The 20th Annual Gypsy of the Year Raises Over $3 Million for BC/EFA

Sixty-three Broadway, off-Broadway and national tour companies raised $3,061,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity fights AIDS. The whopping grand total was announced at the 20th annual Gypsy of the Year Competition on December 9 at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

The top Broadway earner for the charity was Equus, which raised $203,747—helped in no small part by star Daniel Radcliffe auctioning off the jeans he wears in the show. The Chicago company of Jersey Boys was the all-around top fundraiser with a total of $220,000.

The Gypsy of the Year Competition is the culmination of a period of intensive fundraising where New York’s “gypsies,” chorus members from Broadway and off-Broadway shows, join in a competition/variety show as the fundraising by the community come to a close.

The Lion King won the award for onstage presentation at the variety show held at the New Amsterdam Theatre on December 8 and 9.

The event was hosted by Seth Rudetsky. He was joined by Tyne Daly and Jonathan Hadary, the hosts of the first Gypsy of the Year, which took place at the St. James Theatre on November 28, 1989. Rudetsky, Daly, and Hadary were joined by Christine Baranski Boeing-Boeing, Harvey Fierstein Hairspray, and John Lithgow All My Sons and for the presentation of the awards.

This year’s celebrity judges included Elizabeth Ashley Dividing the Estate, Paige Davis Boeing-Boeing and her husband Patrick Page A Man For All Seasons, Howard McGillin The Phantom of the Opera, Kate Mulgrew Equus, Peter Sarsgaard The Seagull, and BC/EFA major donors Dr. Harold Brody, Marion Duckworth Smith and Kendall D. Ward.

Since 1989, the 20 editions of the Gypsy of the Year have raised a combined total of $35,730,000 to benefit BC/EFA.