Gary Beach, who, as Hitler, apes Judy Garland's concert at the Palace nightly in The Producers, slipped into his sparkly Swastikas to spend a moment on the lip of the Palace stage. Ian McKellen took on the persona of a gypsy for his moment at the 2001 Gypsy of the Year.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS raised $2,037,922 in their fall fundraising campaign, and a good deal of thanks goes to the new hit ABBA musical. The dancing queens and kings over at the Winter Garden brought in $174,088 for BC/EFA, topping The Producers ($144,331), 42nd Street ($143,515), The Phantom of the Opera ($125,355) and The Lion King ($124,325).
Broadway's Dance of Death raised the most for a play, $62,705. The Off-Broadway competition resulted in a tie: $17,500 for both tick, tick...BOOM! and perennial winner Naked Boys Singing!.
This year's final tally was down just slightly from last year's $2,056,666, which itself was down just a hair from 1999's $2,074,870.
The Naked Boys had more to celebrate — their skit, "Shed Your Pants," sung to The King and I's "Shall We Dance?" was runner-up for Gypsy for the Year. The Lion King, whose chorus boys and girls strutted to a dance music rendition of "America," took home the honor of being named Gypsy of the Year.
Gary Beach and Roger Bart host the Dec. 3 and 4 events at the Palace Theatre, slipping in and out of their stage personas, Roger Debris and Carmen Ghia.
