Every year Broadway’s best performers switch gender by having the men sing songs written for female characters and the women singing songs written for male characters. Add clever staging and you have one of each year’s most entertaining concerts.

For Broadway Backwards 2021, the concept allows for the combination of new material and great performances from previous editions of the show.

There is a rather simple storyline this year: Tony nominee Jenn Colella (Come From Away) will play a late night TV host who takes a young man living in isolated New York (Jay Armstrong Johnson of Quantico and The Phantom of the Opera) on an amazing journey. There will be an emphasis on LGBTQ stories in the event.

It strikes me a little like Dorothy’s journey in The Wizard of Oz. And wait until you see who he runs into along the way:

The opening number features Tony Award winners Stephanie J. Block (The Cher Show) and Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon) with Deborah Cox (Jekyll and Hyde).

Who else might he encounter? Debbie Allen, Amy Adams, Ward Billeisen, Matt Bomer, Brenda Braxton, Charl Brown, Tituss Burgess, Joshua Buscher-West, Len Cariou, Carolee Carmello, Jamie Cepero, Bryan Terrell Clark, Glenn Close, Darren Criss, Steven Cutts, Ariana DeBose, Loretta Devine, Cynthia Erivo, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Garlen Gilliland, James Monroe Iglehart, Cheyenne Jackson, Cherry Jones, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Andy Kelso, Eddie Korbich, Marty Lawson, L Morgan Lee, Raymond J. Lee, Aasif Mandvi, Michael McElroy, Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Ruthie Ann Miles, Bonnie Milligan, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Debra Monk, Jessie Mueller, Javier Muñoz, Kelli O’Hara, Karen Olivo, Alfie Parker Jr., Jim Parsons, Brandon Pearson, Bernadette Peters, Eric Petersen, Eve Plumb, Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva, Andrew Rannells, Alex Ringler, Chita Rivera, Roslyn Ruff, Michael James Scott, Sis and Elizabeth Stanley, Ryan Steele, Dennis Stowe, Lillias White, Curtis Wiley and Tony Yazbeck.

You want more? How about special guests Chasten Buttigieg, Anderson Cooper, Ariana DeBose, Don Lemon, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Robin Roberts, Tony Shalhoub and Ben Vereen?

Being this is a Broadway event, we can’t leave out the rest of the company: Danyel Fulton, Shelon Henry, Diana Huey, Aaron Libby, Nathan Lucrezio, Melinda Porto, Shelby Ringdahl, Vishal Vaidya and Blake Zolfo.

Robert Bartley is the writer/director; he also created Broadway Backwards. Mary-Mitchell Campbell is the music supervisor and Ted Arthur is the music director.

As impressive as all of this is, the best thing about Broadway Backwards is that it is a great fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. To date these shows have raised nearly $4.4 million dollars! Each of the last three shows has raised over half a million dollars.

You can watch Broadway Backwards on the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS website and also on their YouTube channel. The show will remain available through 11:59 PM EDT on April 3rd only.

These three clips give you just a taste of what to expect. This is truly the highlight of the week. Tune in, donate if you can, and just wait to be blown away.

Photo: Broadway Backwards 2021 Logo (courtesy of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS)

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As you can imagine, Broadway has been hit hard by the pandemic with shows closed for months and likely to remain so until next summer at the earliest. So how did this show come to be? The host, Tiny Fey, certainly had a lot to do with it.

Not only has she starred in two hit shows for NBC (Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock), she is also the writer of the book for the musical, Mean Girls, based on the 2004 film she wrote and starred in along with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. The musical was still running when Broadway was shut down.

Amongst the musicals being represented in One Night Only are Ain’t Too Proud–The Life and Times of The Temptations, Chicago, Jagged Little Pill, Diana: The Musical, Jersey Boys, Mean Girls and Rent.

Diana: The Musical has yet to open on Broadway. Rent hasn’t been on Broadway since 2008. Jersey Boys is off-Broadway after concluding its Broadway run. The latter two shows remain amongst the most popular shows of all-time.

Cast members from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will also appear.

Joining Fey in the two-hour broadcast are Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George), Antonio Banderas (A Chorus Line in Spain), Lance Bass (Hairspray), Kristen Bell (The Crucible), Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Sutton Foster (Anything Goes), Peter Gallagher (On the Twentieth Century), Josh Groban (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sunday in the Park with George), Sean Hayes (Promises, Promises), Ron Cephas Jones (Of Mice and Men), Patti LaBelle, Nathan Lane (The Producers), Camryn Manheim (Spring Awakening), Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Alanis Morissette (Jagged Little Pill), Jerry O’Connell (A Soldier’s Play), Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Mary-Louise Parker (The Sound Inside), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), John Stamos (Bye Bye Birdie), Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl), Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge – The Musical), Blair Underwood (A Soldier’s Play), Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods) and Susan Kelechi Watson (A Naked Girl on the Appian Way).

The show will raise funds for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

One Night Only: The Best of Broadway airs at 8:00 PM local times.

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Where else would you find these people all in the same show?

Jelani Alladin, Jacqueline Antaramian, Antonio Banderas, Laura Benanti, Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Danielle Brooks, Jenn Colella, Elvis Costello, Daniel Craig, Alysha Deslorieux, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Holly Gould, Danai Gurira, Stephanie Hsu, David Henry Hwang, Oscar Isaac, Nikki M. James, Alicia Keys, John Leguizamo, John Lithgow, Audra McDonald, Grace McLean, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mia Pak, Kelli O’Hara, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Hyde Pierce, Phylicia Rashad, Liev Schreiber, Martin Sheen, Phillipa Soo, Meryl Streep, Will Swenson, Shaina Taub, Kuhoo Verma, Ada Westfall and Kate Wetherhead.

Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon (A Raising in the Sun) is putting this all together. The music director is another Tony Award winner, Ted Sperling (The Light in the Piazza).

Why did all these people come together for Forward. Together.? Simply put, The Public Theater has supported playwrights and artists for decades. Amongst the show that began their life at The Public are A Chorus Line, Girl from the North Country, Take Me Out, Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, Caroline, Or Change and Hamilton.

There is also an online auction where there are 20 items you can bid on ranging from posters from Shakespeare in the Park seasons, to a ten-year premium seat pass for those annual summer gatherings at Delacorte Theater in Central Park to virtual drinks and meals and more. To view the items and bid, you can go here.

The fundraiser premieres at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT and will remain available for viewing until October 24th at 11:59 PM EDT/8:59 PM PDT. The show can be watched on The Public Theater’s website, their YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Having watched the show I can tell you there are some very real highlights. Amongst them, Antonio Banderas and Laura Benanti singing “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line; Danielle Brooks singing a Burt Bacharach song as a lullaby to her young child and to us all; a song from Shaina Taub’s musical, Suffragette and Oscar Isaac singing a song from Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Photo: The Public Theatre (Photo by Joseph Augstein/Courtesy The Public Theater)

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New York’s Public Theater has given birth to some of theater’s finest accomplishments. From the Pulitzer Prize-winning That Championship Season to Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls to Caroline, Or Change and a couple musicals you might have heard of: A Chorus Line and Hamilton. They will be celebrating their history and looking passionately towards the future on Monday, June 1st with their online gala event We Are One Public.

No pun intended, but the public is invited to join The Public for this event. We Are One Public begins at 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT on their website. Hosting is Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon directs and the music director is another Tony Award-winner, Ted Sperling.

If you want to see a list that defines an embarrassment of riches, the participants for Monday’s fundraiser will serve as just that:

Todd Almond, Antonio Banderas, Laura Benanti, Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Danielle Brooks, Troy Anthony Burton, Michael Cerveris,  Glenn Close, Jenn Colella, Elvis Costello, Daniel Craig, Claire Danes, Carla Duren, Danaya Esperanza, Jane Fonda, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich, Holly Gould, Danai Gurira, Anne Hathaway, Stephanie Hsu, David Henry Hwang, Oscar Isaac, Brian d’Arcy James, Nikki M. James, Alicia Keys, John Leguizamo, John Lithgow, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Audra McDonald, Grace McLean, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Margaret Odette, Kelli O’Hara, Sandra Oh, Mia Pak, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Hyde Pierce, Phylicia Rashad, Jay O. Sanders, Liev Schreiber, Deandre Sevon, Martin Sheen, Phillipa Soo, Meryl Streep, Trudie Styler & Sting, Will Swenson, Shaina Taub, Kuhoo Verma, Ada Westfall, Kate Wetherhead and more.

During We Are One Public, there will be two special honors awarded. The first is to benefactors Audrey & Zygi Wilf whose philanthropy has greatly benefited The Public Theatre. The second is to actor Sam Waterston.

The actor, who will be the artistic honoree, has appeared in over a dozen productions at The Public Theater. His work there began in 1963 and usually finds him performing the works of William Shakespeare – most often during The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park season. His most recent appearance was as Prospero in the 2015 production of The Tempest.

Obviously donations are encouraged before, during and after this event. There is also an on-line auction that is already open for bidding. Amongst the items available are a virtual conversation with Queen Latifah and director Lee Daniels; a decade of premium Shakespeare in the Park seats; a signed sketch of the set of Hamilton by David Korins and a Zoom chat with ballet dancers Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy. There are many more items available.

We Are One Public is scheduled to run 90 minutes. There is a virtual dance party immediately following the event.

Photo from Cymbeline courtesy of the New York Public Library.

Photo of The Public Theatre Courtesy of The Public Theater

Update: This post has been updated to include the postponement of the event.

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