Last week Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters teamed up with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS to screen her 2009 concert that served a benefit for that organization and also the non-profit she helped created, Broadway Barks. This week, she’s bringing the annual Broadway Barks fundraiser online for the first time.
On Thursday, July 16th, Broadway Barks will take place at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT and can be watched on Broadway.com’s Facebook page.
This year marks the 22nd annual event. Each event features celebrities and shelter pets that are available for adoption. This year, with the pandemic, animals and celebrities are being paired up within the safety of their homes.
Peters and her colleagues have assembled a great line-up of talent:
Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Betty Buckley, Danny Burstein, Michael Cerveris, Kristin Chenoweth, Victoria Clark, Alan Cumming, Ted Danson, Ariana DeBose, Raúl Esparza, Gloria Estefan, Sutton Foster, Victor Garber, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Joel Grey, Josh Groban, Jake Gyllenhaal, Julie Halston, Jon Hamm, Emmylou Harris, Sean Hayes, Hugh Jackman, Andy Karl, Nathan Lane, Laura Linney, Rebecca Luker, Audra McDonald, Malcolm McDowell, Laurie Metcalf, Bette Midler, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rita Moreno, Bebe Neuwirth, Alex Newell, Kelli O’Hara, Orfeh, Mandy Patinkin, Randy Rainbow, Andrew Rannells, John Stamos, Mary Steenburgen, Will Swenson, Michael Urie, Nia Vardalos, Adrienne Warren and Vanessa Williams.
32 different shelters will participate both in providing dogs and cats available for adoption and in receiving money raised during the event. There is no cost to join Broadway Barks online, but donations are encouraged.
Every year Broadway Barks is a hugely successful pet adoption event. Over the twenty-two years it has taken place they have been able to place approximately 85% of the animals. That means if you fall in love with one of the dogs or cats you see online, you better act quickly!
During Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert, Michael Urie talked about how passionate Peters is in rescuing animals. He said that she regularly goes to shelters that have a “kill policy” (meaning that animals will be euthanized after a certain amount of time has passed) and takes them to shelters that do not have the same policy.
She and co-founder Mary Tyler Moore found a way to take their passion for our four-legged friends and add their celebrity to help animals find homes.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Broadway.com are producing the event. Paul Wontorek, who produced the recent Buyer and Cellar and Take Me to the World events, produces for Broadway.com
Photo: Bernadette Peters at the 2018 Broadway Barks events (Photo by Emilio Madrid for Broadway.com/Courtesy of Broadway.com)