Defying Inequality...

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 2/23/09 at 11:34pm

Was anyone there? How was it?

[liotte]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 12:24am

Great show, 4 hours was too long. Ended at midnight.

Very moving and heartfelt speeches, songs, and dances, as well as lots of comedy and shtick.

Great cause and I'm glad I was able to support it.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 12:26am

How was it set up exactly? Were there playbills?

[liotte]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:04am

They had a podium where people gave speeches, and then the various acts performed on the stage. There were screens that showed the names of those performing/presenting. There was a program given out.

Though there were so many great acts, some of my favorites (and I know I am forgetting many) included the grown ups from Sesame Street singing "Sing a Song", Purple Haze (Color Purple tour) dancing to Beyonce's "Put a Ring on It", Don't Quit Your Night Job's musical madlibs for Bebe Neuwirth singing All that Jazz (with audience suggestions), Seth Rudetsky's Brady Bunch Variety Show shtick, Shoshana Bean and the Gay Men's Chorus singing (totally blanking on the song name), Part of Your World (with fun remix orchestrations) by the male ensemble from Little Mermaid, Jonathon Groff and John Gallagher from Spring Awakening doing a Totally F*cked remake about the guys loving each other, Kelli Ohara singing a song with James Sampliner, Mark Indelicato (Ugly Betty) singing with the Mamma Mia cast, Gavin Creel and Hair cast singing "Let the Sunshine In", Gypsy cast playing on Patti's now famous rant, Billy Elliot cast singing their closing song, Billy Porter and the Bway Boys, lots of songs by Wicked cast, and many more.

Great speeches by Harvey Fierstein (letter to Obama), Jane Fonda, Tony Galde (from Wicked), Malcolm Gets, personal song by Steph Block, stand up comedy byb Mike Birbiglia, videos and message from Elton John amongst several others.

Edited to add: Great opening number, with David Hyde Pierce, Nathan Lane, Allison Janney, Daniel Breaker, Marc Shaiman, and more.
Updated On: 2/24/09 at 01:04 AM

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:08am

did you see any cameras?

[liotte]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:11am

Tons of people taking videos and pictures in the audience, lots of press outside the theater (constant flashes going off and could see interviews being conducted outside the doors.)

[Pianolin717]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:12am

but was there anything professional? apparently, according to EugLoven, it was going to be recorded

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:29am

I sat in the rear lefthand orchestra, and there were DEFINITELY professional cameramen recording the entire evening.

[dave1606]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:29am

I saw someone filming in the orchestra before the show started, but i was in the mezz...from where i was i didn't see them professionally filming during the show.

Stephanie J Block is always a highlight for me no matter what shes in. Love her!

Totally ****ed was great, as was Stephen Schartz...to see a composer perform their work, in the theater of their show was pretty amazing!

The event was too long and sadly people kept walking out for the last hour, but for those of us who stayed it was a special and moving night.


Updated On: 2/24/09 at 01:29 AM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:36am

What a fun night, if rather long!

We ended up winning the lotto, so we were right in the first row.

Some highlights...

-The Sesame Street gang!! Although, the man from the lotto told us there would be muppets, but sadly, there were none. However, it was so fun (and strange, in a way) to see the Sesame Street adults up there singing for a bunch of grownups. Many of them don't appear to have aged a day since I was watching Sesame Street, particularly Bob and Maria, who were always my favorites.

-Bebe Nuewirth's mad-libs version of All That Jazz was a riot. What a great performer she is to be able to make that work.

-The Spring Awakening number was a lot of fun, and it was great to see Groff and Gallagher reunited onstage.

-the Gypsy cast had a LOT of fun with Patti's "incident" in their number. It made an otherwise dull number a lot more fun.

-The Broadway Boys are always very entertaining.

-We certainly could have done without the two hosts, who made two appearances and weren't all that funny. Ditto for the unfunny Rue McClanahan and Sally Struthers.

-I know she has lot of fans but I just fail to see the appeal of Cyndi Lauper.

I'm missing lots of other great performances, but those stand out in my mind. The event was just far too long at 4 hours. By the end of it, I had completely forgotten about some of the earlier performances, and wondered what happened to Allison Janney. I came to realize, of course, she was in the opening number (Prop 8 the Musical).

I wonder, though, what happened to the "big" surprise female celebrity who was supposed to appear?

Also it was very nice to hear that in addition to organizing the event, the producers and writers of Wicked (David Stone, Mark Platt, Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holtzman, and Gregory Maguire) EACH gave $50,000 of their own money to the cause, which meant because of their generosity, the event brought in an additional $250,000.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 1:41am

"I wonder, though, what happened to the "big" surprise female celebrity who was supposed to appear?"

Hello? Did you not see Ms. Edie Varley?

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 2:02am

The Spring Awakening number was embarrassing with lameass lyric replacements and uninspired staging; anyone who loved it is just an unrepentant fanboy who gets giddy seeing Groff and Gallagher on stage. In terms of hosts, Judy Gold was meh, and if I didn't already want Carson Kressley to die, tonight would've sealed the deal; what the hell was up with his boyfriend pulling him offstage while he was in the middle of presenting? The man's a walking gay minstrel show and he did himself no favors tonight.

That said, the evening was mostly glorious-- immensely moving, weirdly rousing, and this coldhearted cynic was brought to tears about a dozen times. Highlights were Sesame Street folks, Bebe Neuwirth, Purple Haze, Harvey Feirstein, Cyndi Lauper, the devasting/inspiring finale, and perhaps most of all, Keith olberman.

And I don't know if this is praise or insult, but the evening, at the least, deserves mention for showcasing the GAYEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN (and I've been present at all male orgies): the young queer kid from "Ugly Betty" and the cast of "Mamma Mia!" performing "Seize the Day" from "Newsies."

Updated On: 2/24/09 at 02:02 AM

[Just_John]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 2:26am

That's odd I really hated Spring Awakening but I enjoyed their performance tonight. Also Sally Struthers I thought was hilarious. Her first thing she said was "I had a thought. Since the waitress' at hooter's all have big breasts, shouldn't the waitress' at ihop all have one leg?" I also thought Judy Gold and Carson Kressley were one of the biggest highlights of the night, along with GYPSY, the touring cast of The Color Purple, Shoshana and the Gay Men's Chorus as well as many others.

[Parks]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 2:33am

Cyndi Lauper had me jumping up and down in my seat--I couldn't help myself for a few seconds! :P

What a great night! It was 4 hours, and some acts I could have lived without, but SO worth the money and it was a really great cause--really got me fired up for equal rights.

Seth's bit was HILARIOUS!

[bundy5000]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 3:16am

ugh..... Well its 3 AM but I had a Blast. Seriously the Laughing Pizza thing was painful. I actually expected a little more from both Cyndi and Harvey. But was Happy overall. Some of my ad-lib's went into the Bebe Chicago number. I wish Nathan and Alison Janey could of stayed a little longer. There were some slight audio problems but were dealt with. I loved the Hair piece.
But hey.... they volunteered, so I am very appreciative of the whole event.

P.S I met Cyndi Lauper at the Stage door and got her autograph!

[heo1128]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 3:36am

Ooh! If it was recorded professionally, I wonder if/in what capacity if will be released. I'd LOVE to see it!

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 7:48am

bundy5000,
I now know who you are! I was standing right beside you at SD.

"We ended up winning the lotto, so we were right in the first row.

Congrats on your win but why take both sets of tickets that were won(your friend and you). You prevented another name being called by doing that. One of which could have been me since I know you saw me standing there at lotto.

As for the topis. The show was awesome! I loved it all. SD was fun also even though not many people came out that way and they all were heading to the party after(and it was FREAKING cold).

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 8:15am

"The Spring Awakening number was embarrassing with lameass lyric replacements and uninspired staging"

I am glad Forbidden Broadway was invited to perform.

[AntonEgo]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 10:12am

Question: Who came out at the stage door? I didn't stay because I figured nobody would come out, but if anyone from Sesame Street came out I will regret not staying.

[Pocketsquared Fanadu]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 10:17am

The event was awesome on so many levels: the talent, the stars, the hope, the cause, the love that filled that big theater. I have to say that a highlight for me was Matt Alber, who I have been mildly obsessed with since I first saw his beautiful video, 'End of the World', on youtube a month or so ago. Here is a guy who is just getting discovered, who acknowledged in his intro that he'd never been on a Broadway stage before and that he needed to just pretend that he was singing in his living room. And his performance, IMHO, was magical and he held his own with some of the best. Experiencing a lot of folks discovering him for the first time was great. He got a terrific and well deserved ovation. It was a long night, but I'll never forget it.

[lindatnyc2]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 10:31am

It was a great evening and agree that it was too long. They should've really considered starting at 7 or 7:30!

Question regarding Billy Elliot cast: The boy who stood center stage -was that Tommy Batchelor? I couldn't tell from where I was sitting (in orchestra but 3/4 back from stage).

Thanks.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 10:34am

Congrats on your win but why take both sets of tickets that were won(your friend and you). You prevented another name being called by doing that. One of which could have been me since I know you saw me standing there at lotto.

For your information, we did not "take" both sets of tickets. Before the lotto, we had teamed up with two girls who were also there and agreed that if both of us won we would give them the other set of tickets, and they'd do the same for us. No tickets went to waste. We even ended up selling our pre-purchased seats to someone at a great discount.

[AntonEgo]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 10:35am

One more question: Who was singing during the final song? They didn't announce it like they did for all the others, unless I missed it.

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 10:37am

How did the Prop 8 musical work out?

Who played the roles that (respectively) John C. Reilly, Jack Black, and Neil Patrick Harris played?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/24/09 at 10:49am

One more question: Who was singing during the final song? They didn't announce it like they did for all the others, unless I missed it.

Marty Thomas, Steven Skaynes, Lisa Brescia, and Katie Thompson, backed up by a whole boatload of people.