PHOTO CALL: Lillias White, Clay Aiken, Hinton Battle, Debra Monk, Bobby Steggert and More at Broadway Backwards 6
By Irina Khodorkovsky
February 8, 2011
The annual Broadway Backwards concert — featuring male singers performing songs traditionally sung by women, and women singing tunes written for men — was presented Feb. 7 at the Longacre Theatre on West 48th Street.
The starry evening supported both Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (the Center).
Creator Robert Bartley again directed and choreographed with musical direction by Chris Haberl.
Here is a look at the benefit:
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The one-night-only event boasted the talents of Tony winners Alan Cumming (Cabaret and CBS' "The Good Wife"), Denis O'Hare (Take Me Out and HBO's "True Blood"), Debra Monk (Curtains), Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd), Hinton Battle (Miss Saigon), Bebe Neuwirth (The Addams Family), Karen Olivo (West Side Story) and Lillias White (The Life) as well as Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham, Brooks Ashmanskas (Promises, Promises), Ward Billeisen (Anything Goes), Colman Domingo (Scottsboro Boys), Mandy Gonzalez (Wicked), Jason Tam (A Chorus Line), "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken (Spamalot), Tituss Burgess (The Little Mermaid), Robin De Jesus (La Cage aux Folles), Jose Llana (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Bobby Steggert (Ragtime), Brian Charles Rooney (The Threepenny Opera), Tony Yazbeck (Gypsy), Mo Rocca (Spelling Bee), Jan Maxwell (Lend Me a Tenor), Dan Butler (Frasier) and Kirsten Wyatt (Elf).
The fundraiser, according to press notes, is the "only annual Broadway event custom-made for the gay and lesbian community, their friends and family and will feature some of Broadway's biggest names singing songs originally written for the opposite gender: women singing songs written for men and men singing songs written for women. By keeping all of the lyrics intact, including the original pronouns, each song takes on an entirely new dimension, sometimes with hysterical results and sometimes with immensely touching results."
For more information visit www.broadwaycares.org or call (212) 840-0770, ext. 268.