This year’s Broadway Backwards just got even more star-studded! The Great Comet star Josh Groban, Tony winner Cynthia Erivo, Tony winner Cady Huffman, Broadway.com Audience Choice Award winner Santino Fontana and more have joined the previously announced lineup. The annual benefit showcases Broadway favorites offering gender-bending takes on their favorite tunes. Tony winner Julie White returns to host the event, which is directed by Robert Bartley and set for March 13 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

Six-time Emmy winner Bruce Vilanch, Tony nominee Carolee Carmello, Cagney‘s Robert Creighton, School of Rock‘s Eric Petersen, Megan Sikora, Elizabeth Stanley, Dominic Nolfi, Michael Longoria and Daniel Reichard will also take the stage.

As reported, the roster already includes Sierra Boggess, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Javier Muñoz, Alex Brightman, Rachel Bay Jones, Andrew Rannells, Tituss Burgess, Kathleen Turner, Bobby Conte Thornton, Ariana DeBose, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Lora Lee Gayer, Len Cariou, John Glover, Levi Kreis, Bobby Steggert and Rachel York. Performers are subject to change.

Produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the event will benefit BC/EFA and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.

The post Bruce Vilanch, Josh Groban, Cynthia Erivo & More Join Broadway Backwards March 13, 2017 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Perhaps the best commentary on the Hollywood whirl that is part of humorist Bruce Vilanch‘s life is this: The day after he appears at a suburban comedy club, he’ll fly back to Tinselville to learn whether he won an Emmy. What for?

Writing for another awards show, the Oscars.

“Some day, they’ll have an awards show just for awards shows,” said the 43-year-old former Chicagoan.

And while that may seem odd to outsiders, it is more for Vilanch’s comedy dicer. The sit-down comic, who will appear with a pianist, does a monologue that he describes as “like Spalding Gray, only funny.”

His act will have a mix of tributes to Hollywood legends such as Sophie Tucker, stories about his newspapering days on the defunct Chicago Today, and some parody songs.

“It’s bathed in nostalgia,” Vilanch said.

The self-described “nice Jewish boy from New Jersey” had ties with the stylish stars of yesterday. Such a bond caused him to link up with the then-little-known torch singer Bette Midler. Eventually, after touring with her troupe and writing for television variety shows, he was given a chance to write for a Manhattan Transfer TV series.

“It was a little daunting to move here,” he said from his Los Angeles home.

But things fell his way. Eventually, he wrote for everyone from Billy Crystal to Shirley MacLaine, and took turns as an actor and songwriter. His writing already has earned him six Emmy Awards.

Not all of his assignments make him glow. There is the burden of scripting the so-called American Comedy Awards.

“They’re the one awards show which has the mandate to be funny,” while, at the same time, having no real legitimacy. Therefore, many fringe comics are featured because bigger names have no interest.

When not writing or doing his vaudevillesque turns in Los Angeles and New York, Vilanch performs benefits – so many, in fact, that he calls himself “Benefits R Us.”

Vilanch will appear at 8:30 and 10:30 tonight and 7, 9 and 11:15 p.m. tomorrow at Zanies Mount Prospect, 2200 S. Elmhurst Rd. (708-228-6166). Cover is $12 plus a $5 food or beverage minimum.

TUCK’S YUCKS: Gilbert Gottfried, the squinting, screaming funnyman, will make a rare visit (after several cancellations) to headline at K.J. Riddle’s Comedy Stop, 15750 S. Harlem, Orland Park. Shows are 8 and 10:30 tonight and tomorrow night. Cover is $15 plus two drinks (708-614-6336).

And returning once again to his hometown is Anthony Griffin. He will perform at 7, 9 and 11:15 tonight and tomorrow night and 8:30 p.m. Sunday at Zanies downtown, 1548 N. Wells (312-337-4027). Cover is $12 plus two drinks.

The post Bruceback August 23, 1991| Vilanch bathes his humor in nostalgia first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

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Comedian Bruce Vilanch Gets Teary Reminiscing About Elizabeth Taylor’s House Parties at Broadway Backwards 7

March 6, 2012

Bruce Vilanch, who was supposed to duet with Michael Urie but ended up coming onstage stag when Urie had to bow out for a pilot. “It’s for the Will & Grace producers—he has the Grace part!” he joked. Instead Vilanch presented a generous endowment of $50K to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS from sponsor Lifetime (officially no longer just “Television for Women”, but for us gays too!), who supported the evening for the second year in a row. Vilanch got shaky-voiced and teary-eyed over the loss of that biggest and brightest AIDS fundraiser, Elizabeth Taylor.

Later we wondered why he had gotten so choked up? “We were friendly…she got involved [in AIDS fundraising] in the very beginning and I began writing all the benefits. We did a lot of shows together and we gave a lot of people awards…She was great fun. The thing that nobody knows about her was…she was all about family. She had five kids and 112 grandchildren and every weekend she would throw the house open. It was full of friends and family.”

The post Bruce Vilanch Tears Up Talking About Elizabeth Taylor At Broadway Backwards first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Preliminary casting has been announced for Broadway Backwards 7, which as previously reported, will be held at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Monday, March 5 at 8pm.

The show features performers singing material usually performed by members of the opposite gender. It is produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and benefits Broadway Cares and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.

The cast will include Bryan Batt, Sierra Boggess, Mario Cantone, Robin De Jesús, Shawna Hamic, Telly Leung, Adam Pascal, Andrew Rannells, Chita Rivera, and Bruce Vilanch, with more to be announced.

Robert Bartley will again direct and choreograph the event, which will feature musical direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell. The creative team will also include lighting designer Ryan O’Gara, costume designer Philip Heckman and co-choreographers Stephanie Klemmons and Patrick O’Neill.

Click here for more information and Broadway Backwards 7 tickets.

The post Bruce Vilanch, Others To Perform In Broadway Backwards 7 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

STAGE TUBE: 2010 BROADWAY BARES Highlights!
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by BroadwayWorld TV

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Sunday’s BROADWAY BARES XX: “STRIP-OPOLY” made history by raising $1,015,985 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. This marks the first time in BROADWAY BARES history that the $1 million dollar mark was reached, a goal that had been set this January by BARES creator and executive producer, Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell. On Monday, BroadwayWorld brought you complete photo coverage of the event. Today, we bring you video highlghts of the 2010 BROADWAY BARES installment below!

This year’s total shatters the previous fundraising record which was set in 2008 when $874,000 was raised. The first BROADWAY BARES, in 1992, featured seven dancers stripping on a bar and raised more than $8,000. To date, the 20 editions of BROADWAY BARES have raised more than $7.5 million for BC/EFA.

BROADWAY BARES XX: “STRIP-OPOLY” was produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS lead by producing director Michael Graziano, executive produced by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell (Love Never Dies, Catch Me If You Can, Legally Blonde), and was directed by Josh Rhodes (The Drowsy Chaperone, Fosse) and associate director Lee Wilkins (Spamalot, Wonderful Town).

The evening featured the work of 15 choreographers and 216 of the sexiest male and female dancers from Broadway‘s biggest shows baring nearly all to benefit BC/EFA. A $150,000 check from M·A·C Viva Glam was presented to BC/EFA by M·A·C’s Senior Vice President Jennifer Balbier who also saluted the extraordinary skills of 93 M·A·C make-up artists who worked on the show.

This year’s BARES featured stars spanning BARES’ 19 previous editions and some new faces to the Roseland stage. Notable names who appeared included: Nick Adams (La Cage Aux Folles), Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]), Kevin Burrows (Spamalot on tour), Charles Busch (The Divine Sister), Kevin Chamberlin (The Addams Family), Tony and Emmy Award winner Kristin Chenoweth (Promises, Promises), Jennifer Cody (Shrek The Musical), Tony Award winner Alan Cumming (“The Good Wife”), Diana DeGarmo (Hair), Lea DeLaria (The Rock Horror Show), Felicia Finley (The Wedding Singer), Tony Award winner Katie Finneran (Promises, Promises), Barrett Foa (Avenue Q), Julie Halston (The Divine Sister), Jackie Hoffman (The Addams Family), Cheyenne Jackson (Finian’s Rainbow), Denis Jones (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Sebastian LaCause (The Rocky Horror Show), reality television star Reichen Lehmkuhl (“The Amazing Race”), Lucy Liu (God of Carnage), Julia Murney (Wicked), Christopher Sieber (Shrek The Musical), Rachelle Rak (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Andrew Rannells (Jersey Boys), Bruce Vilanch (Hairspray), Tony Award winner Lillias White (Fela) and Vanessa Williams (Sondheim on Sondheim).

BROADWAY BARES is the hotly anticipated annual event combining the naughtiness of burlesque and the razzle-dazzle of Broadway and has been a smashing success since its inception in 1992. The event features the hottest male and female dancers on Broadway and has become one of Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS’ signature events. The 2010 edition, BROADWAY BARES XX: “STRIP-OPOLY” was held at Roseland Ballroom (239 West 52nd Street) with two performances on Sunday, June 20. For more information and merchandise, visit www.BroadwayBares.com.

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 $175 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.

BC/EFA is the major supporter of seven programs at The Actors’ Fund – including The AIDS Initiative, The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, The Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, The Dancers’ Resource and three supportive housing residences. BC/EFA also awards annual grants to over 400 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide.

For more information, please visit the BC/EFA website at www.broadwaycares.org.

The post Broadway Bares XI Highlights first appeared on We Got Bruce!.