At left, the understudies of The Countess complain about their lot in life. In the Nov. 29 Gypsy show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch's Donovan Leitch and Ally Sheedy performed, something they did not repeat for the Nov. 30 competition. Nov. 30, 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.
