In My Size

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is a charity organization that I have supported from time to time. My favorite way to support them is to put money into an orange bucket at a live show. It’s a thrilling moment to get to look a hard-working actor in the eye, say thank you for their performance, and give something toward helping lots of people. Broadway Cares also usually holds live performances for donations. With live shows on hold because of the pandemic, neither way of donating has been an option.

This year, Broadway Cares has a virtual performance called Broadway Backwards, available through 11:59 PM on April 3. It focuses on how the isolation of the pandemic has affected the LGBTQ+ community. The Broadway Backwards performances gender-flip songs so that those originally scripted for men are sung by women, and vice versa. There have been several Broadway Backwards performances to raise money over the years, and this virtual version includes some of them.

Which brings me to Bonnie Milligan and “I Met a Girl”.

The whole Broadway Backwards show is glorious and well worth the watch, but Milligan’s performance of “I Met a Girl” from Bells Are Ringing made me really take notice. So much so that when it was over, I turned to my wife and asked her if that really happened. Because here was a fat woman, wearing a dress similar to what I could probably find at my local Torrid, singing about having met a wonderful girl and falling in love. I saw myself on stage in a way that I have never seen before.

Bonnie Milligan, Debra Monk, and ensemble in Broadway Backwards. — Bonnie Milligan, Debra Monk, and ensemble in *Broadway Backwards.*

This… this is why representation matters. Because I saw a fat woman enjoying her new-found identity and being supported by the people around her. I saw someone who looks like me loving her life.

Milligan’s performance starts around 39:35, but I encourage you not to skip past what comes before (and everything that comes after). Her performance gave me a certain kind of hope that is much-needed more than a year into this pandemic life. I’m the newest member of the Bonnie Milligan fan club for sure.

If you miss being able to see Milligan’s performance in the virtual Broadway Backwards 2021, you can find it here from Broadway Backwards 2019. If you are able, please consider donating to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. On top of helping many AIDS and family organizations, donations are also going to help those in the performing arts who have been struggling due to job loss and having their careers put on hold. This year’s proceeds also go toward helping The Center which has been serving the LGBTQ+ community virtually almost as soon as their building closed.