A total of $114,638 was raised at the May 21 fundraiser, which was held at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill and hosted by Broadway regular Bryan Batt. (The annual event had been scheduled for Feb. 12 but was postponed due to the snowstorm that blanketed the metropolitan area.)

The bear that raised the most funds for BC/EFA was the Avenue Q Rod bear, which was signed by original Q star John Tartaglia and raised $8,250. Other top draws included The Color Purple's Sofia bear — signed by Purple star Felicia P. Fields and producer Oprah Winfrey — which brought in $5,500, and Spamalot's King Arthur bear — signed by Tim Curry — which took in $4,800.

A total of 40 bears were auctioned this year, representing such shows as 700 Sundays, Aida, Amadeus, Avenue Q, The Boy From Oz, The Boyfriend, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Carnival, Carrie, Cats, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dance of the Vampires, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Doubt, Fiddler on the Roof, Funny Girl, Gypsy, Hairspray, Jersey Boys, Julius Caesar, La Cage aux Folles, The Light in the Piazza, Little Shop of Horrors, Movin' Out, My Fair Lady, The Odd Couple, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers, Rent, The Rocky Horror Show, Shirley MacLaine on Broadway, Spamalot and Sweet Charity. Bears were autographed by such stars as Victoria Clark, Billy Crystal, Tim Curry, Harvey Fierstein, Billy Joel, Cherry Jones, John G. Kerr, Nathan Lane, Shirley MacLaine, Elizabeth Parkinson, Bernadette Peters, John Tartaglia and Denzel Washington.

Last year's auction raised $116,817 for BC/EFA, the nation's leading industry based, not-for-profit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organization. The bear decked out as Wicked's Glinda raised the most funds, $6,000. To date, the Broadway Bears auctions have raised over one million dollars for BC/EFA.

For more information visit the BC/EFA website at www.broadwaycares.org.