The annual Easter Bonnet Competition will return this spring to celebrate its 32nd anniversary. Performers from Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring companies will showcase their talents in song, dance and comedy, topped off by outstandingly creative bonnets hand-designed especially for the event.
The Easter Bonnet Competition will feature appearances by The Band Visit‘s John Cariani and Ari’el Stachel; SpongeBob SquarePants‘ Lilli Cooper, Gavin Lee and Ethan Slater; The Lion King‘s Bongi Duma and Tshidi Manye; A Letter to Harvey Milk‘s Adam Heller, Evan Pappas and Cheryl Stern; Mean Girls‘ Erika Henningsen and Taylor Louderman; Frozen‘s Patti Murin; Once on This Island‘s Lea Salonga and Dear Evan Hansen‘s Taylor Trensch.
The Easter Bonnet Competition, which benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, ends a six-week period of intensive fundraising by dozens of Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring companies. Curtain speeches, autographed posters and program sales, auctions and cabaret performances are all part of the fundraising effort, which brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars. The company that raises the most funds for BC/EFA will be awarded a prize at the Easter Bonnet Competition. A second prize will be awarded to the company with the best bonnet design and presentation.
The winners of top fundraiser, best presentation and best bonnet design, as well as the much-anticipated fundraising total, will be announced Tuesday by Hello, Dolly!‘s Victor Garber and Bernadette Peters and Angels in America‘s Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.
