CANCELED – SEE NOTICE HERE…
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
to Stream Disney on Broadway 25th Anniversary Concert as Benefit for
COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund
Frozen’s Ryan McCartan to host with special guest interviews
The sold-out, one-night-only benefit Celebrating 25 Magical Years of Disney on Broadway – which featured a starry cast of 79 performers – will be streamed at 7 pm Eastern on Monday, April 13, 2020, to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund.
Ryan McCartan (Frozen, TV’s Liv and Maddie) will host the stream live from his family’s basement and will interview special Disney on Broadway stars, from their homes, throughout the evening.
Watch the stream at broadwaycares.org, youtube.com/BCEFA or facebook.com/BCEFA. The stream will also be available through media partners Playbill.com, abc7ny.com and the sites of the ABC Owned Television Stations around the country.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund, which is being administered by The Actors Fund, is helping those onstage, backstage and behind the scenes impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. As theaters remain dark, entertainment professionals are facing unprecedented health and financial challenges requiring immediate attention and support. More than 20 Broadway producers have offered a $1 million challenge and are matching every new donation to the fund dollar-for-dollar. Donations can be made at broadwaycares.org/help2020.
Celebrating 25 Magical Years of Disney on Broadway, presented onstage November 4, 2019, featured a cast of 79 performers and a 15-piece orchestra. The sparkling silver anniversary event at the New Amsterdam Theatre, home to Disney’s smash hit Aladdin, raised $570,426 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
The streamed show will feature performances by Jelani Alladin (Hercules), Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid, School of Rock – The Musical), Christian Borle (Little Shop of Horrors, Mary Poppins), Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins), Kerry Butler (Beetlejuice, Beauty and the Beast), Lauryn Ciardullo (Aladdin), Gavin Creel (Hello, Dolly!, Waitress), Merle Dandridge (Tarzan, Aida),Lindiwe Dlamini (The Lion King), Bongi Duma (The Lion King), Susan Egan (Beauty and the Beast), Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hansen), Bradley Gibson (The Lion King), Whoopi Goldberg (TV’s The View), Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton, Aida), April Holloway (Aladdin), James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin, Hamilton), Adam Jacobs (Aladdin), Ramona Keller (Hercules), Nina LaFarga (Frozen), Tamika Lawrence (Hercules, Come From Away), Norm Lewis (Once on This Island, The Little Mermaid), Kara Lindsay (Newsies, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical), Tshidi Manye (The Lion King), Sbusiso Ngema (The Lion King), Ashley Park (Mean Girls, Grand Horizons), Adam Pascal (Rent), Krysta Rodriguez (Hercules), Michael James Scott (Aladdin), Sherie Rene Scott (The Little Mermaid), Kissy Simmons (The Lion King), Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Katie Terza (Aladdin), Marisha Wallace (Aladdin, Something Rotten!), Rema Webb (Hercules, The Lion King), Alton Fitzgerald White (The Lion King) and Syndee Winters (Hamilton, The Lion King).
The show also includes a much-anticipated, high-energy reunion of 18 Newsies from the show’s Broadway and national touring productions, and a moving performance from Broadway Inspirational Voices.
“The event last November was such an unforgettable evening of Disney on Broadway magic,” Broadway Cares Executive Director Tom Viola said. “We are so grateful to all our friends at Disney Theatrical Productions for generously joining us in sharing this evening again, supporting our entertainment industry friends and colleagues who are out of work and facing serious health and personal challenges due to this devastating coronavirus pandemic.”
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 theater 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.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the major supporter of the social service programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and the Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts. Broadway Cares also awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance.