BC/EFA Annual Report 2004 - Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

BROADWAY CARES/EQUITY FIGHTS AIDS
14TH ANNUAL
GYPSY OF THE YEAR
COMPETITION
DECEMBER 8 AND 9, 2003
THE PALACE THEATRE BROADWAY
An extremely strong Broadway season helped push the 2003 edition of our annual Gypsy of the Year Competition to a whopping grand
total of $3,359,533, with 58 Broadway, off-Broadway, and touring shows participating in vigorous fundraising efforts.
The Boy From Oz and its star Hugh Jackman led the charge, bringing in an all-time record-breaking $632,998, substantially more
money than any other show in BC/EFA history has raised in one six-week appeal period (nearly doubling Hairspray’s record-breaking
numbers from 2002).
Runners-up in fundraising included Hairspray with $303,024, The Phantom of the Opera with $155,964, Gypsy with $147,366 and
Mamma Mia! with $133,286. The Broadway play that raised the most money was The Retreat from Moscow with $56,291, and the off-
Broadway winner was Fame on 42nd Street, which raised $18,004. The top fundraiser among touring companies was the Mamma Mia! #2
tour, which brought in $154,325. Tony Award®-winner Jackman, Gypsy’s Mama Rose Bernadette Peters, and Hairspray’s original Edna,
Harvey Fierstein, announced the winners.
Gypsy of the Year is about more than fundraising. It’s an opportunity for Broadway’s chorus men and women – many of whom are
destined for headlining roles – to step into the spotlight and strut their stuff on a single stage. The 2003 awards were hosted by the
droll duo of The Violet Hour’s Mario Cantone and Gypsy’s “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” girl Julie Halston.
Show highlights included the cast of Mamma Mia! in “The Winter Garden Showchoir Strikes Back”; The Producers’ Matt Loehr, who
choreographed and performed an athletic solo number “Break-Through You”; the cast of Little Shop of Horrors offered James Lipton –
or a hilarious impersonation by Rob Bartlett – interviewing Audrey II in a special edition of “Inside the Actors’ Studio”; the
unstoppable Lypsinka gave the audience a special holiday treat with “The 12 Daze of Christmas;” and cast members from Broadway’s
delightful Avenue Q presented an original number, “In Our Neighborhood.” Past and current members of the long-running off-
Broadway hit Naked Boys Singing came together to sing “Dreams,” written by Stephen Bates Baltes, who had recently passed away from
AIDS-related complications. Producer Rosie O’Donnell made a special appearance with her cast from Taboo.
The distinguished panel of judges included Delta Burke (who had recently made her Broadway debut in Thoroughly Modern Millie),
Ted Chapin of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, as well as BC/EFA major donors Judy Dove, Barbara Ann Klein and
Marion Duckworth-Smith. These judges, along with Jujamcyn VP and BC/EFA President Paul Libin, Priscilla Lopez (Anna in the
Tropics) and Ned Walker of loyal BC/EFA corporate sponsor Continental Airlines chose a dance number by the cast of Aida as
winner of the Judges’ Award for Best Presentation, with Urinetown, in its competitive swansong, a close runner-up.
(clockwise) Rob Bartlett interviews Audrey II in a special edition of Inside the Actors' Studio, as brought to you by the cast of Little Shop of Horrors; the opening number –
created by Christopher Gattelli, Seth Rudetsky, Matt Sklar, and Bill Ryall; The Producers’ Matt Loehr choreographed and performed an athletic solo number, “Break-Through
You”; a surprise appearance by Urinetown’s Officer Lockstock and Little Sally – gentle, as ever; the cast of Mamma Mia! in “The Winter Garden Showchoir Strikes Back.”
events
34