‘Broadway Bares’ Announces Details for 2023 ‘Pleasure Park’ Burlesque Benefit

The annual Broadway Bares burlesque charity event is back, and this year, New York’s finest stage actors and dancers are preparing to take audiences to Pleasure Park.

Every year, the music-filled event is staged twice on the same night, for one night only. And this year, with its Pleasure Park theme, ticket-holders are in for a thrill ride in a Broadway fantasy land. Watch a teaser trailer for the event below.

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More than 190 dancers and special guests will take the stage for two performances at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on Sunday, June 18, at 9:30 p.m. and midnight. Ticket prices start at $75 and are available at broadwaycares.org/bares. The show is produced by and benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA).

Previous special guests at the show have included such notable stage and music stars as Kristin Chenoweth, Ariana DeBose, Adam Lambert, Cyndi Lauper, Pentatonix’s Kirstin Maldonado and Vanessa Williams. Special guests for Broadway Bares: Pleasure Park will be announced closer to the show date (while some could remain a surprise until showtime).

Since the show’s launch in 1992, Broadway Bares has generated more than $21 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Last year’s edition raised $1.9 million.

Broadway Bares: Pleasure Park will be directed by Laya Barak and co-directed by Kellen Stancil. Jonathan Lee is associate director. Executive producers are creator and two-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell and longtime Bares director and performer Nick Kenkel. (In June, Mitchell will receive the 2023 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award in recognition of his outstanding dedication and contributions to BC/EFA and for more than three decades of volunteer service through the arts.

Broadway Bares: Pleasure Park
Broadway Bares: Pleasure Park

Broadway Bares is one of many charitable events produced by BC/EFA each year. Among BC/EFA’s other fundraisers: Broadway Bets (coming up on May 22), Fire Island Dance Festival (July 14-16), Broadway Barks, Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction, Broadway Run, Easter Bonnet Competition, Broadway Backwards, Red Bucket Follies and Hudson Valley Dance Festival. According to BC/EFA, the organization helps people across the country to receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance. Since 1988, BC/EFA has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people living with HIV/AIDS, struggling with COVID-19 and facing other critical illnesses in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. BC/EFA is the single largest financial supporter of the essential social service programs at the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Artis. BC/EFA also awards grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide.

Keith Caulfield

Billboard