Downtown Manhattan was sparkling Thursday during GLAAD’s New York Gala, hosted at Cipriani 25 Broadway. GLAAD, the largest LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization, presented its prestigious Vito Russo award to the highly acclaimed Oscar and Tony winning producer, Bruce Cohen.
The night featured an elegant red carpet, where the man of the hour stopped by to chat with The Knockturnal about what partnering with GLAAD means to him.
“It’s overwhelming in a really good way,” said Cohen. “Vito Russo is such an icon, one of the co-founders of GLAAD, and GLAAD is all about storytelling and activism. I’m a producer and an LGBT activist to my core, so it feels really special and validating and thrilling to be getting this award tonight.”
Cohen is known for landmark films like American Beauty, The Silver Linings Playbook and Milk, just to name a few. Cohen accepted his award dressed head to toe in Thom Browne, which he explained was a nod to his father, who joined him at the event.
“I’m obsessed, from head to toe,” said Cohen. “We have a little tradition in my family. My 92-year-old dad George, who’s here tonight, buys me a birthday gift each year, and it’s usually a Thom Browne outfit. So this is courtesy of George, especially for this evening.”
Sarah Kate Ellis, President & CEO of GLAAD, spoke with The Knockturnal about what makes Cohen the perfect honoree for the evening.
“It would take too long to list the things Bruce has done for our community. In short, I’d say he understands representation, how important it is and how it changes lives,” said Ellis. “He also understands politics and how important that is. So he understands how culture change leads to political change, and he’s been doing it for decades upon decades. He’s a dear friend who I just admire, and I can’t wait to see him tonight.”
Other stars on the red carpet included Frankie Grande and Jay Armstrong Johnson, both recently involved in big musical theatre hits.
Grande spoke with The Knockturnal about what the support of the Titanique fandom has mean to him.
“The cool thing about Titanique was that we’ve been going for nine years. I did the first reading back in 2018, I want to say, so I’ve been in the show for a long time. When we started our Broadway run, so many fans came on night one, and many Broadway shows don’t get to experience that on night one,” said Grande. “I don’t even know if Hamilton had that on night one. It was very exciting to have die-hard Titanique fans, because we’ve had productions all over the world as well. So that love was there, but there were also new people discovering Titanique for the first time. Many people who hadn’t seen me on Broadway in 13 years were like, ‘Whoa, Frankie, we didn’t know you did all this.’ It was really beautiful to feel like such an amazing and integral part of the community again.”
Jay Armstrong Johnson is currently starring in the hit off-broadway show Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody.
“It’s been amazing. We’ve just been riding this huge wave. The TV show is so important, such an incredible queer story. So for us to continue the tradition of this amazing queer story, put our own little spin on it, and have the fans come in and love it just as much… it’s just 80 minutes of queer joy every night,” he said. “You know, we’re living in some wild times here. They want to shove us back into closets, and it’s not going to happen. So I’m so proud to be gay, I’m so proud to tell queer stories, and I’m really happy to be here at the GLAAD Gala.”
