Out 100 honoree Hunter Bell ([title of show]) wrote scenes for this year's bawdy, internet-inspired show (get it? "Click It"?), whose two performances last night boasted a boatload of Broadway darlings, including Daniel Reichard (Jersey Boys) as the lead character, Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]), Tony Award nominee Gavin Creel (Hair), Tony Award winner Sutton Foster (Shrek The Musical), Emmy Award winner Allison Janney (9 to 5), Out 100 honoree and cover boy Cheyenne Jackson, gay circuit staple Kristine W, and Ugly Betty's Michael Urie, who's currently starring in the new gay Broadway play The Temperamentals. The tightly choreographed burlesque numbers were steamy campfests with a lot of Beyonce flare -- and more often than not, almost no clothing. The highpoint: Janney playing that spinning multicolored circle you get when your Mac freezes -- what a colleague and I recently termed "the rainbow wheel of death." Genius.
So back to Gavin Creel naked. I feel hoodwinked. The Hair star, whom Out just profiled in its May issue, does not, for the record, get naked in the touchy-feely Broadway revival. And everyone else does! It's a shame, too, because apparently the dude has some impressive assets -- at least according to this.
He showed up for the finale with a mohawk-style coif, belted out "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" with some other Hair cast members, and peaced out, all smiles and charm. Alas, there's always next year.
The show is a one-night-only deal, so if you missed it last night, you'll have to wait for 20th annual event next year. In the meantime, you can pick up last year's coffee table book Backstage Pass: Broadway Bares, which features backstage shots and onstage photographs from the strip-a-thon's first 17 years.
Broadway Bares 19.0: "Click It!" raised a whopping $808,819 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
For more info on Broadway Bares and to donate to Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS, click here.
-- JASON LAMPHIER
Previously > Fast & Furious with 9 to 5's Stephanie J. Block
