The 26th Annual Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction is coming up on Sunday, September 23, but pre-bidding is already open for the many unique theater packages that will be auctioned off that afternoon. These "big ticket" items, which include walk-ons during Broadway shows, give theater fans unusual opportunities -- but at a price. Since the Flea Market and Grand Auction is a fundraiser for Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS, the packages tend to go for many thousands of dollars during the auction.
Broadway Cares Grand Auction
The items going on the auction block include:
Both walk-on roles and backstage experiences for a number of Broadway musicals, including The Book of Mormon, Newsies, Wicked, Spider-Man, Rock of Ages, Chicago, Mamma Mia!, and Once
Signed shirts worn by Ricky Martin and Hugh Jackman in their Broadway shows
Unique Broadway show memorabilia autographed by Daniel Radcliffe, Julia Roberts, Nick Jonas, Bradley Cooper, Neil Patrick Harris, and others
Lunch with Tony Award-winning legend Angela Lansbury
Music phrases written and autographed by Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio, and more
VIP tickets and party passes to the opening nights of upcoming Broadway productions Dead Accounts (starring Katie Holmes), The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Matilda, Kinky Boots, The Anarchist, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and more
Set visits to TV shows such as the theater drama Smash and Emmy-winning Modern Family
You can pre-bid on these items at the Broadway Cares website. Online pre-bidding is open until 10am on September 22. The actual live auction will begin at 4:30pm on September 23 at the event, which is held in Shubert Alley (West 44th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue).
If the auction is a little rich for your blood, then never fear. The flea market portion of the event, which begins and 10am and goes late into the afternoon, features far more affordable items, from old Playbills and theater posters to props and costumes. Arrive early to have your pick of the best items (but bear in mind that the prices plummet as the day wears on).
