SUNSET BOULEVARD Named Top Fundraiser for Broadway Cares

Donations to Broadway Cares' iconic Red Buckets raised a staggering and record-shattering $6,849,510 in the lobbies of 57 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring productions.
 
Landing at the top of the Spring Fundraising Competition leaderboard were Broadway’s Sunset Boulevard and Good Night, and Good Luck, each raising more than $300,000.
 
The $6.8 million total is the highest in the organization’s 37-year history, eclipsing the previous record of $6,594,778 set in 2019.

The donations fund Broadway Cares’ National Grants Program, which helps ensure nourishing meals, lifesaving medication, vital health care and boundless hope for people in need across all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, as well as providing a safety net of services for those in entertainment and the performing arts.
 
The top fundraisers in the Spring Fundraising Competition, which ran from March 14 through April 27, 2025, were:
 

Broadway Musical

Top Fundraiser – Sunset Blvd. ($329,923)
1st Runner-up – Maybe Happy Ending ($269,423)
2nd Runner-up – Hell’s Kitchen ($251,107)
3rd Runner-up – The Outsiders ($248,393)
 

Broadway Play

Top Fundraiser – Good Night, and Good Luck ($324,794)
1st Runner-up – Glengarry Glen Ross ($238,343)
2nd Runner-up – Oh, Mary! ($208,202)
 

Off-Broadway

Top Fundraiser – Little Shop of Horrors ($113,982)
1st Runner-up – Drag: the Musical ($101,239)
2nd Runner-up – Titanique ($33,810)
3rd Runner-up – The Play That Goes Wrong ($27,561)
 

National Tours

Top Fundraiser – Wicked - Munchkinland ($221,717)
1st Runner-up – A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical ( $212,659)
2nd Runner-up – Moulin Rouge! The Musical ($196,341)
3rd Runner-up – Hamilton - Philip ($170,201)
4th Runner-up – Life of Pi ($165,276)
 
The Broadway shows that participated in the fundraising competition were & Juliet; Aladdin; The Book of Mormon; BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical; Cabaret; Chicago; Death Becomes Her; Glengarry Glen Ross; Good Night, and Good Luck;The Great Gatsby; Gypsy; Hadestown; Hamilton; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; Hell’s Kitchen; John Proctor is the Villain; The Last Five Years; The Lion King; Maybe Happy Ending; MJ; Moulin Rouge! The Musical; Oh, Mary!; Operation Mincemeat; The Outsiders; The Picture of Dorian Gray; Redwood; Six; Smash; Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends; Sunset Blvd. and Wicked; and Off-Broadway’s Blue Man Group - Las Vegas, Drag: The Musical; Little Shop of Horrors, The Play That Goes Wrong and Titanique. Additionally, the national tours of & Juliet, Annie, Back to the Future, A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical, Beetlejuice, Clue, Hamilton – Angelica, Hamilton – Philip, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Kimberly Akimbo, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, The Lion King – Rafiki, Mamma Mia, MJ, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Parade, Shucked, Six – Boleyn, Some Like it Hot and Wicked – Munchkinland.
 
In exchange for a donation, audiences at many shows received autographed posters, Playbills and other unique memorabilia or one-of-a-kind experiences. The special offerings ranged from stage-worn glasses signed by Milo Manheim at Little Shop of Horrors to stage props signed by George Clooney at Good Night, and Good Luck; from auctions featuring Tom Francis’ bloody tank top at Sunset Blvd. to business cards autographed by the starry cast of Glengarry Glen Ross.
 
Since the spring fundraising efforts began in 1988, they have raised $107 million for Broadway Cares.
 
Donations raised through the in-theater fundraising will immediately be put into action. Broadway Cares is the single largest supporter of the safety net of programs at the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), helping everyone in entertainment and the performing arts. Broadway Cares’ National Grants Program supports more than 450 organizations nationwide providing nutritious meals, health care and hope for those in need. At times of crisis, Broadway Cares also awards one-time humanitarian grants to provide emergency aid across the US and around the world.