Times Square Chronicles
The Broadway Beauty Pageant Raises Money and Awareness For LGBT Youths
MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011 11:53 PM
SUZANNA BOWLING
The Broadway Beauty Pageant just added Lee Roy Reams to open the show in a special number “Beautiful Boys†created by Gerard Alessandrini. Tovah Feldshuh will be the host for this not-to-be-missed event on Monday, March 21st, 2011 at 8:00 PM, benefiting The Ali Forney Center, NYC’s primary housing resource for homeless LGBT youth. The annual show will again be at the Peter Norton Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (at 95th Street). This year’s contestants are: Matt Anctil, La Cage Aux Folles; Michael Cusumano, Chicago; Raymond J. Lee, Anything Goes; Brandon Rubendall, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; and James Tabeek, Mary Poppins. Conceived by Jeffery Self and directed by Ryan J. Davis, The Broadway Beauty Pageant is musically directed by Christopher Denny, choreographer is Erin Porvaznika. Brian Tovar is the lighting designer The evening is produced by Wil Fisher, Ryan J. Davis, Jeffery Self and Matthew Oberstein.
The trio of outstanding and hilarious judges for the 5th Smash Year of The Broadway Beauty Pageant are: Bruce Vilanch, the six-time Emmy Award winner comedy writer and actor who is one of the most sought after jokesmiths in the entertainment industry; Rachel Dratch, best known for her years as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, and who is an award winning comic actress from Second City; and Carson Kressley, who was the fashion expert on Queer Eye, the host of the TV show How To Look Good Naked, and now hosts Carson-Nation on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Previous winners include: Charlie Williams (Mr. Memphis 2010), Anthony Hollock (Mr. Hair 2009), Marty Thomas (Mr. Xanadu 2008), and Frankie James Grande (Mr. Mamma Mia 2007).
The Ali Forney Center (AFC) was started in June 2002 in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT youth in New York City. They have grown quickly to become the nation’s largest and most comprehensive organization dedicated to homeless LGBT youth. They are committed to providing LGBT youth with safe, dignified, nurturing environments where their needs can be met and where they can begin to put their lives back together. The center provides short and long term housing, plus free medical care, HIV testing, mental health services, showers, food, computer access and job training and placement at its drop-in centers in Chelsea and Brooklyn. The Ali Forney Center is at 224 West 35th St., Suite (212) 222-3427 www.aliforneycenter.org
