He has hosted the Oscars and the Grammys multiple times, and he once played the Emcee in Cabaret. So Billy Crystal must have felt right at home when he presided over this year’s gala benefit for the Tisch School of the Arts, of which he is an alumnus, on Monday, December 4. The event honored Tisch alumni Felicity Huffman, Tony Kushner, and George C. Wolfe, and included special tributes to Gerald Schoenfeld and Floria Lasky. It began with a performance at the St. James Theater and continued with a star-studded party at Blue Fin on Broadway.
Here’s honoree Huffman with her equally talented and famous husband, William H. Macy.
Also among the many notables in attendance: gorgeous Marcia Gay Harden, who played Harper Pitt in the Broadway production of Kushner’s Angels in America, directed by Wolfe…
…Alec Baldwin, most recently seen on stage in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Entertaining Mr. Sloane…
… funny guy Chevy Chase with his daughter Caley…
…Chris Columbus, who directed the film version of Rent…
…and Billy Crudup, who plays Vissarion Belinsky in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Tom Stoppard’s epic The Coast of Utopia.
Another major event that started off the week with a bang was the 18th annual “Gypsy of the Year” show, held for two performances on Monday and Tuesday at the Neil Simon Theater. This year’s competition raised a whopping $2,992,800 for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. Here’s a shot of Capathia Jenkins et al. in the opening number, “The Genesis of the Gypsy.”
The company of A Chorus Line showed the audience what happens to those poor, unfortunate souls who immediately get cut from the auditions for the musical within the musical.
Among the show’s other highlights: “Red,” a sensuous dance by cast members of The Lion King…
…a sweet and funny gay marriage skit in which Hairspray‘s Link Larkin fell in love with his buddy Sketch rather than Tracy Turnblad…
…a Drowsy Chaperone fantasy in which Man in Chair (Bob Martin) got it on with the musical-theater-loving superintendent of his apartment building…
…the company of Mamma Mia!, “Calling in Sick”…
…and Tom Everett Scott, Ari Graynor, Julie White, and Johnny Galecki of The Little Dog Laughed, baring almost all for the benefit of BC/EFA.
At the end of the show, Martin Short and Christine Ebersole joined hosts Marin Mazzie and Jonathan Hadary to announce the total amount of money raised and the winners and runners-up in the presentation and fundraising competitions. As it turned out, the company of The Color Purple won in both categories. Bravo!