Mon, January 24 2011
Media Contact
Cindi Creager, Director of Communications & Marketing
(212) 620-7310, ccreager@gaycenter.org
Media Advisory / Calendar Item
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2010
CONTACT:
Chris Boneau/ Aaron Meier/ Heath Schwartz/ Christine Olver (ameier@bbbway.com)
BEBE NEUWIRTH, LILLIAS WHITE JOIN BROADWAY BACKWARDS 6 LINE-UP
Benefit Performance Also Adds Abraham, Battle, Gonzalez, Olivo and More
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7 AT 8:00 PM
Also joining the star-studded cast are Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham, Tony winners Hinton Battle (Miss Saigon) and Karen Olivo (West Side Story), Brooks Ashmanskas (Promises, Promises), Ward Billeisen (Anything Goes), Colman Domingo (Scottsboro Boys), Mandy Gonzalez (Wicked) and Jason Tam (A Chorus Line).
The cast of BROADWAY BACKWARDS 6 has been honored with 11 individual Tony Awards and countless nominations.
The one-night-only event will be held Monday, February 7 at 8 PM at Broadway's Longacre Theatre (220 W. 48th Street). BROADWAY BACKWARDS 6 is produced by BC/EFA and will benefit BC/EFA and the Center.
The new performers for BROADWAY BACKWARDS 6 join the previously announced Clay Aiken (Spamalot), Tituss Burgess (The Little Mermaid), Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd and CBS's Blue Bloods), Alan Cumming (Cabaret and CBS's The Good Wife), Robin De Jesus (La Cage aux Folles), Jose Llana (Wonderland), Debra Monk (Curtains), Denis O'Hare (Take Me Out and HBO's True Blood), Bobby Steggert (Ragtime), Brian Charles Rooney (The Threepenny Opera) and Tony Yazbeck (Gypsy).
BROADWAY BACKWARDS will feature some of Broadway's biggest names singing songs originally written for the opposite gender: women singing songs written for men and men singing songs written for women. By keeping all of the lyrics intact, including the original pronouns, each song takes on an entirely new dimension, sometimes with hysterical results and sometimes with immensely touching results. BROADWAY BACKWARDS will give its audience a chance to see and hear some of the most treasured songs of the Great White Way in a whole new key.
Creator Robert Bartley directs and choreographs with co-choreographer / associate director Kathryn Kendall. Chris Haberl serves as musical director. The creative team also includes lighting designer Paul Miller, costume designer Philip Heckman and musical supervisor Patrick Vaccariello.
BROADWAY BACKWARDS began as a grassroots concert performed at the Center in 2006. In subsequent years, the event grew quickly, performing Off-Broadway at 37 Arts, followed by Roundabout's American Airlines Theatre and last year at Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont.
BROADWAY BACKWARDS 6 is generously sponsored by Continental Airlines, The New York Times and Lifetime Networks.
TICKETING INFORMATION:
A limited number of regular and VIP tickets remain. They are available exclusively at www.broadwaycares.org or by calling 212-840-0770, ext. 268.
ABOUT BC/EFA
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 BC/EFA has raised over $195 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.
BC/EFA also awards annual grants to more than 400 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide and is the major supporter of seven programs at The Actors Fund, including The HIV/AIDS Initiative, The Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative, The Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic and more.
ABOUT THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center provides innovative social service, youth programs and activities, educational and cultural/recreational programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of all ages. Since its inception, the Center has been the only LGBT-identified resource delivering a continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment services to LGBT communities in and around NYC. More than 3,000 clients use Center Counseling, Advocacy, Recovery and Education (Center CARE) annually, which offers low-cost/no cost professional counseling and social services for substance abuse prevention and related HIV/AIDS, mental health and gender identity issues. More than 1,000 adolescents participate in our LGBT youth prevention program, the Youth Enrichment Services (YES) Program. In September 2007 the Center opened Center CARE Recovery, the first and only licensed outpatient substance abuse treatment program for LGBT communities in New York State.
About the Center
A beacon of hope for 29 years, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center builds and supports our community through arts and culture, wellness and recovery, family services and life-saving youth programs designed to foster healthy development in a safe, affirming environment. The Center envisions a world where LGBT people will no longer face discrimination or isolation because of who we are or who we love. We offer a welcoming home to 300,000 visitors each year and we are committed to serving all LGBT people through a variety of programs, services and activities that are designed to meet existing and emerging needs.The Center is many things to many people. We invite you to experience our home at 208 West 13th Street in person and online at gaycenter.org
