19th Annual Easter Bonnet Raises $2,849,066.70 for BC/EFA

After six weeks of fundraising, the theater community raised $2,849,066.70 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The amount was announced at the 19th Annual Easter Bonnet Competition on April 19. Broadway, off-Broadway and touring shows collected the money for the charity.

This year, Fiddler on the Roof's Harvey Fierstein who also performed the same task last year, The Pillowman's Jeff Goldblum and The Glass Menaderie's Jessica Lange were on hand to present the awards for top fundraising companies and the outstanding bonnet presentation.

The long-running musical The Phantom of the Opera was the highest earner for the charity with $209,615.02. The runners-up for fundraising were in order: Wicked, which raised $155,985.80, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with $147,468.51, The Lion King at $144,828.77 and La Cage Aux Folles with $125,596.38. The top fundraising Broadway play was Twelve Angry Men with $88,803.47, the top fundraising off-Broadway company was Altar Boyz at $22,888.51 and the top touring company was Mamma Mia! Tour II, which raised $154,440.72.

There's more to the Easter Bonnet Competition than money, however. The event is a chance for Broadway's ensemble members to strut their stuff as well as designers, who work long and hard on the elaborate bonnets. The top prize for bonnet presentation went to the company of Movin' Out. The runner-up in that category was Twelve Angry Men. For bonnet design only, the highest honor went to The Lion King bonnet design by Camille Brown, Ilya Vett and Walter Weiner.