Theater News

Easter Bonnet Competition Sets All-Time Fundraising Record

The two-day event was presented by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Lin-Manuel Miranda accepted the award for the Hamilton - And Peggy tour, which won this year's top overall fundraising award at the 2019 Easter Bonnet Competition.
Lin-Manuel Miranda accepted the award for the Hamilton – And Peggy tour, which won this year's top overall fundraising award at the 2019 Easter Bonnet Competition.
(© David Gordon)

The 2019 Easter Bonnet Competition set an all-time fundraising record, raising $6,594,778 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the highest amount ever for a Broadway Cares event.

The record-breaking number was raised by 69 Broadway, off-Broadway, and national touring productions and was announced earlier today, April 23, by Bryan Cranston (Network), Jeff Daniels (To Kill a Mockingbird), Glenda Jackson (King Lear), and Kelli O'Hara (Kiss Me, Kate). Since the Easter Bonnet Competition began in 1987, the event has raised $87.5 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The Easter Bonnet Competition is the annual theater community celebration that ends six weeks of intensive fundraising efforts by dozens of Broadway, off-Broadway, and national touring productions. In addition to singing, dancing, and comedic skits, participating shows present creative and elaborate Easter bonnets made especially for the event. Awards are presented to the best presentation and best bonnet design across both performances as well as to the companies that raise the most money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Top Overall Fundraiser
Hamilton – And Peggy: $513,734

Broadway Musicals
Top Fundraiser: Hamilton, $325,305
1st Runner-Up: Mean Girls, $238,005

Broadway Plays
Top Fundraiser: To Kill a Mockingbird, $196,464
1st Runner-Up: Network, $92,518

Off-Broadway Plays and Musicals
Top Fundraiser: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (A Fidler Afn Dakh), $77,283
1st Runner-Up: Avenue Q, $62,396

National Tours
Top Fundraiser: Hamilton – Angelica, $354,035
1st Runner-up: Wicked – Munchkinland, $337,562

The award for best presentation went to the cast of off-Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, which asked the question, "what if other Broadway classics were translated into Yiddish?" The company of Network was the runner-up for a series of vignettes where the UBS news desk was opened for a series of auditions to fill the shoes of legendary anchor Howard Beale. The award for best bonnet design went to Come From Away for its bonnet honoring Gander, designed by Melissa Joy Crawford.