Tony Award winner Beth Leavel, currently on Broadway in the new musical Baby It's You, will kick off the evening singing "Going, Going, Gone," written by Chad Beguelin and Matthew Sklar. Tony nominee Patina Miller (Sister Act) will perform the finale, "The Final Masterpiece."
Other special guests include Tony nominee and Emmy Award winner Judith Light (Lombardi), Tony nominee Rory O'Malley (The Book of Mormon), Emmy winner Jim Parsons (The Normal Heart), Tony and Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce (La Béte), Tony winner Roger Rees (The Addams Family), Tony nominee Christopher Sieber (La Cage aux Folles) and New York Post columnist Michael Riedel.
The opening number is currently available for download at broadwaycares.org/masterpiecesingle.
This year's fundraiser will "offer up a modern-day burlesque show packed with museum-quality human canvases that would make an art critic blush," according to press notes. Broadway Bares was created by Jerry Mitchell, the Tony-winning choreographer who is currently represented on Broadway with Catch Me If You Can. The 20th annual Broadway Bares, which was held June 20, 2010, raised a record-breaking $1,015,985 for BC/EFA.
A little Bares history: Nearly 20 years ago, Legally Blonde's Mitchell, who once danced nearly naked on a drum in The Will Rogers Follies, found himself inspired to take it all off to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and Broadway Bares was born. The first year, he and seven other Broadway dancers raised $8,000 for the charitable organization. Broadway Cares XXI: Masterpiece will be produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, executive produced by Tony winner Mitchell and directed by Josh Rhodes.
The Roseland Ballroom is located in New York City at 239 West 52nd Street. For ticket information visit www.BroadwayCares.org.
*
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 $195 million for services for people with AIDS, HIV or HIV-related illnesses. For more information call (212) 840-0770 or visit www.broadwaycares.org.
