editions of the EASTER BONNET COMPETITION have raised more than $42 million for BC/EFA.
Tickets prices are $20-$350. They are available at
www.broadwaycares.org or by calling 212.840.0770, ext. 268.
The EASTER BONNET COMPETITION is the culmination of six weeks of fundraising efforts by company members of Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring productions. Curtain speeches, bucket collections, autographed poster and program sales, auctions and cabaret performances bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars from audiences prior to the competition. The winner of the EASTER BONNET COMPETITION will be the company that raises the largest amount of money for BC/EFA. An award also is given to the company with the best bonnet design and presentation. Awards are also presented to the Broadway play, national tour and Off-Broadway production raising the most money for BC/EFA.
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 more than $195 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.
BC/EFA also 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.
Tickets prices are as follows: $350 VIP Orchestra; $200 Priority Orchestra (Center); $120 Side Orchestra and Front Mezzanine; $40 Rear Side Section of Orchestra and Middle Mezzanine; $20 Rear Mezzanine.
Tickets are available now at
www.broadwaycares.org or by calling (212) 840-0770 Ext. 268.
