Celebratory Culmination Red Bucket Follies
Set for December 3 & 4
At the New Amsterdam Theatre
Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring shows will begin six weeks of annual fall fundraising next Friday, October 19, 2018, a collective effort by the theatre community – those onstage, backstage and in the audience – in support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
The fundraising will be celebrated in a vaudeville of songs, dances and skits that will now be called the Red Bucket Follies. The Red Bucket Follies, which will be produced by and benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, will be performed at 4:30 pm Monday, December 3, and at 2 pm Tuesday, December 4, at the New Amsterdam Theatre (214 West 42nd Street, New York City), home to Disney’s Aladdin.
The Red Bucket Follies (#redbuckets) builds on the 29-year legacy of the Gypsy of the Year Competition. The show will continue to showcase ensemble members and special guests performing original skits, songs and dances, with awards given to the best presentation and for the top fundraisers from the six weeks’ efforts.
The red bucket has come to represent Broadway Cares to theatregoers in the same vibrant way as the now-iconic red ribbon, featured prominently in the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS logo for more than 25 years. Seen in the lobby of theatres in New York City and across the country, the red bucket illustrates the organization’s commitment to fundraising and grant-making. The renaming of Gypsy of the Year to Red Bucket Folliesembraces the buckets as symbols of care, action and comfort.
“These are divided, contentious times,” Tom Viola, executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, said. “Lines are drawn that few can or are willing to reach across in consensus. But the theatre community is known for love and acceptance, and the spirit of our events reflect that. Though it saddens me – and I know it will others – to rename this event, we do not want Broadway Cares to create division in our community. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ legacy is one of embrace, inclusion and bringing people together. Our commitment to those defining motivations is bigger and more important than a single word or the name of an event. Even with all the diverse opinions that go into any endeavor in this wildly creative, deeply caring and, yes, at times, contentious neighborhood, there are bigger battles we must take on together.”
Starting next Friday, theatre lobbies in New York City and beyond will be filled with casts, crew members and volunteers accepting donations with Broadway Cares’ signature #redbuckets in hand. Every dollar placed in a red bucket will help provide lifesaving medication, healthy meals, emergency financial assistance and more to the most vulnerable among us. A $10 donation covers HIV tests at a health clinic. A $50 donation provides 20 nutritious meals in a soup kitchen for the most vulnerable among us.
Last year, 56 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national tours raised $5.6 million.
Since 1989, the 29 editions of Gypsy of the Year raised $76 million to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Red Bucket Follies will build on that tradition.
Tickets to Red Bucket Follies will be available at broadwaycares.org beginning Friday, October 19.
The Red Bucket Follies is 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 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS 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 Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts. Broadway Cares also awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance.
