Official: BC/EFA to Host 30th Annual Easter Bonnet Competition at Minskoff Theatre in April

The annual Easter Bonnet Competition, produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, will celebrate its festive 30th edition at 4:30 PM on Monday, April 25, 2016, and at 2 PM on Tuesday, April 26, 2016, at the Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th Street, NYC), home to Disney's long-running hit musical The Lion King.

The Easter Bonnet Competition (#broadwaybonnets) is the annual theatre community celebration that ends six weeks of intensive fundraising efforts by dozens of Broadway, Off?Broadway and national touring productions.

In addition to magnificent singing, dancing and comedic skits, participating shows present strikingly creative and elaborate Easter bonnets created especially for the event. The companies that raise the most for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS are recognized with special Easter Bonnet Competition honors. Awards also are presented for best bonnet design and best presentation during the performances.

More details including hosts, celebrity judges and special guests for this year's Easter Bonnet Competition will be announced in the spring.

This season's fundraising begins today, Friday, March 11, 2016, at select shows and continues through Sunday, April 24. Casts, crews and other volunteers at Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring productions across the country will greet audience members at theatre exits, holding Broadway Cares' iconic red buckets and accepting donations. Many shows also will offer autographed memorabilia and exclusive behind-the-scenes experiences in exchange for a donation. Ten Broadway shows begin their appeals from the stage tonight: Aladdin, The Book of Mormon, Chicago, The Color Purple, Fiddler on the Roof, Fun Home, The Humans, The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera and School of Rock - The Musical, as well as Off-Broadway's Trip of Love. More shows, including Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Finding Neverland, Hamilton, Jersey Boys, Kinky Boots, LES MISERABLES, Matilda The Musical and Something Rotten!, will be added next week and even more throughout the six-week effort. Last year, 52 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring productions took part in the fundraising.

Tickets for Easter Bonnet Competition are available now at broadwaycares.org. Tickets are $375 for VIP orchestra; $250 priority center orchestra; $130 side orchestra and front mezzanine; $50 rear side orchestra and middle mezzanine; and $30 rear mezzanine.

Last year's Easter Bonnet Competition raised a phenomenal $4,711,386. Since 1987, the 29 editions of this highly anticipated annual event have brought in more than $63.3 million.

Easter Bonnet Competition is generously sponsored by The New York Times and United Airlines.

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 theatre community, since 1988 BC/EFA has raised more than $285 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.

Broadway Cares 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 Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, and awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states.

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