At left, Sandy Duncan, in knee and leg braces, sings with her "Wheat Thinettes." At right, Brenda Braxton of Smokey Joe's Cafe parodies her role in the show. Cats won the prestigious Gypsy of the Year Award with The Scarlet Pimpernel finishing second. Winning the 11th annual fund-raising award was the company of Rent with $161,485. Second place went to Annie Get Your Gun with $159, 197 (Peters promised her producers, Barry and Fran Weissler would donate the extra $2,500 to tie her company with the kids at Rent). The Lion King raised $128,830; Phantom of the Opera, $119,931; and Ragtime, $115,688. The Off-Broadway company that raised the most money was Naked Boys Singing! with $25,054.
All together, $2,074,870 was raised in the six week fall fundraising drive for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
