Tony Award winners Harriet Harris and Harvey Fierstein will co-host the 14th annual Gypsy of the Year competition Dec. 9 and 10 at Broadway's Palace Theatre.
Harris, who currently stars as Mrs. Meers in the Tony-winning musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, received Tony and Drama Desk awards for that performance. She has also been seen on the New York stage in The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Crucible, Man and Superman, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Jeffrey and Bella, Belle of Byelorussia. She received Drama Desk nominations for her work in Jeffrey and Bella and has appeared on screen in "Memento," "Nurse Betty," "Romeo and Juliet," "Quiz Show," "Six Feet Under," "Frasier" and "The Beast.
Harvey Fierstein currently portrays Edna Turnblad in the season's biggest hit, Hairspray, at the Neil Simon Theatre. He received Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play for Torch Song Trilogy, and he won his third Tony for the book of La Cage aux Folles. Fierstein has also written the plays Safe Sex, Spookhouse and Forget Him, and he repeated his Torch Song role on screen. His other screen credits include "Independence Day," "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Bullets Over Broadway," "Cheers" and "Common Ground." Fierstein recently published his children's book, "The Sissy Duckling."
*
The Palace Theatre, now the home of Disney's Aida, will host the annual event, scheduled for 4:30 PM on Dec. 9 and 3 PM on Dec. 10. The competition comes after six weeks of intensive fundraising by various shows on and off Broadway as well as touring productions throughout the country. It's a chance to celebrate the Broadway gypsies while raising funds for the worthy organization. Attendees can expect to see performances from the casts of 42nd Street, Aida, Cabaret, Chicago, Flower Drum Song, Hairspray, The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, The Producers, Rent, Urinetown and more. Awards are presented in two categories: for best skit and for more money raised for BC/EFA. Last season, Mamma Mia! won the fundraising award, bringing in $174,088, topping The Producers ($144,331), 42nd Street ($143,515), The Phantom of the Opera ($125,355) and The Lion King ($124,325). Lion King, whose chorus members strutted to a dance music rendition of "America," took home the honor of being named Gypsy of the Year.
Tickets for this year's event, priced between $20 and $350, are available by calling (212) 840-0770. For further information, visit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS on the web at http://www.bcefa.org.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) is the nation's leading industry based, not-for-profit AIDS fundraising and grant making organization.
