Speaking of risque charity fundraisers, we would be completely remiss in overlooking the grand-daddy of all queer charity fundraisers with stripping and near-nudity: Broadway Bares, which has just relaunched their website in anticipation of their 20th anniversary in June 2010.
In October 1987, the Council of Actors' Equity Association founded Equity Fights AIDS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing direct medical services support to uninsured members of the entertainment industry. Four months later, in February 1988, The Producers' Group founded Broadway Cares to do fundraising for different AIDS service organizations, including Equity Fights AIDS. The organizations merged in May 1992 to become Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Since its inception just over 20 years ago, the organization has raised over $160 million. They hold a number of entertaining fundraisers throughout the year, ranging from actors collecting small charge donations from audiences after every Broadway and theatrical touring productions to holding large-scale fundraisers of their own. But without a doubt, the most amazing one of all is Broadway Bares, holding two performances in New York City every June on the Sunday before the beginning of Pride Week.
Broadway Bares was founded by Jerry Mitchell, a chorus boy turned choreographer and director, who rounded up fellow cast members of The Will Rogers Follies in 1991 to perform a go-go fundraiser at Splash Bar New York, where they raised $8,000 just from go-go dancing. The event later grew to a full-scale theatrical evening of choreographed performances -- with stripping! -- following the year's theme. Some past themes have included:
- 2001: A Strip Odyssey (a sci-fi themed show in 2001)
- A Comic Strip (comic book themed, from super heroes to Archie, in 2002)
- Now Showing (a look at Hollywood movies, in 2004)
- Rxxx (medically-themed naughty nurses and dirty doctors, in 2005)
- New York Strip! (an homage to the best of New York City, 2006)
- Myth Behavior (Greek mythology, 2007)
- Wonderland (as in "Alice in...," 2008)
- Click It! (all things Internet-related, 2009)
In June 2005, Kevin happened to be in New York for a week on business. His stay ended the weekend of Broadway Bares, so he extended his stay through the weekend in order to catch the show. And since it was a random opportunity (what are the odds his work happened to be paying him to be in New York at just the right time?), he splurged and spent $600 for a special VIP seat (boxed seats, near-naked boys serving free drinks donated by Absolut vodka).
In addition to the army of dancers, singers, choreographers, directors, make-up artists, and everyone else who puts on the stage show, the event is also staffed by a million other volunteers who make the evening run smoothly -- including (a brilliant idea!) scantily clad men and women with money bags of rolled-up dollar bills whose job is simply to exchange a roll of twenty $1 bills for a $20 bill, making it easier for audience members to tip the performers in the "rotation" set at the end of each show. Making it easier to tip? Brilliant!
Broadway Bares 19's theme was "Click It," with performances relating to things about the Internet (everything from Internet shopping, a play on Kelly's "Shoes," to fantasy football, pictured on the right). It raised a near-record $808,819 (the previous year raised $874,372), including $174,284 before the evening from 261 performers competing in an online "strip-a-thon."
Oddly enough, though Broadway Bares' new website has an online store, they do not sell actual videos of past performances, though they are available through Broadway Beat.
The next year will be Broadway Bares' 20th anniversary, and I bet it will be epic. If there's anything I can do to be there, I'll do it.
This is exactly the kind of fundraisers that the Big Gay Frat House loves. We aren't performers ourselves, nor choreographers, but we got lots of ideas and we know how to handle all of the other logistical details to produce events. So if there are talented entertainers in the San Francisco Bay Area who aren't afraid to show a little skin, we would love, love, love to work with you to create something that, if it was even only 1% as brilliant as Broadway Bares, would be absolutely thrilling to work on.
To inspire you (or at least titillate), we leave you with a montage from the Fantasy Football sequence from Broadway Bares 19:
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