When Broadway Cares puts on a fund raising show, you can bet they will be bringing something new and exciting to the stage.
The 2026 edition of Broadway Bares was titled . “Broadway Bares: License to Strip” and featured over 200 dancers from around New York City.
Held June 21, the annual fund raising event and set a new record by raising over $2.5 million for Broadway Cares.
According to the press release before the event, “Secrets will be spilled, disguises discarded and inhibitions detonated in a tantalizing, top-secret turn on the beloved spectacle.”
Performances included comic book detective Dick Tracy came to life and there was Breathless Mahoney and Dom-in-the-Matrix to entertain the crowd.
Special guests included Shoshana Bean, Taurean Everett, J Harrison Ghee, Frankie Grande, Sydney James Harcourt, and Layton Williams.
Kellen Stancil returned to direct the production and spoke on Broadway Bares saying, “I’m beyond thrilled to return to the director’s chair for Broadway Bares, a show that lives at the intersection of legacy, liberation, and flat-out jaw-dropping dance. I’ve grown up with Broadway Bares—from dancer to choreographer to director—and nothing compares to that moment when the lights hit, the crowd roars, and you feel hundreds of artists moving as one, and a community supporting each other. It’s a bold, beautiful celebration of all bodies, and it’s about to leave you breathless.”
Executive director of Broadway Cares Danny Whitman added, “Broadway Bares is fearless fun with a powerful purpose. Behind every strut, spin, and sparkle is something deeply real. It’s meals on tables, medication in hand, health care, stability, and hope. That one electric night fuels lifesaving care for people in our community and across the country, reminding us that joy can be a force for lasting change.”
A massive production, this year’s Broadway Bares involved over 600 volunteers to bring to the stage for a one time event.
While still a dancer, Jerry Mitchell created Broadway Bares in 1992 as a way raise awareness…and money…for HIV/AIDS and those having to live with the disease. That first year Mitchell recruited six of his friends to put on a show on top of the bar and raised just $8,000. It has grown into a standing room only event that raises millions of much needed dollars.
To date it has awarded over $300 million in aid to people and organizations to help with critical medical care and aid.
Just last month Broadway Cares granted $3,007,500 last month to 265 organizations for critical aid and health care.