Bryan Batt — of Beauty and the Beast and Jeffrey fame — will host the annual auction, which features a host of teddy bears dressed as famous Broadway characters and autographed by theatre artists. The auction will be held at B. B. King Blues Club & Grill, located in Manhattan at 237 West 42nd Street. The evening begins at 6 PM with cocktails and VIP advance previews of the many glamorous bears; general admission reception is set for 7 PM; and the auction commences at 8 PM. Lorna Kelly will be the event's auctioneer.

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.

Bears featured in this year's auction will be wearing 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.

Bryan Batt's theatre credits include Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast; Monty, the disco DJ, in Saturday Night Fever; the Cat in the Hat in Seussical the Musical; Sir Percy in Frank Wildhorn's The Scarlet Pimpernel; as well as principal roles in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Starlight Express and Cats. The actor singer-dancer also played Joe Gillis opposite Betty Buckley's Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and has appeared Off-Broadway in Forbidden Broadway and Jeffrey.

For more information about Broadway Bears VII or to make reservations for the event, call BC/EFA, (212) 840-0770. Visit the BC/EFA website at www.broadwaycares.org.