Broadway Bares XI Set for June 17

Among the stars set to appear in this year’s edition of Broadway Bares on Sunday, June 17 at Roseland are Michele Lee, Charles Busch, Alan Cumming, Tom Hewitt, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Idina Menzel, Julia Murney, Alice Ripley, Emily Skinner, Annie Golden, and drag queen Edie. “You should hear the list of people I had to turn down,” says Jerry Mitchell, the event’s director and choreographer. “Stars call me up and ask me to work up strip routines for them! The dancers are always the heart of Broadway Bares, but we do have an amazing group of celebrity guests this year. Michele Lee is our secret weapon: She’s playing a character called ‘M. Lee 36-24-36,’ a futuristic robot-slash-machine that’s capable of stopping you in your tracks.”

Mitchell’s choreography may currently be seen on Broadway in The Rocky Horror Show and in a certain musical that has a little something to do with stripping: The Full Monty. Eleven years ago, Broadway Bares began modestly with Mitchell and seven dancers stripping at the gay bar Splash and thereby raising $8,000 for the fight against AIDS. Each successive edition, at various locations around NYC, has become bigger and more extravagant, with a resultant increase in proceeds garnered for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS; the 1999 event, for example, raised $240,000.

The full title of this year’s show is Broadway Bares XI — 2001: A Strip Odyssey. In the grand tradition of the event, it will offer sexy but tasteful, ingeniously choreographed, elaborately costumed strip numbers featuring more than 150 dancers from just about every musical now running on Broadway.

Two performances will be given on the 17th: one at 9:30pm (tickets range from $45 to $100), the other at midnight (all tickets $35). For further information and/or reservations, call BC/EFA at 212-840-0770, ext. 268, or visit the website at www.BroadwayCares.org.