Broadway Bets, Broadway’s official game night produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares, returned to Sardi's June 3, raising a record-breaking $540,600.
Last year’s Broadway Bets raised $332,465; across its seven editions, the fundraiser has now brought in $2.2 million for Broadway Cares.
A mix of Broadway talent, industry insiders, and theatre enthusiasts joined in a Texas Hold ’em tournament for all levels. Players included Shoshana Bean (Hell’s Kitchen), Katie Broad (An Enemy of the People), David Costabile (Billions), Brandon Victor Dixon (Hell’s Kitchen), Caleb Eberhardt (An Enemy of the People), Eli Gelb (Stereophonic), RJ Higton (The Outsiders), Ramin Karimloo (Funny Girl, City Center’s Titanic), Andy Karl (Into the Woods), Alicia Keys (Hell’s Kitchen), Richard Kind (Curb Your Enthusiasm), David Mattar Merten (An Enemy of the People), Jarrod Spector (Hamilton), Marc Summers (The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers), Daryl Tofa (The Outsiders), David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit), and Joshua Boone (The Outsiders).
The evening started with 37 Texas Hold ’em poker tables and 476 tournament players and onlookers filling three floors of Sardi’s. Ten players subsequently competed at the championship table.
The final face-off featured Hannah Katz, contracts coordinator at Broadway Across America, and Nicholas Hipple, labor relations assistant at The Nederlander Organization. Ultimately, Katz bested Hipple with a pair of aces, becoming the first woman to be crowned Broadway Bets champion. As winner, Katz receives a one-week stay at the Secret Villas in Key West, Florida, and Hipple won four Legends Suite tickets to a New York Yankees home game, including dinner at the Legends Suite Club.
The final table also included Hillary Bibicoff, Adam Jesin, David Dreier, Matt Horvath, James Dale, Daniel Solomon, Brian DeVito, and Morgan Elwyn.
The tournament directors were Mark Shacket, partner at Foresight Theatrical; Brett Sirota, co-founder and partner at The Road Company; and Alex Wolfe, associate general manager at Foresight Theatrical.
Broadway Bets’ founding co-chairs are Paul Libin, executive vice president emeritus of Jujamcyn Theaters and president emeritus of the Broadway Cares Board of Trustees; and Robert E. Wankel, chairman and CEO of The Shubert Organization and president of the Broadway Cares Board of Trustees.
Broadway Cares is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources , and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 Broadway Cares has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.
Visit BroadwayCares.org.
