Broadway Flea Market, a Starry Street Fair for a Good Cause, "Plays" Shubert Alley Sept. 26

By Kenneth Jones
and Andrew Gans
26 Sep 2010

Celebrity guests include Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth
Celebrity guests include Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Fans and theatre personalities will flood midtown's Shubert Alley for the 24th Annual Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction 10 AM-7 PM Sept. 26. The outdoor event on 44th Street and Shubert Alley, just west of Times Square, raises money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Tables of theatrical memorabilia is donated and sold by the theatrical community for the fundraiser. The day-long benefit also boasts a Celebrity Table, where theatre fans can purchase autographs by or photos with their favorite stars from Broadway, Off-Broadway and television serials. The traditionally well-attended fair also includes a Grand Auction, where "singular items and opportunities such as walk-on roles in Broadway shows, television programs and films" are auctioned to the highest bidder.

Recently added to the auction are the following lots: Opening-night admission to Broadway's La Bête, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Importance of Being Earnest, Elling, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Driving Miss Daisy, The Scottsboro Boys and Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark; backstage post-show visits with Bebe Neuwirth, Nathan Lane, Vanessa Redgrave, Cherry Jones, Elaine Stritch and Bernadette Peters; "Soon" musical phrase from A Little Night Music, handwritten and signed by Stephen Sondheim; admission to the "impossible-to-get-tickets-to" opening-night party for the Signature Theatre's revival of Angels in America and take in Part 1 & 2 in one day on a subsequent date; musical phrases from American Idiot, handwritten and signed by Billie Joe Armstrong; "Ozian Backstage Experience" — from wardrobe call to final curtain, a backstage look at a blockbuster musical during an actual performance of Wicked; set visits to TV's "NCIS" and "Modern Family" in Los Angeles; and a package to go to Las Vegas and see a Cirque du Soleil show.

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Previously announced lots include: a walk-on role in Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera, Mamma Mia!, In the Heights, Rock of Ages and Wicked; one of the prosthetic headpieces worn by Brian d'Arcy James in Shrek The Musical, signed by the entire original Broadway cast; "Good Morning Baltimore" musical phrase from Hairspray, handwritten and signed by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman; the last pair of tickets to the sold out New York Times "TimesTalks" featuring Frank Rich and Stephen Sondheim on Nov. 22, with the chance to meet Rich and Sondheim afterward; the chance to conduct the orchestra of The Phantom of the Opera during the exit music at one performance; dinner with Anthony Rapp; "When You're an Addams" musical phrase from The Addams Family, handwritten and signed by Andrew Lippa; "Walk Like A Man" musical phrase from Jersey Boys, handwritten and signed by Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli; "For Good" musical phrase from Wicked, handwritten and signed by Stephen Schwartz; the opportunity to have Jonathan Freeman, who voiced the villainous "Jafar" in the "Aladdin" film, to record your phone message; Daniel Craig's tank top that he wore during a performance of A Steady Rain, autographed by Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman; a poster from Susan Sarandon's Exit the King dressing room that was signed by over 50 celebrities who visited her backstage during the show's run; a 2010 Tony Awards poster signed by all of the presenters and nominees; and autographed items from celebs such as Antonio Banderas, Corbin Bleu, Carol Channing, Kristin Chenoweth, Gavin Creel, Raul Esparza, Green Day, Marvin Hamlisch, Angela Lansbury, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Daniel Radcliffe, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, Stephen Sondheim, John Stamos, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Barbra Streisand, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Eaton Travis, Vanessa Williams and many more.

Celebrities currently scheduled to appear at the Celebrity Autograph Table and Photo Booth in exchange for donations to BC/EFA include: Kate Baldwin (Finian's Rainbow), Bryan Batt (TV's "Mad Men"), PJ Benjamin (Wicked), Susan Blackwell ([title of show]), Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]), Mario Cantone ("Sex and the City"), Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America), Kristin Chenoweth (Promises Promises), Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza), Terri Colombino ("As the World Turns"), Stephanie D’Abruzzo (Avenue Q), Jason Danieley (Next to Normal), Ellen Dolan ("Guiding Light," "As the World Turns"), Richard Easton (Elling), Malcolm Gets (The Story of My Life), Mandy Gonzalez (Wicked, In the Heights), Montego Glover (Memphis), Julie Halston (The Divine Sister), Ann Harada (Avenue Q), Sean Hayes (Promises Promises), Jessica Hecht (A View from the Bridge), Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A Little Night Music), Matthew Hydzik (West Side Story), Gregory Jbara (Billy Elliot), Cherry Jones ("24," Mrs. Warren's Profession), Andy Karl (Wicked), Chad Kimball (Memphis), Levi Kreis (Million Dollar Quartet), Dan Lauria (Lombardi), Aaron Lazar (A Little Night Music), Judith Light (Lombardi), Robert Britton Lyons (Million Dollar Quartet), Lorna Luft, David Andrew MacDonald ("Guiding Light"), Andrea McArdle (Broadway's original Annie), Marin Mazzie (Next to Normal), director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, Julia Murney (Wicked), Donna Murphy (Lovemusik, Wonderful Town), Bebe Neuwirth (The Addams Family), Phyllis Newman, Kelli O'Hara (South Pacific), Denis O'Hare ("True Blood," Elling), Orfeh (Legally Blonde), Patrick Page (Spider-Man), Austin Peck ("As the World Turns"), Anthony Rapp (Rent), Vanessa Ray (Hair & "As the World Turns"), Alice Ripley (Next to Normal), Chita Rivera (Nine, Kiss of the Spider Woman), Elizabeth Stanley (Million Dollar Quartet), Bobby Steggert (Yank!, Ragtime), John Tartaglia (Shrek The Musical & Avenue Q), Patrick Wilson (The Full Monty, All My Sons), Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed), Colleen Zenk ("As the World Turns") and more to be announced closer to the event. All appearances are subject to change.

Visit www.BroadwayCares.org.

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Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the nation's largest industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organization. Since its founding in 1988 the organization has distributed over $170 million for services for people with AIDS, HIV or HIV-related illnesses.

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The 2009 Flea Market — held Sept. 27 in the Roseland Ballroom — raised $403,929 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. BC/EFA auctioneer Lorna Kelly and actor Bryan Batt ("Mad Men") presided over the Grand Auction, which raised $175,000; while Michael Goddard and Felicia Finley (Catch Me If You Can) hosted the silent auction, which raised $36,590; the autograph table and photo booths raised $14,770; and other various tables collectively raised $192,429.