Allow Me To Be The Judge Of That

I had the great pleasure and privilege of spending the afternoon in the glorious New Amsterdam Theater on 42nd, home to MARY POPPINS, where I was one of the judges of the 23rd Annual Gypsy of the Year competition along with Kim Cattrall, Jeff Calhoun, Stephanie J. Block and MORMON's Tony Award winner Nikki M. James.

This event is the culmination of the audience collections that have been taking place for the past 6 weeks in theatres all over the country for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and this year more than $4 million was raised. Of course, Hugh Jackman single handedly raised more than $800,000 by auctioning off his sweaty undershirts during his curtain call and HOW TO SUCCEED and MORMON both raised more than $300,000 each.
The show itself got off to a thrilling start by reuniting the original cast of GREASE after 40 years for a medley of the show's hits.

Barry Bostwick, Adrienne Barbeau, Carole Demas, Walter Bobbie & THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER'S Alan Paul knocked it out of the proverbial park and brought the house to its feet cheering.

The cast of CHICAGO took us back to 1975 when the original production opened during the same season as A CHORUS LINE. The dancers of the current cast combined the choreography of both shows before 33 alumni of the long running revival filled the stage in a glorious tribute to Fosse.

The cast of MAMMA MIA tried out new advertising slogans including "Gayer Than PRISCILLA" and "Where Careers Go To Die"

The cast of FOLLIES mourned the closing of FOLLIES to make way for the incoming revival of EVITA and Elaine Paige finally got to sing some of the ALWebber score on a Broadway stage...with comedy lyrics.

While NAKED BOYS SINGING imagined themselves still running in 30 years by parodying tunes from FOLLIES.

The showstopper of the day was the children from POPPINS envisioning school productions of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, STREETCAR and VIRGINIA WOOLF. Truly brilliant.

The cast of ANYTHING GOES recreated the now legendary YouTube video of Leslie Uggams forgetting the lyrics to "June Is Busting Out All Over" with a stunning surprise appearance at the end by Ms. Uggams herself.

The moving finale brought together the cast of BILLY ELLIOT for their final Gypsy of the Year appearance after a three year run. They sang "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" while the current Billy danced a ballet solo, then all the Broadway Billys appeared onstage together for the first time. A couple are now six foot tall with baritone voices.

The final results were announced by Hugh Jackman, Bernadette Peters and Daniel Radcliffe. The judges (in our infinite wisdom) gave the performance prizes to BILLY ELLIOT followed by MARY POPPINS. Such a jolly day!