'Best In Shows' Raises Funds For Humane Society of New York
NEWYORK (CBSNewYork) Feinstein's/54 Below went to the dogs Sunday night, and it couldn't have been cuter.
A number of famous faces from Broadway turned out for the annual Best In Shows Cabaret/Fundraiser for The Humane Society Of New York. Best in Shows featured performances by Andrea McArdle (Annie/State Fair), Lilli Cooper (Coming soon to SpongeBob SquarePants) Adam Kantor (The Band's Visit/Fiddler on the Roof), Michael Mulheren (Bright Star/Kiss Me, Kate), Orfeh (Legally Blonde/Coming soon in Pretty Woman: The Musical), Brad Oscar (Something Rotten/The Producers), Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening/American Psycho), Jennifer Simard (Hello Dolly/Disaster! A Musical), Emily Skinner (Side Show/Jekyll & Hyde) and Stephen Wallem (Nurse Jackie). Seth Rudetsky (Sirius XM Host/Disaster! A Musical) hosted.
The show was produced by William and Dorothy Berloni. For the past 20 years, Bill Berloni has served as HSNY's Director of Animal Training and Behavior. His company, Theatrical Animals, has trained more than 200 rescue dogs over the last 40 years to perform on both stage and screen, starting with the very first Sandy in the original 1977 Broadway production of Annie starring Andrea McArdle. "Billy was given $25 to go get a rescue for our show", McArdle told 1010 WINS Susan Richard, of those days working with Berloni to train his very first dog. "Sandy was going to be put to sleep the next morning in a kill shelter, so in our experience together, we were like the blind leading the blind and look what it turned into." Annie became a huge hit and Sandy became "the longest running dog on Broadway," never missing a performance in more than seven years.
As part of this year's Best In Shows, McArdle presented The Humane Society of New York's Sandy Fund Award to James L. Nederlander in recognition of his deep concern and support of the needs of rescued animals.
Watch highlights from the show & interviews with the stars along with a tour of HSNY's Manhattan shelter with 1010 WINS Anchor Susan Richard in her All For Animals TV video at the top of this article. Check out photos below (click photo to enlarge):
