We Got Bruce
Bruce Vilanch To Receive REAF’s Lifetime Achievement Award 7/14/2024
By Mister D
July 10, 2024

The Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation presents Help is on the Way: 30th Anniversary Concert & Gala on Sunday, July 14, 2024, at the Marines’ Memorial Theater (concert) and Beacon Grand Hotel (VIP after party with the cast). This show will feature cast members for the Broadway touring cast of Mrs. Doubtfire, with the lead actor, Rob McClure, hosting the evening as Mrs. Doubtfire.

This year’s event, honoring Bruce Vilanch (Lifetime Achievement Award) and Delta Dental of California (Corporate Partner Award), whose support has never required pulling teeth, will be preceded by a silent auction in the theater lobby and a VIP After-Party at the nearby Beacon Grand Hotel.

In 1994, the groundbreaking decision was made to cast openly gay, HIV-positive Cuban-American Pedro Zamora as part of MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco. Zamora’s time in the Real World house on Lombard Street brought a face to the AIDS crisis. The darkly handsome, funny, surprising, and in-your-face activist died at 22 just after the final episode aired.

That same year, Peggy Ermet lost her son to AIDS and joined lifelong friend Barbara Richmond, whose son John died in 1990, to launch a special kind of musical AIDS benefit to honor their sons — it would become Help Is on the Way: San Francisco Cares. Later in 1999, REAF began the “One Night Only” cabaret performances utilizing touring casts of Broadway shows appearing in San Francisco. These fantastic nights give the entertainers a break from the scores they perform every night by offering their chosen music.

Help Is On The Way: 30th ANNIVERSARY: BROADWAY & BEYOND
6:30 pm: Limited silent auction in the theater lobby
7:30 pm: Performance
9:45 pm: VIP After party with the cast at the new
BEACON GRAND HOTEL, 450 Powell St. at Sutter (formerly The Drake)
for tickets or additional info: REAF-SF
$39 – Reserved, Performance only/ Balcony tickets
$59 – Reserved, Performance only/ Dress Circle tickets
$150 – Reserved, Performance & VIP After Party/ Orchestra tickets
$500 & up: – VIP & Gala Individual Sponsor Tickets 

JASON BROCK Top 10 from X-Factor/cabaret star
DEBBY BOONE Grammy Award-winning recording star
DAVID BURNHAM Broadway Star (Light in the Piazza, Wicked)
FAITH PRINCE Tony Award-winning (Guys & Dolls) Broadway Star
LISA VROMAN Broadway Star (Phantom of the Opera, Les Miz)
JENNIFER LEIGH WARREN Broadway Star (Big River)
PAULA WEST Jazz / Cabaret Star
BRUCE VILANCH Broadway (Hairspray) / TV Star Comedian
CAST MEMBERS from the BROADWAY TOURING CAST of MRS. DOUBTFIRE
Featuring Rob McClure hosting as Mrs. Doubtfire

Musical Director MICHAEL ORLAND
Producers: KEN HENDERSON & JOE SEILER
Honorees: BRUCE VILANCH, Performer Lifetime Achievement Award)
DELTA DENTAL OF CALIFORNIA, Corporate Partner Award

The post Bruce Vilanch To Receive REAF’s Lifetime Achievement Award 7/14/2024 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Broadway World
THE LAVENDER EFFECT(R) Presents Live Virtual Pride Parade, May 30
BWW Desk
May 29, 2021

Come celebrate this year’s PRIDE live with THE LAVENDER EFFECT Star-studded Live Virtual Pride Parade which will be broadcast on Sunday, May 30, 2021 at 12 noon PST/3p EST via YouTube.com/c/TheLavenderEffect.

This year’s Virtual PRIDE Parade’s Host will be Alec Mapa. Mapa’s TV and film credits include Ugly Betty, Switched at Birth, Doom Patrol, You Don’t Mess with The Zohan and Connie and Carla. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband Jamison and Son Zion.

The Virtual Pride Parade will launch Pride Month and benefit THE LAVENDER EFFECT’s mission to Advance the Future of LGBTQ+ Heritage & Culture. While many local Pride celebrations again are being canceled or modified this year due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, many members of the community will not be able to gather in person, so this live virtual event will safely bring the LGBTQ+ community together from across the nation to celebrate Pride.

This year marks the 51st Anniversary of the first PRIDE marches across the nation in June 1970, commemorating the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, and protesting for LGBTQ+ equality.

THE LAVENDER EFFECT has another stellar roster of some of the most well-known LGBTQ+ celebrities and allies, non-profits, and activists from around the globe, to help to bring the community together including:

• Lily Tomlin (Tony, Emmy and Grammy Winner; Grace & Frankie; 9 to 5)
• Betty Buckley (Tony Award winner for Cats, Eight is Enough)
• Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision; Bad Moms)
• Sally Kirkland (Golden Globe Winner for Anna)
• Alexandra Billings (Transparent)
• Bruce Vilanch (Emmy Winner; comedian writer/actor)
• Michael Musto (journalist)
• Jason Stuart (Smothered; comedian)
• Drew Droege (Heathers)
• Kay Sedia (AJ and the Queen; Chico’s Angels)
• Mel England (Best Day Ever)
• Charles Busch (Drama Desk Award-winning Playwright & Actor)
• City of West Hollywood
• Colors Youth Counseling
• Congregation Kol Ami
• Freedom to Marry
• Gay Elder Circle
• IMRU Radio
• LA LGBT Center
• PFLAG LA
• PFLAG National
• Project Angel Food
• Project 10 & Friends of Project 10

Last year, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, THE LAVENDER EFFECT hosted the first “Virtual Pride Parade” to celebrate Pride and bring the LGBTQ+ community together. The live fundraising event featured celebrities, national LGBTQ+ organizations and politicians and over 10,000 viewed from around the country.

“As the LGBTQ+ community comes together for PRIDE again this year, we continue to find ourselves in a new normal. Once again, PRIDE will be celebrated safely throughout the country this year. We wanted to continue our outreach to everyone with our 2nd Virtual PRIDE Parade online this year.” said Andy Sacher, Founder & Executive Director of THE LAVENDER EFFECT. He continued “We celebrate our LGBTQ+ PRIDE with our diverse sisters & brothers in a way that everyone can join, no matter where they are or how they express their PRIDE!”

THE LAVENDER EFFECT is a nonprofit project of Community Partners that is advancing the future of LGBTQ Heritage & Culture. The organization helps to reduce shame, combat homophobia, and empower LGBTQ+ youth through programs like the Virtual Pride Parade, Oral History Projects, and educational programs. For more information, please visit http://www.TheLavenderEffect.org.

The post Bruce Vilanch, Lily Tomlin, Betty Buckley Judith Light, And More Celebrate Virtual Pride Sunday, May 30, 2021 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

As I sat in Michael Childers’ gorgeous Rancho Mirage home—his award-winning photographs adorning the walls—he told me the story of how the hugely successful One Night Only show came to be.

The star-studded annual event, a benefit for Jewish Family Service of the Desert, will return to the McCallum Theatre Wednesday, April 25.

It all started nearly 13 years ago, Childers said, when he approached his dear friend Barbara Keller about putting on a variety show; it was an idea he’d had great success with in Santa Fe, N.M. The concept was simple: Assemble a cast of veteran cabaret performers and a great orchestra; choose crowd-pleasing musical numbers; and raise an impressive amount of money for a local charity. Keller spoke to her board of directors at Jewish Family Service—which provides psychological counseling, food, housing and other services to valley residents, regardless of religious affiliation.

A new Coachella Valley tradition was born: One Night Only premiered in the desert, with Childers’ buddy Lily Tomlin as the mistress of ceremonies. It was a smash, and now the event sells out every year.

It’s a large undertaking that takes a full nine months of planning. When deciding on the theme, Childers thinks about what he and audiences would like. Last year, it was the music of Jerry Herman; this year, it’s the classic music of Rodgers, Hammerstein and Hart. Jason Graae is back for his second year as director, with musical direction by Christopher Marlowe.

Childers and the director sit down with their rolodexes and choose the cast. Because of the show’s stellar reputation, many veteran cabaret performers clamor to be part of it—even though the performers are donating their time. However, being in the show has its perks: Childers says the stars are treated well, with glamorous parties and such—plus a few days in Palm Springs is very appealing if you’ve been dealing with months of chilly weather in New York.

Weary of the traffic and backstabbing in Los Angeles, Childers moved here in 1999 with his partner, Oscar-winning film director John Schlesinger (who later died of a stroke). Calling the valley “a wonderful, very philanthropic community,” Childers quickly became involved in the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and joined the board of the Palm Springs Art Museum.

A world-famous photographer, Childers currently has an Andy Warhol-themed show on display at the Palm Springs Art Museum. His work is also being featured in San Diego and will be on display at Yale University in the summer of 2019. A frequent lecturer on the subject, Childers said a great photographer is consistent and produces a lifetime of work, including iconic photographs.

When asked what makes a great live stage show, Childers’ answer was simple: Fit the show to your target audience, and keep it moving—don’t let it go on too long. This year’s One Night Only is slated to be a compact 90 minutes, with no intermission.

So what’s left on Childers’ bucket list? He’s working on an autobiography, called And I Have the Pictures to Prove It. Music education is one of Childers’ passions—and he’s very proud of One Night Only, calling it an iconic production in the desert.

One Night Only, a show benefiting Jewish Family Services, takes place at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 25, at the McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, in Palm Desert. Tickets are $75 to $175, with a limited number of VIP tickets, including an after-party, available for $495. For tickets or more information, call 760-340-2787, or visit www.mccallumtheatre.com.

The post The Evening the Stars Come Out: Michael Childers’ ‘One Night Only’ Charity Extravaganza Returns to the McCallum Theatre April 25 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

The post Boulder JFS Presents Reel Hope Boulder: Behind the Screen with Bruce Vilanch first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

LOS ANGELES — The fundraiser for SAGE USA March 4 in the Hollywood Hills felt like a reunion, a coming together of a generation of LGBT people with shared memories and a desire to confront aging, an issue, SAGE Board Development chair Bill Weinberger said, he heretofore had avoided thinking about. Honorees Jewel Thais-Williams and Bruce Vilanch, however, exemplify how LGBT people can age as respected elders with grace, continued activism, and humor.

Weinberger introduced Phill Wilson, founder of the Black AIDS Institute, whom he has known since the early 1980s. Shortly after, Wilson discovered he was HIV positive. He noted that while “many of us were dealing with whether we would survive or not, SAGE has always believed we would.” Wilson shared how Thais-Williams bravely opened Jewel’s Catch One Disco as a refuge for LGBT people desperate for a place where they could be themselves.

“Jewel has been a leader, a hero, and a visionary and an advocate for a long, long time,” Wilson said. “Jewel was one of those ‘bridge’ people,” linking the LGBT African-American community to organizations such as AIDS Project Los Angeles and her alma mater, UCLA. You always speak up, whether you’re afraid or not.”

Thais-Williams joked that she was honored to be honored, having spent the last 42 years at Catch One “partying,” adding that she will turn 78 in a couple of months. “To be of service to my community has been a great joy,” she said. “But there is still a lot of work to do. Remember to always reach out to those in need.”

“There has never been a more important time to come together,” SAGE CEO Michael Adams told the diverse crowd of SAGE board members, staffers and supporters at the elegant home of James Frost and William Yi. “We are living in very challenging times,” a notion received with a knowing chuckle for its understatement.

A civilization is historically measured by how it cares and supports its children and most vulnerable and how it supports its elders, Adams said, not just the “right kind of elders….We owe it to our elders, the pioneers who paved the way for the equality we celebrate today….We need the wisdom of our pioneers, our elders.”

Demographic estimates predict that there will be 6 million LGBT people age 65 years or over in America by 2030. That sets the stage for a potentially disastrous future since, as SAGE notes, LGBT seniors are “twice as likely to be single, twice as likely to live alone, and four times more likely to be without children than their heterosexual peers.”  And, Adam said, facilities that take care of the aging population are “woefully unprepared” to take care of LGBT seniors who fear having to go back in the closet in order to get care and treatment without discrimination.

In introducing comedic writer/actor Bruce Vilanch, SAGE Board co-chair Elizabeth Schwartz—whose co-chair is former LA-based board activist Kevin Williams—said Vilanch’s appearances on “Hollywood Squares” were “instrumental in shaping gay images.” Watching him, “we didn’t have to speculate obsessively” about whether he was gay “as I did over Kristy McNichol.”  She was also grateful that he was also out about being chubby. Vilanch, she said, has a “tireless dedication to the LGBT community.”

In accepting the handsomely shaped glass award, the legendary Oscar writer said that when he was told he was being honored by SAGE, his first thought was: “You have the wrong envelope,” referring to the Best Picture mishap at the Academy Awards.

However, a recent interview with a young journalist underscored that he is now arcing “into my dotage.” The young gay man had no idea who Ted Mack was, though “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour,” the variety-show precursor to shows like “American Idol,” launched the careers of such future celebrities as Pat Boone and Ann-Margret.  The young man sat stone faced at the mention of her name.

“When queens don’t know who Ann-Margret is, we’re in trouble,” Vilanch said to an uproar of laughter.

“Senior gays are not venerated,” he said. “But we are valued because we can pick up the check or write it.”

As to his decision to be openly gay at a time when being out was a brave decision, Vilanch noted that he worked in the more accepting entertainment industry. But early on, he worked as a journalist writing features for the Chicago Tribune and tried to get gay stories into the paper. Vilanch cited a quote that stuck with him: “A faggot is a homosexual gentleman who just left the room.” He determined to be “the faggot who stayed in the room.”

LGBT progress is result of taking action. “We did the bravest thing—we came out and that changed everything,” Vilanch said. But the LGBT community cannot rely on help from outside. “We have to do it for ourselves….[and] we’re not done yet.”

SAGE CEO Michael Adams also announced the launch of a new initiative in conjunction with AARP—SAGETable— to build “intergenerational connections in the LGBT community” by “breaking bread with your LGBT family on May 18. Visit sagetable.org.

The post SAGE honors Vilanch, Jewel Thais-Williams in L.A. first appeared on We Got Bruce!.