Broadway personality and Playbill.com writer Seth Rudetsky will host the annual competition, which comes after six weeks of intensive fundraising by various shows on and off Broadway as well as touring productions throughout the country. It's a chance to celebrate the Broadway gypsies while raising funds for the worthy organization.
Awards are presented in two categories: for best skit and for most money raised for BC/EFA.
Three-time Tony winner Carol Channing will perform in the opening number, which will feature some of her signature songs. The number will be staged by choreographers Melissa Rae Mahon and Sean McKnight with musical direction by Ben Cohn, special lyrics by Rob Krausz and costumes by Brian Hemesath.
This year's judges include Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley (Next to Normal); Alison Fraser (The Divine Sister); Boyd Gaines (Driving Miss Daisy); Bebe Neuwirth (The Addams Family); Eve Plumb (Miss Abigail’s Guide…); Patricia White (President, Local 764 – Theatrical Wardrobe Union); and Nick Wyman (President of Actors’ Equity).
Celebrity presenters include Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A Little Night Music), Cherry Jones (Mrs. Warren’s Profession), T.R. Knight (A Life in the Theatre), Judith Light (Lombardi), Bernadette Peters (A Little Night Music), David Hyde Pierce (La Bête), Billy Porter (Angels in America), Colin Quinn (Colin Quinn Long Story Short) and Elizabeth Stanley (Million Dollar Quartet). Among the shows scheduled to perform are The Addams Family; Billy Elliot; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; Chicago; Fela; In The Heights; the national tour of Jersey Boys; La Cage aux Folles; The Lion King; Mamma Mia; Mary Poppins; the national tour of Mary Poppins; My Big Gay Italian Wedding; Promises, Promises; Rock of Ages; Wicked; and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
There also will be a special presentation by choreographer Shea Sullivan in tribute to the 60th anniversary of the Gypsy Robe, a Broadway tradition passed on opening nights from musical-to-musical honoring each show’s chorus member with the most Broadway credits.
Last season, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig made a unique place for themselves in the history of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraising when it was announced that they had raised $1,549,953 in the 21st annual Gypsy of the Year competition in six weeks of curtain appeals at their hit Broadway drama, A Steady Rain. The figure was not only the most ever collected by a single show in the history of BC/EFA fundraisers, but totaled more than was raised in entire Broadway-wide Gypsy of the Year events in any of its first nine years. The Steady Rain bonanza boosted the 2009 Gypsy of the Year total to a record $4,630,695, far outdistancing the previous record of $3,927,000 set in 2007.
Tickets for this year's event are available by calling (212) 840-0770. For further information visit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS on the web at http://www.bcefa.org.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) is the nation's leading industry based, not-for-profit AIDS fundraising and grant making organization.
The New Amsterdam Theatre is located at Broadway and 42nd Street.
