Only Make Believe Real Broadway Magic
By Christopher Moore, Broadway Magazine
Broadway's best turned out to celebrate a great cause. Legends of stage and screen like Sir Ian McKellan and Jude Law, Tony winner Andrea Martin, and new stars like Montego Glover and Nolan Gerard Funk were on hand to celebrate Only Make Believe and show support for its founder Dena Hammerstein. Broadway.tv and Broadway Magazine were there to capture some of the celebration for this worthy cause.
"Only Make Believe, it's a wonderful, wonderful cause. Children who need cheering up, who need music, who need smiling faces, who need what artists carry around with them every day, I think that's a wonderful cause," explains Broadway star Montego Glover from the hit new musical Memphis. Bringing theatre to children in hospitals for the past 10 years, Only Make Believe is an organization that is close to the hearts of many Broadway artists.
"Anything that crosses over with theatre and children, I think, is a wonderful cause," offers Jude Law, who has greatly impressed Broadway with his performance in Hamlet, "In ten years, its expanded beyond belief. I think originally it was in one hospital reaching 132 children. Now, it's reaching up to some 20,000 children. It's a great cause. I'm very proud to be a part of the Broadway season this year and so I want to contribute what I could."
"I guess I've always been involved with theatre and kids, and so it was a natural combination of trying to bring theatre to children who couldn't get it otherwise," shares Only Make Believe founder Dena Hammerstein.
"I saw them doing a show in the hospital and the kids love it," says Broadway radio host and stalwart insider Seth Rudetsky. A permanent fixture on the Broadway landscape, Mr. Rudetsky is also a generous soul. This year he is being honored with the Only Make Believe Volunteer Of The Year Award.
"He doesn't know I'm here," whispers comic genius Andrea Martin about Seth Rudetsky. Ms. Martin is a Tony Award winner and was on hand to present Mr. Rudetsky with the award.
"I think this is really a profound cause," says Nolan Gerard Funk, the star of Broadway's Bye Bye Birdie and fast becoming a Broadway favorite.
Watch the entire video feature of the Only Make Believe red carpet event right here on Broadway.tv.
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