Broadway's sexiest night of the year, Broadway Bares, will be presented June 21 at 9:30 PM and midnight at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom.
The evening, launching NYC Pride Week, will feature 200 dancers who will ignite the stage in a seductive celebration featuring numerous show-stopping numbers. The fundraiser is produced by and benefits Broadway Cares.
Kellen Stancil will again direct the one-night-only event with veteran Bares performer Paula DeLuise as associate director and Savannah Joy Cobb as assistant director. Tony winner Jerry Mitchell and Nick Kenkel, a longtime Bares director and performer, are executive producers. This year's theme will be announced at a later date.
“I’m beyond thrilled to return to the director’s chair for Broadway Bares, a show that lives at the intersection of legacy, liberation, and flat-out jaw-dropping dance,” said Stancil, the resident dance supervisor for the national tour of The Lion King, in a statement. “I’ve grown up with Broadway Bares—from dancer to choreographer to director—and nothing compares to that moment when the lights hit, the crowd roars, and you feel hundreds of artists moving as one, and a community supporting each other. It’s a bold, beautiful celebration of all bodies, and it’s about to leave you breathless.”
“Broadway Bares is fearless fun with a powerful purpose,” added Danny Whitman, executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. “Behind every strut, spin, and sparkle is something deeply real. It’s meals on tables, medication in hand, health care, stability, and hope. That one electric night fuels lifesaving care for people in our community and across the country, reminding us that joy can be a force for lasting change.”
Broadway Bares was created in 1992 by Mitchell during his time as a Broadway dancer. Looking for a way to raise awareness and money for those living with HIV/AIDS, Mitchell and six of his friends danced atop a New York City bar and raised $8,000 in Broadway Bares’ first iteration. Last year’s standing-room-only edition, Broadway Bares: Come Out, Come Out, raised $2.44 million. The evening brought the event’s lifetime total to $31.1 million raised for Broadway Cares.
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, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has awarded more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States since 1998.
Tickets for Broadway Bares start at $75. VIP tickets feature unlimited specialty cocktails and reserved seating, now with more table seats available. The "Stripper Spectacular" package includes a premium reserved table seat at either show, a backstage tour, and an invitation to a private cocktail party hosted by Mitchell. The ''Barest Insider Experience'' includes a premium reserved table seat to either performance, a backstage tour and access to the final “un-dress” rehearsal the evening of the show.
Tickets are now available at BroadwayCares.org/bares.
