Tom Viola stepped down as executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS at the end of 2024 after leading the charity for 36 years — but not before he was given a star-studded send-off at the Edison Ballroom on Dec. 16 with performances by Broadway stars Beth Leavel, Lillias White (“Hadestown”), Debra Monk, and Norm Lewis (“Phantom of the Opera”). The celebration was hosted by Christopher Sieber (“Death Becomes Her”) and there were also remarks from Bebe Neuwirth, Jonathan Groff (“Merrily We Roll Along”), and Broadway Cares board members. (Groff credited Viola as key to his break into the business when he advised the then 19-year-old waiter to volunteer at Broadway Cares and connect with the theater community. Two years later Groff was on Broadway in “Spring Awakening.”)
Neuwirth hailed Broadway Cares under Viola’s leadership as the group “that holds us together” in the Broadway community.
Viola’s successor at Broadway Cares, his longtime colleague Danny Whitman, hailed Viola’s ability to “create space to make things happen,” starting with the original mission of aiding people with HIV/AIDS in the entertainment community, but — while never abandoning that mission — broadening the mission to women’s health and many others in crisis, reaching “hundreds of thousands here and millions elsewhere.”
Viola, a self-effacing leader who, with his staff and volunteers, has raised many millions of dollars for the group’s causes, told the crowd he’s often been urged to run for public office.
“I’d never survive the opposition research!” he said to general laughter.
He pulled out a card he always carries with him to guide his life and work. It reads, “Begin where you are. Do what you can with grace. Move forward in faith. And, most importantly, ask for help.”
Viola said, “Together we have engaged in ways that saved lives, lifted people out of despair, pushed back at stigma, and through it all we had some great, hilarious good times…. Together we can prove that decency is not weakness, that kindness coupled to determined action can create great waves of courage from which will come the change we want to see and be.”
He finished by quoting the great actor Andre de Shields: “Generosity and gratitude are the fuel of the universe.”
