Post 780 - July 9, 2025

Each year, Broadway Barks! invites shelters from all over the New York area to bring in the many dogs and cats they have in their kennels, who are desperately searching for forever homes. We enlist the stars of as many Broadway shows as we can fit in Shubert Alley, in the heart of the theatre district, to help introduce each of these animals to the public. Since 1999, when we held our first adoption event, Broadway Barks! has helped thousands of remarkable, deserving pets find families who’ve welcomed them into their lives.

As one of the people who helped found Broadway Barks over a quarter of a century ago, I can say that it is one of the things in my life I am most proud of. Each year, my two fellow producers and I roll our eyes in anticipation, sigh deeply, and get down to it. It’s endless work, but when it’s all over, and we’ve managed to help get some of those dogs and cats out of their kennels and into their new homes, there’s nothing else that feels that good.

A few days ago, one of the shelters contacted us and said that they will be bringing a couple of extra dogs to our event this year. These dogs had to be taken in after their owners were taken away by ICE.

I’ve written before about the Stumble Stones monuments in Rome. They are the small brass squares placed in amongst the cobblestones in front of houses where Jewish people used to live, before they were rounded up by the Gestapo. They are, in fact, in many places throughout Europe.

I had been to Rome many times before I discovered them. Once, seen though, I found I was seeing them everywhere. They were even in places I had visited countless times before. I’d been more interested in getting an espresso or a gelato than I was in opening my eyes. They are purposefully placed where people must walk over them, and, without realizing it, I had. Once seen, though, you can’t help but notice them everywhere.

The Republicans have just opened their first concentration camp in Florida. Having been to Dachau and Buchenwald in Germany, I can tell you that the Republicans have copied the design that the Nazis perfected during World War II. Well-ordered lines of tented barracks sit isolated in the middle of the Everglades, away from prying eyes. The tents are designed to hold hundreds of people. They will eventually hold thousands.

For now, the inmates will be fed minimal rations. Eventually, like the Nazis, the Republicans will discover that the cost of feeding and caring for these people will become exorbitantly expensive and they will begin killing them.

The problem with stopping this is that none of us truly believes it is happening.

That can’t be true. Surely, they would never be so cruel. You’re exaggerating. Up until now, the MAGA-controlled GOP has followed the Nazi playbook page by page. Every time they flip to the next, we all think, surely, they aren’t going to go further than that. Every single time they do. Why would they stop now?

Sending our fellow human beings to places like South Sudan and El Salvador is tantamount to killing them. Why not just do it here?

The headlines this morning are all grim. Russia has escalated its war with Ukraine. The death toll in Texas is now well over a hundred people. Measles, a disease that had all but been eradicated, is on the rise. Israel has initiated a new ground assault in Lebanon.

Our new concentration camp has already been pushed further back in the newspaper.

After the Great War, German citizens said they had no idea what was going on in the camps. Despite the constant acrid smoke and continual stench of burning flesh, they maintained that they were wholly in the dark. It wasn’t believable then, and it won’t be believable this time, either.

We know what is going on. We can face the truth or avoid the truth, but that is not going to change the truth.

On Monday, more than a hundred federal ICE agents descended on MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. Fox News was embedded with the troops to capture everything on film. It’s unclear if anyone was arrested. The entire charade appears to have been a publicity stunt, a show of force.

The President suggested yesterday that the federal government should take over New York City and Washington D.C. He’s already inserting himself into our city’s politics by threatening to stop the congestion pricing that has reduced traffic and pollution in midtown Manhattan.

"We're going to straighten out New York... Maybe we're going to have to straighten it out from Washington," the President said. "We're going to do something for New York. I can't tell you what yet, but we're going to make New York great again also."

We all know how this ends. There’s no pretending that we don’t. The template the Republicans are using couldn’t be clearer. Nobody will ever be able to claim they didn’t know this was happening. It’s right in front of us. It’s being reported in the news. There are tens of thousands of books available, describing what occurred when the same model was followed eighty years ago. If you later claim you had no idea, it will be because you chose not to.

The people who owned the two new dogs at the shelter are very likely never coming back. These people were settled enough in their lives that they were able to take care of their pets. I had never thought about what and who the Jewish people of Europe left behind when they were all deported. What happened to all their dogs and cats?

Broadway Barks! is not a political event. It never has been. That’s not what we are about. Every year, for the past twenty-six years, we have had joyful afternoons in Shubert Alley filled with Broadway stars and lovable pets. This year will be no different. If the two dogs are there, it will be up to the shelter whether they want to provide the potential new owners with their history. We are just going to try to find them all a place to live.

There is a quote by the great abolitionist Sojourner Truth that says, “Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life's light to be determined by the darkness around me.”

I’m writing about this now so that on Saturday, it won’t need to be said. Nobody needs to fear that the afternoon will become a political rally. There are times and places for that, and Broadway Barks! is not one of those times, nor one of those places.

The shelters will all begin arriving during the Saturday afternoon Broadway matinees. From 5:00pm until 6:30pm, we will show you all the dogs who’ve come. The cats will all stay cool in vans parked along 45^th Street.

Bernadette Peters, as always, will host the show along with the great Beth Leavel. Among our scheduled presenters are Audra McDonald, David Hyde Pierce, Jinkx Monsoon, and Cole Escola. Many of this year’s Tony winners, like Kara Young, Natalie Venetia Belcon, and Jak Malone, along with countless other performers, will also be there showing off these wonderful animals.

We should all be aware of what’s going on, but we also need to take care of ourselves and each other. None of us should allow our life’s light to be determined by the darkness around us.

We all need to maintain our resolve to fight against that darkness. In the meantime, let’s all keep our hearts open and strong.