Broadway Friday

- The Second Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant saw five musical theater hunks compete as the show raised $10,000 for the Ali Forney Center, NYC's homeless shelter for LGBT youth. The winner: Xanadu's Marty Thomas, who reportedly performed the showstopper of the evening, a take on Tina Turner titled Proud Marty.

- Kiss Of The Spider Woman returns to Broadway in the fall, but this time in non-musical form. Interesting. Non-musical movie to Broadway musical to non-musical Broadway play. Has that ever happened before? Peter DuBois will direct, other casting TBD.

- Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire, the lyricist of Broadway's soon to open Shrek: The Musical, has won the Kleban Award for his work on the musical. Lindsay-Abaire will receive $100,000 - $150,000 over the next two years. Edward Kleban, lyricist of A Chorus Line, created the award in his will to encourage writers in musical theatre. Kleban died of throat cancer in 1987.

- According to the Broadway League, the Great White Way contributed $5.1B to the economy of NYC over the 2006-2007 season. Of the 12.3 million tickets sold, 82% went to non-New Yorkers, almost half of which said they came to town expressly to see Broadway shows. And go to Splash.

- Generally fantastic reviews for the revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which opened yesterday at the American Airlines Theatre. Preview reviews weren't as great.

- Gone With The Wind: The Musical, currently playing in London, may be Broadway bound.

- From backstage at A Catered Affair, star Harvey Fierstein tells of recently turning down a film role: "I've been offered a bit part in the Sandler movie - me and another well-known gay guy. That's the whole gag, one line. I think I have more life in me than being a side gag in an Adam Sandler movie."

- At the Broadway Beauty Contest: "Tommy Berklund (A Chorus Line) sang "Take Me Seriously," a song in which he boasts about his hotness and his intelligence, while tearing his clothes off, ultimately stripping down to the tiniest blue 2(x)ist undies known to mankind." [Photo credits: Michael Portantiere]