Elon hosted its third annual Broadway Cares Benefit Concert this Saturday in Yeager Recital Hall, with two showings to accommodate for anticipated crowds.

Hosted by ARAMARK, this year’s concert was a full two-act production featuring 35 of Elon’s most talented music theatre and acting majors performing in a combination of solo, group and ensemble songs from Broadway and popular culture.

Admission to the event was free, but through donations taken at the door, raffles at both showings and silent auctions for signed posters from shows like “The Color Purple” and “Les Miserábles,” the third annual Broadway Cares Benefit Concert was able to raise $1,800 dollars for the cause.

Originally conceived as a class assignment by then-freshmen Matthew Masten and Brooke Morrison, this annual concert has grown into a school-wide campaign, bringing students and faculty together under the banner of a common cause.

What started out as a fledgling effort bringing in proceeds of around $300, the Broadway Cares Concert series has grown over the past two years and amassed a sum of around $3,000, 10 times the profit of the first year.

This year’s theme was “Make a Difference,” and was realized through the presentation of 21 separate musical numbers. Well-known songs like Paul McCartney’s “Hey Jude” and Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” were instant crowd pleasers. Pieces from the Tony Award-winning musical “Avenue Q”—complete with stylized puppets—inspired rounds of gratuitous applause from an enthusiastic audience.

Among the talent represented at this year’s concert was freshman Jared Loftin with a sentimental rendition of “Someone to Fall Back On,” Jess Elovsson singing the Mariah Carey hit single “Hero” and Ian Subsara with his spin on Billy Porter’s “Time.”

Richard Gang from the theatre arts department took the stage twice during the course of the event. Though Dale Becherer and Wendy Hiller, both of the arts department, were unable to give their scheduled performance of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” the slideshow they compiled and dedicated to global victims of HIV/AIDS was a hard-hitting reminder to everyone in attendance of the importance of their support.

“We perform every day just because we’re lucky enough to do so,” co-creator Matthew Masten said, “but this is the one opportunity a year where we really are raising money and helping others.”

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is a national not-for-profit AIDS-fundraising and grant making organization maintained by the American Theatre community that has been raising awareness for the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS since 1988.

Elon’s annual event is one of many student-led outreach programs around the United States that have helped the organization raise over $140 million since its inception.

For more information on the various ways that Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is providing service for those affected by HIV-related conditions and to find out how to give to the organization, please visit http://www.bcefa.org.

Reporter: Jordan Frederick - 01/16/07