Broadway CaresWatch Jonathan Burke, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Jessica Vosk, More inBroadway Bares: Pleasure Park Opening
The annual charity burlesque raised $1.9 million for Broadway Cares June 18.
By
Andrew Gans, Logan Culwell-Block
June 26, 2023
Broadway celebrated its sexiest night of the year June 18 with Broadway Bares: Pleasure Park
at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. The evening featured Broadway
favorites baring (mostly) all in burlesque production numbers. The event
included more than 190 dancers presenting "unrivaled fantasy lands,
animal
queendoms, and magic kinkdoms that will leave you dreaming of a fast
pass for more."
The charity event benefited Broadway Cares and raised a
staggering $1,887,014, all of which goes to Broadway Cares.
Watch the opening number, featuring Jonathan Burke, Jay Armstrong Johnson, and Jessica Vosk, above. The first performance of the evening also included the talents of Justina Aveyard, Adrianne Chu, Willie Dee, Adena Ershow, Elizabeth Fernandez, Will Field, Michael Scott Gomez, Matthew Griffin, Kim Hale, Brandon Kraft, John Paul LaPorte, Devon McCleskey, Ianthe Mellors, Michelle Mercedes, William Michael, Michael Pugliese, Madeline Reed, Kristin Roa, Aliya Rose, Celia Mei Rubin, Ben Ryan, Sarah Juliet Shaw, James M. Števko, Kevin(a) Taylor, Maya Thomas, Jordan Vasquez, Richard E. Waits, and Lincoln Ward.
Also, check out behind-the-scenes photos at the Hammerstein Ballroom captured by Roberto Araujo below.
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Check Out Portraits From Backstage at Broadway Bares
The event, Pleasure Park, took inspiration from theme park
attractions, including an opening number with the lyrics "It’s a world of
glitter, a world of pecs." There was a magic-themed number
featuring Cameron Jackson (Aladdin) as a wizard whose pants vanished in a disappearing act. Another featured Jamie Patterson (Aladdin) as a patron waited on by sexy servers Tyler Eisenreich (Moulin Rouge! The Musical) and MiMi Scardulla (A Beautiful Noise) at
the Meat Rack restaurant, where the waiters are dressed in black vests
and not much else. A waterpark-themed number featured acrobat Zongoli
and seven aerialists performing from high above the stage.
Broadway Bares was created in 1992 by Mitchell as a way to
raise awareness and money for those living with HIV/AIDS. Mitchell and
six of his friends danced atop a New York City bar and raised $8,000 in Broadway Bares’ first iteration. Last year’s 30th anniversary edition raised $1.9 million, bringing Broadway Bares’ total to more than $21 million for Broadway Cares.
The evening helps provide meals and medication, health care, and hope
to people across the country living with HIV/AIDS or facing other
life-threatening illnesses and personal crises.
Broadway Cares 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 Broadway Cares has raised more than $300 million
for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, and other
critical illnesses across the United States.
Next year, Carnegie Hall's house band will perform Bernstein’s “Kaddish” Symphony, unfinished works by Schubert, and the final concert of Conductor Bernard Labadie.