SLIDESHOW: AIDS Walk New York

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, and a galaxy of Broadway, Hollywood and television stars crowded the main stage in Central Park early this morning to help kick off the GMHC's 27th Annual AIDS Walk New York. Stars on hand included Wendy Williams, Grammy nominee Keri Hilson, NCIS: Los Angeles star Barrett Foa, Tony winner David Hyde Pierce, Glee's Dot Jones, designer Jason Wu, and Ugly Betty's Michael Urie, who played to the squealing fans in the front row by throwing HIS underwear in the face of good sport Nick Jonas.You can find all of that and much more in the slideshow below, plus lots of shots of the more than 45,000 walkers who jammed Central Park from end-to-end today. To date, AIDS Walk New York has raised more than $122 million for programs and services in the tri-state region. My personal thanks to GMHC Communications Director Dirk McCall for looking after me all morning. Full-screen photos are here.

Broadway Friday

-Steve Hayes (Tired Old Queen At The Movies) stars with playwright Bradford Scobie and drag legend Murray Hill in Moisty The Snowman Saves Christmas, now running Off Broadway at Dixon Place. Get tickets here.

- Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) will replace Christian Borle as Prior Walter in the critically raved Off Broadway revival of Tony Kushner's Angels In America. Urie steps in on February 2nd, the production has been extended until March 27th.

- Whoa. Jackie Hoffman (love her!) is talking serious trash about her role in The Addams Family. "We're the only musical that doesn't appeal to gay people." But it has Nathan Lane and (JMG reader/Tony nominee) Kevin Chamberlin in it!

- Henry Rollins brings his one-man show to Joe's Pub for a week beginning February 8th. It's his 50th birthday celebration and you know you're going.

- Beginning previews Off Broadway on December 22nd is Richard Skipper As "Carol Channing" In Concert. Get tickets here.

- Oscar winner Halle Berry makes her Broadway debut this fall in Katori Hall's The Mountaintop opposite Samuel L. Jackson. Last year the play won the Olivier Award for its West End run.

- ABC is developing a drama for Tony winner Idina Menzel (Wicked), who will play a single mom who sings at weddings and bar mitzvahs to pay the rent. Menzel makes her debut with the New York Philharmonic on February 5th.

TRAILER: Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Still in heavily-laden with tech glitches previews.

Michael Urie - It Gets Better

Stars Reenact Prop 8 Trial Testimony

The Courage Campaign has launched Equality On Trial, in which stars reenact the testimony given by the plaintiffs in California's Prop 8 trial. Below are reenactments from Marisa Tomei, Cheyenne Jackson, Michael Urie, Patricia Clarkson, Alan Cumming, and Ellen Greene. The Courage Campaign invites you to download trial scripts and upload your own reenactments to the Equality On Trial site.

Broadway Friday

- Neil Patrick Harris will star in a mixed live action/animated version of The Smurfs. NPH will be live, Alan Cumming and Jonathan Winters will be animated. NPH is also slated to guest star in an upcoming episode of Glee.

- Ugly Betty stars Vanessa Williams and Michael Urie will co-host this year's 76th Annual Drama League Awards on May 21st at the Marriott Marquis Grand Ballroom.

- Dumbo: The Musical is in the works to join the other 23 Disney shows on Broadway.

- Broadway's Theater Development Fund has a great program for the hearing and vision impaired. Go here for a list of upcoming shows that are open-captioned, offer audio descriptions, or feature sign language interpreters.

- Christopher Walken is earning rave notices in A Behanding In Spokane, as are costars Sam Rockwell, Anthony Mackie and Zoe Kazan.

- Here's a nice slideshow of recent gay-themed Broadway productions.

- The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is working on bringing its Gutter Ballet to Broadway. The band is just about to kick off their first ever non-holiday tour.

- Sleepless In Seattle: The Musical. SRSLY. Coming Valentine's Day 2011. Original screenplay writer Jeff Arch will write the libretto.

- Yank!, a gay military romance musical set in WWII is now playing Off Broadway at the Theater at St. Peter's. NYT sez: "The show has a fine mix of humor and simmering drama and decent enough songs to keep you anticipating the next one. Probably a few too many themes are introduced and left underexplored — fidelity in gay relationships, for example, and personal loyalty versus respect for military codes."

SLIDESHOW: HRC 2010 NYC Gala

Here's a short slideshow from Saturday's HRC gala in NYC, courtesy of my able photographer Dr. Jeff. Except for the HRC's official photographer, media were kept tightly corraled in a roped-off pen in front of the HRC backdrop, so we were pretty much unable to photograph or interview attendees. After all the big shots were trotted off the pre-show stage, we were escorted to a balcony over the ballroom. I've done a lot of these things, but haven't felt quite so "managed" before. And I'm pretty sure one of the HRC volunteers even followed me and waited outside the men's room, just to make sure I didn't try and infiltrate the millionaires. Whatever, dude. I did get a giggle when they played Tardy For The Party to try and get people to take their seats. The second Real Housewives moment of the evening came when NYC cast member Jill Zarin introduced Joe Solomonese. OK, then. We take our support where we can get it and Zarin was actually rather charming.