By Matt bearden
Monday, July 24, will be a rather…wicked…evening. Join your friends from Atlanta, Kansas, and Oz for a spectacular night at Lips Atlanta off Buford Highway as company members from the Broadway National Tour Wicked, host a cabaret benefit.
Joining Hearts, Atlanta’s leading nonprofit fundraising to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, is part of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) National Grantee Program. These grants help the Atlanta organization further its mission to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in our city. Over the last years, metro Atlanta has found itself in another HIV/AIDS crisis with record infection rates since the 1980s.
In 2022 BC/EFA awarded over $8.5 million in grants nationwide to help local communities. With these grants, organizations like Joining Hearts can do more to slow this infection rate, help those needing medicine and shelter, and provide education to keep our community safe.
Joining Hearts hosts the ever-popular event, the annual summer pool party at Piedmont Park, as a stable for fundraising. This year’s theme is Tutti Fruity with DJ GSP and DJ Brian Kent. Last year, they raised over $120,000. This year, in addition to the pool party, is a unique event that happens 2 or 3 times a year!
This year, in conjunction with the touring show, Wicked company members (a mix of the cast and crew) are hosting a cabaret benefit where they can show their talents outside of their Ozian costumes and performances. Wicked, the 2003 musical about Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch, based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book of the same name, has returned to Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre from July 5 through 30.
The company will put on their benefit, “Witches Night Off,” to help fundraise for both Joining Hearts and the BC/EFA. Tickets are $40 for General Admission at 7:30 and $75 for VIP at 6:30. There will be a silent and live auction in addition to the cabaret performance put on by the Wicked company. Silent auction items include signed sheet music by Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz, a makeup brush that transforms Olivia Valli into the infamous green Elphaba, and a replica The Wizard of Oz ruby slippers. In addition, there are two extraordinary live auction prizes: backstage passes that grant winners to see the greenifying process and a framed Wicked vinyl signed by the OG Glinda: Kristen Chenoweth.
VIP access allows patrons to meet and mingle with the night’s performers with cocktails, laughs, and flares from 6:30 to 7:30.
This will be a night unlike any other. It’ll change your life just as Dorothy’s was changed by that fateful tornado.
Tidbit: the 1980s euphemism, “A friend of Dorothy’s,” was how gay men learned to meet other gay men. Judy Garland made strides in the liberation of LGBTQ+ rights. She was and is always a friend of the gays; be a friend to Dorothy, and get your tickets ASAP for the spectacular “Witches Night Off.”
Purchase here: www.WitchesNightOff.org
