Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has a new year-end event, and it belongs to the performers who usually go on only when someone else is out. Broadway: Standing By, a showcase for understudies, swings and standbys, will be staged at the New Amsterdam Theatre on December 7 and 8. Its host is Hannah Solow, an understudy in Oh, Mary! on Broadway.
The new event takes over from the Red Bucket Follies as the finale of the charity’s fall fundraising competition, the weeks of post-show appeals in which Broadway companies collect from their audiences. For years the Follies closed that drive; this year the closing event goes to the company members whose job is to be ready for any track at short notice.
There are two performances: Monday, December 7, at 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday, December 8, at 2 p.m. The lineup has not been announced yet. Broadway Cares produces the event, and it is the beneficiary. The program promises vocals, choreography and personal stories from the performers taking part.
“Understudies, swings and standbys are the backbone of our theater community,” said Danny Whitman, executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. “Broadway: Standing By is a chance to celebrate those performers and the hundreds more they represent on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on tour and in theaters across the country. They’re always ready for their moment. Now, that moment belongs to them.”
The money raised goes into the organization’s grants, which reach more than 450 groups across the country for meals, medication, health care, housing and counseling. Since 1988 Broadway Cares has awarded more than $320 million to services for people living with HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses. The New York Times and United Airlines are the event’s sponsors.
Tickets are on sale now from Broadway Cares.
