The annual event was held Feb. 15 and hosted by Bryan Batt at B. B. King Blues Club & Grill on West 42nd Street. Lorna Kelly was the event's auctioneer. A bear dressed as Happy End's Lieutenant Lillian Holiday brought in the most funds for BC/EFA, $22,000. A Producers bear had held the record, bringing in $16,000 in 2002. Bears featured in this year's auction wore costumes from The Producers, Flower Drum Song, Avenue Q, Nine, Mack and Mabel, Take Me Out, Dancin', Carnival, Hairspray, Saturday Night Fever, Little Shop of Horrors, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, 42nd Street, Barnum, Bloomer Girl, Dreamgirls, Follies, A Year with Frog and Toad, Happy End, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Jekyll & Hyde, Li'l Abner, Les Misérables, Lorelei, Mame, Purlie, Ragtime, Rent, Sunday in the Park with George, Taboo, The Wiz, They're Playing Our Song, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Titanic, La Traviata, Wicked, Chicago, Into the Woods, Cabaret and Kiss Me, Kate.
Last year's auction raised $116,495 for BC/EFA, the nation's leading industry based, not-for-profit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organization. To date, BC/EFA has distributed over $65 million for critically needed services for people with AIDS, HIV, or HIV-related illnesses.
For more information about Broadway Bears VII, visit the BC/EFA website at www.broadwaycares.org.