Broadway event helps Fight AIDS

Tag : Sequin String
NEW YORK Summer's here and it's time for Broadway's finest to stripoff their clothes. On June 22, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDSwill produce the 18th installment of "Broadway Bares," a burlesquefund-raiser that has become one of the most recognizable brands inGotham legit.
In fact, the annual show's size and familiarity are now among itsbiggest hurdles. Last year's event featured 240 theater performersin various states of undress, raising more than $740,000 for AIDSresearch and other charities. That number was up from the previousyear, which begs the question: Can this strip show keep growing, oris it destined to sag? Will auds and artists eventually feelthey've been there, flashed that?
Tom Viola, exec director of BC/EFA, says the bump-and-grind show'sincremental growth each season has helped keep it manageable andfresh. "With each year, Broadway Cares has learned how to producethe event more effectively," he explains.
Way back in 1992, when "Broadway Bares" played peek-a-boo for thefirst time, there wasn't much to produce. After watching auds gowild for his flesh-baring turn in "The Will Rogers Follies," JerryMitchell got a handful of dancer friends to strip with him at aManhattan bar, believing it would be a good way to raise money forthe various AIDS charities supported by Broadway Cares.
He was right. Eventually, along with increasing numbers ofperformers from the theater and dance worlds, celebs like CyndiLauper, Alan Cumming, David Hyde Pierce, Harvey Fierstein, FranDrescher, Christina Applegate, Tim Curry, Bebe Neuwirth and BruceVilanch started participating. The event also moved to moreexpansive digs at Roseland Ballroom, and Mitchell's own rise as aBroadway choreographer and director drew extra attention to thestrip-a-thon. (Mitchell stopped helming Broadway Bares in 2003,though he still serves as exec producer.)
Broadway Cares and Equity Fights AIDS were founded in the late1980s as separate organizations to raise money for HIV/AIDS-relatedservice programs. In 1992, the groups merged, and though theunified org still grants money to HIV/AIDS initiatives nationwide,it also supports other health-related service projects through aprogram called the Actors' Fund, including the Al Hirschfeld FreeHealth Clinic and the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative.From 1987-2007, BC/EFA distributed $86 million in donations; thefirst 17 editions of "Broadway Bares" raised $4.8 million.
To keep pace with its soaring popularity, Broadway Bares addedinfrastructure -- BC/EFA staffer Michael Graziano has been leadproducer for more than a decade -- and brokered ongoingpartnerships with companies like MAC Cosmetics. (This year's budgetfor the one-night-only, two-show event is roughly $150,000, notincluding in-kind donations; tickets range from $55 for generaladmission to $10,000 for VIP seats.)
While Broadway Cares now produces several high-profile fund-raisersa year, the annual burlesque remains the brightest sequin on thecharity org's g-string. "Other events are a struggle to sell,"Viola says. " 'Broadway Bares' is the exception."
That may come as a surprise, considering the show's R-ratedcontent. "People can see this dirty little show because they'redoing it for a clean reason," Mitchell says. "And as a performer,when you can say, 'It's for a good cause,' you do things you wouldnormally never do."
But there are only so many ways to take off your shirt. That facthaunts Denis Jones, who has been directing the show since 2005."Eighteen installments down the pike, it's definitely a challengeto come up with new ways to shake it," he says. "You have to comeup with a believable story that can result in people disrobing."
This year, the story is a kinky twist on "Alice in Wonderland,"featuring a school girl (played by Mary Birdsong) who gets suckedinto a world of naughty fantasy. Recent editions have revolvedaround themes such as doctors and nurses, myths and comicstripsuperheroes.
But as the plots get more elaborate, the performance risks losingtouch with its fund-raising roots. "In every show, we do like tohit the safe-sex note," Jones says.
However, Viola adds that a soft sell is crucial. "We need toproduce something people want to see, and then be glad theysupported a worthy cause," he says. "But that said, we have to becareful to make sure the funds end up going where they're supposedto go."
With so much money pouring in, large chunks of it could easily laydormant, lost in an administrative black hole. But Viola says thereare safeguards in place to oversee where the money goes. A thoroughvetting process and site visits, for instance, keep grantrecipients accountable.
In a bid to expand the brand, Mitchell's book, "Broadway Bares:Backstage Pass," will be released the same night, June 22,featuring a personal reflection, performer interviews and hundredsof photos of half-naked dancers, with all proceeds benefitingBC/EFA.
"Although we do raise a great amount of money, there's only so manypeople you can stuff into Roseland," Mitchell says. "We're doing asmany things as we can to keep money coming in."