Jay Armstrong Johnson - "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" Broadway Backwards 2016

At the 2016 edition of Broadway Backwards, Jay Armstrong Johnson let his inner Marilyn Monroe fly in a glittery production of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Broadway Backwards, the annual Broadway extravaganza celebrating the LGBTQ+ community through the great songs of musical theater, returns to Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre on Monday, March 13, 2023. The beloved evening and its star-studded cast will embrace love and self-expression in true Broadway fashion.

https://www.broadwaycares.org/pre-eve...

The number also featured Dave August, Thomas Bevan, Ward Billeisen, Joshua Buscher-West, Alicia Charles, Seth Danner, Mallory Davis, Alexa De Barr, Karli Dinardo, Callie Gullickson, Kourtni Lind, Colby Lindeman, Mary Page Nance, Emily Palmquist, Waldemar Quinones-Villaneuva and Christopher Rice. Choreography by Robert Bartley and Adam Roberts. Arrangement and Orchestration by Frank Galgano and Matt Castle.

The sold-out audience at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre was dazzled Monday, March 21, 2016, by this year’s stirring edition of Broadway Backwards (#broadwaywaybackwards). The annual celebration, where men sing songs originally written for women and vice versa offering this audience the chance to see LGBT stories told through the great songs of musical theatre, set a new fundraising record. The evening raised an incredible $480,287 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City.

Broadway Backwards creator Robert Bartley wrote and directed this year’s show, with choreography by Bartley, Al Blackstone, David Bushman, JoAnn M. Hunter and Adam Roberts. Mary-Mitchell Campbell served as music supervisor and Tim Rosser was music director. The creative team included lighting designer Paul Miller, costume designer Matthew J. Kilgore and sound designer Matthew Kraus. The production stage manager was Chris De Camillis.

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Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theater community, since 1988 Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other critical illnesses across the United States.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the major supporter of the 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 Arts. Broadway Cares also awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance.

For more information, please visit Broadway Cares online at broadwaycares.org, at facebook.com/BCEFA, at instagram.com/BCEFA, at tiktok.com/@bcefa and at    / bcefa  .