At Broadway Backwards 2019, iconic Bob Fosse choreography got the Backwards treatment when On the Town‘s Clyde Alves and Priscilla Queen of the Desert‘s Nathan Lee Graham led Sweet Charity‘s iconic “Big Spender.” The song’s quintessential dance hostesses were replaced with an alluring all-male ensemble, with Fosse’s choreography meticulously restaged by Mimi Quillin.
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“Big Spender” by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields from Sweet Charity
Choreography recreated by Mimi Quillin, based on the original choreography by Bob Fosse
Orchestrated by Nicholas Connors
Conducted by Ted Arthur
A bevy of Broadway’s brightest stars joined a sold-out audience on March 11, 2019, to celebrate and motivate the LGBTQ community and its allies through gender-reversed renditions of beloved show tunes, spectacular choreography and a record-breaking fundraising total at Broadway Backwards.
The 14th annual edition of the show raised $704,491 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City. The previous fundraising record was set last year at $680,273.
Broadway Backwards (#BroadwayBackwards), which was produced by Broadway Cares at the New Amsterdam Theatre, featured a cast of 130 performers and a live, 12-piece orchestra.
Broadway Backwards creator Robert Bartley wrote and directed this year’s show. Mary-Mitchell Campbell served as music supervisor; Ted Arthur and Christopher D. Littlefield were music directors. The evening's choreographers were Robert Bartley, Karla Puno Garcia, Paul McGill, Mimi Quillin, Stephen Reed and Robbie Roby. The creative team included lighting designer Timothy Reed, costume designers Johnna Fettinger, Jess Gersz and Natalie Loveland, prop designers Jenna Snyder and Alexander Wylie and sound designers Kurt Fischer and Marie Renee Foucher. The production stage manager was Jeff Brancato.
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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 HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other critical illnesses across the United States.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the major supporter of the social service programs at the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and The 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, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance.
For more information, please visit Broadway Cares online at broadwaycares.org, at facebook.com/BCEFA, at instagram.com/BCEFA, at tiktok.com/@bcefa and at youtube.com/BCEFA.
