Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert, which was filmed in 2009 at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre, streamed July 10 at 8 PM ET to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. In three days, the stream has raised $252,575 for the organization. The concert is available to watch above through July 14 at 8 PM ET.
Interspersed throughout the stream is a conversation between the three-time Tony recipient and Michael Urie, celebrating Peters' award-winning career.
Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert, which was originally titled Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert for Broadway Barks Because Broadway Cares, was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander with music direction by Marvin Laird and Cubby O’Brien on drums. Sound design was by Tom Sorce with lighting design by Lenny Cowles. Richard Hester served as production stage manager, and the production managers were Michael Flowers, Nathan Hurlin, and Patty Saccente. For the streaming event, Hester serves as director.
The concert also features appearances by the late Emmy winner Mary Tyler Moore, who co-founded the annual pet adoption event Broadway Barks with Peters, and several furry friends who were then looking to find their forever homes. Viewers can expect songs from Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park With George, Follies, Sweeney Todd, South Pacific, and more.
“I wanted to do something for my fellow performers, and realized this concert would be the perfect opportunity,” Peters told Urie during the show. “It was such a joyful night and it’s great to have something like this out there in the world right now."
Tom Viola, executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, said earlier, “Bernadette has been an invaluable friend and champion of Broadway Cares for more than two decades. She has been at our side as a member of our Board of Trustees. She’s led, with a personal and cheerful insistence, the appeals and front-of-house fundraising at the Broadway shows in which she’s starred. And she’s been a fearless advocate for those who need a helping hand in troubled times. We’re honored she’d allow us to revisit this magnificent concert online.”
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Peters, who last graced the Broadway stage in the title role of the Tony-winning revival of Hello, Dolly!, won Tonys for her performances in Song and Dance and Annie Get Your Gun, and she was Tony-nominated for her roles in Gypsy, The Goodbye Girl, Sunday in the Park With George, Mack & Mabel, and On the Town. She is also the recipient of the 2012 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award.
Thus far in response to the pandemic, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has given $5 million to The Actors Fund, ensuring thousands who work in theatre and the performing arts receive help getting essential medications, housing, food, and utilities. Broadway Cares awarded another $2 million to vital organizations across the country facing unprecedented challenges from the pandemic. And, on behalf of Broadway and the entire theatre community, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, Broadway Cares provided $125,000 in now-annual grants to The Bail Project, the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Color of Change.
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 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.
