I come to New York at this time of year to catch the shows that open just before the Tonys eligibility deadline, but this week specifically to see the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition.
For the past 29 years, the Broadway community has celebrated the end of the fundraising season with a two-day pop-up production of skits written and performed by the casts of current shows, often making fun of their own show or competitors’ shows, followed by the wearing of a giant, often animated bonnet, usually designed and built by their tech crew.
Though frequently snarky, the production is an upbeat coming together of the Broadway community for a common cause. Tuesday afternoon’s show was highlighted by a very clever skit by the cast of Avenue Q that projected what The Lion King would be like if created by their urban, satirical show’s puppeteers. Broadway stars from Helen Mirren to Matthew Morrison put in appearances, announcing the winners for the best skit, bonnet and fundraising.
With this year’s $4 million-plus, the Bonnet has raised more than $62 million over the past three decades to support those afflicted with AIDS and other healthcare-related challenges.
On Tuesday night, I saw the wondrous The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a highly theatrical play based on the novel by Mark Haddon about an autistic 15-year-old named Christopher Boone, who discovers a dead dog in a neighbor’s backyard, killed by a pitchfork. So Christopher goes into detective mode to discover who murdered the pooch.
The boy, a barely functional math genius, lives with his father, who lied to him, telling him that his mother who had left them has died. When Christopher learns otherwise, he travels by himself into London from the suburbs, in one of the most creative and harrowing sequences you may ever see in a play. Playing Christopher is a recent Juilliard School graduate, Alex Sharp, who has a major stage career ahead of him.
The Curious Incident is directed by Marianne Elliott, who co-directed the similarly inventive War Horse a few seasons ago. While I still have two other acclaimed British play productions — The Audience and the epic Wolf Hall — to see this week, I would not be surprised if The Curious Incident won the Tony Award for best play, and that would confirm this as a better-than-usual season.
Up next: A Wednesday doubleheader of Fun Home and On the 20th Century, plus an interview with Jason Robert Brown, composer-lyricist of The Bridges of Madison County.