Beaus of Broadway Take It Off for Charity  | Broadway | Advocate.com

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Beaus of Broadway Take It Off for Charity
The hunks of the Great White Way camped it up in the 2nd Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant to raise money for queer homeless youths.
By Mike Diamond
An Advocate.com exclusive posted May 1, 2008
Beaus of Broadway Take It Off for Charity

On a bare stage in midtown Manhattan, five of the Great White Way’s hottest male stars competed in the 2nd Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant, an evening of lighthearted fun and serious talent. Strutting onstage in top hats and T-shirts bearing the logos of their respective shows, the quintet of chorus boys set the tone for the evening with the very first song, the cheesy but fun number "Mr. Broadway."

Hosted by Rent's Anthony Rapp, the show was a fund-raiser for the Ali Forney Center, which provides shelter and services for homeless LGBT youths. Judging the competition were ubiquitous show queen Seth Rudetsky and performers Hunter Bell and Susan Blackwell of the musical [title of show]. In choosing a winner, Blackwell said they were looking for "super hotness, super well-hung-ness."

Broadway Beaus, Tommy B (Michael Portantiere) | Advocate.com

Following the format of traditional beauty pageants a la Miss America, the contestants were critiqued in three categories: talent, interview, and swimwear. Joe Komara (Grease) kicked off the talent portion, backed by a flock of flaming chorus boys, with "Gonna Act Straight on Broadway" (from the upcoming indie film A Big Gay Musical). Hairspray’s hunky Daniel Robinson followed, performing a shirtless rodeo-style lasso routine, but he was upstaged by his dancing partner, the fiery drag sensation Britney Houston.

The dreamy Tommy Berklund (A Chorus Line) sang "Take Me Seriously," a song in which he boasts about his hotness and his intelligence, while tearing his clothes off, ultimately stripping down to the tiniest blue 2(x)ist undies known to mankind. Faced with a tough act to follow, Xanadu’s Marty Thomas (who once beat out a young Britney Spears on Star Search) came on strong with "Proud Marty," his own take on "Proud Mary." This was the showstopper of the evening -- a sexy, sizzling explosion of energy. “You are a white male?” Rapp queried the performer. “My mom always says there’s a little coffee in my cream,” Thomas replied.

Broadway Beaus, Daniel Robinson (Michael Portantiere) | Advocate.com

Not to be outdone, Austin Eyers (Curtains), whom the judges noted had "excellent pageant flair," gave a high-energy performance of "I Don’t Want to Show Off," in which he played spoons, twirled a ribbon, played the saw, and deep-throated a banana, all while singing and dancing up a storm. He then gave the judges homemade cookies in what was deemed by them an obvious play for points. 

Diamond is a regular contributor to Advocate.com.

Reader Comments

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  • Name: Gary Morreale
    Date posted: 2008-05-05
    Hometown: Plymouth Meeting, PA

    Comment:

    Well, with a 3.5% margin of error that means that it could be that 6.4%, are LGBt, or Negative ..04 percent are gay. With that low a number the margin of error is quite a significant factor. It would be interesting for them to do another 3 surveys and find the average. In addition, i think it quite important to consider the number of older people lost to aids. Just ask anyone over 55 what the dating scene is like in that small population.

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