'Broadway Goes Viral' Pledges To Match Donations To BC/EFA's Emergency Assistance Fund

The social media site "Broadway Goes Viral" announced yesterday that it would super-charge its fans' donations to the Broadway Care/Equity Fights AIDS COVID19 Emergency Assistance Fund, by matching them, dollar for dollar. Since all donations to the fund are already matched by a group of 20 Broadway producers, this match means that donations will actually be multiplied by a factor of four.

"We received a pledge from some long time supporters of BCEFA to enable this match, up to $10,000", said Bruce Sabath, creator of Broadway Goes Viral. "We're so excited that we'll be able to turn $10,000 of our fans' donations into $40,000 of contributions for this critical fund."

To assist the efforts of Broadway Goes Viral, Broadway Cares gave Broadway Goes Viral its own fundraising site, www.broadwaycares.org/broadwaygoesviral. Here, donors can make their contribution and see it matched, before it is sent over the the main fundraiser, where both the original contribution and the match are matched again by the Broadway producers. The fund drive is set to continue through this Sunday, April 12th, when BCEFA hopes to reach its goal of $2 million.

"Broadway Goes Viral" is a site created by Broadway actor Bruce Sabath on Instagram and Facebook to allow stuck-at-home Broadway and Off-Broadway performers to share their irrepressible talent and uplifting energy with stuck-at-home theatre lovers, wherever they are.

"In the last three weeks, we've been able to share over seventy homemade musical videos with thousands of theatre fans," according to Sabath. "Performers have contributed everything from favorite show tunes - sung acapella or accompanied by ukuleles, guitars and keyboards - to amazing parodies written just for the strange times we're in."

Performers include many who were in currently running shows that were shuttered by the pandemic, including Westside Story, Beetlejuice, Flying Over Sunset and Jagged Little Pill, as well as recent national tours including Lez Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and The Sound of Music.

Bruce Sabath, creator of Broadway Goes Viral, played Larry in the last Broadway revival of Company (the 2006 Tony-winning revival directed by John Doyle, starring Raul Esparza). He recently played Lazar Wolf (and sometimes Tevye) in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Joel Grey.

Sabath has long been an active supporter of BCEFA. He led the seasonal Red Buckets fundraising at Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, which was the highest-raising off-Broadway show in fall 2018, spring 2019 and runner-up in the fall of 2019. Sabath, a long-distance runner, was also integral in the growth of one of BCEFA's newest events, Broadway Run, which raised over $100,000 last fall. Sabath's own contributions to the videos on the site include renditions of "Almost Like Being in Love" (accompanied by his guitar) and "Multitudes of Amys" (a song cut from Company, performed in honor of Sondheim's 90th birthday).

Find Broadway Goes Viral at:

https://www.facebook.com/broadwaygoesviral/

https://www.instagram.com/broadwaygoesviral/