If you love animals, dig Broadway, and want to help out a great cause, then on Saturday, July 12th, head on over to New York City’s Shubert Alley and check out the tenth anniversary of Broadway Barks.

Created ten years ago by pals Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters, Broadway Barks aims to help many of New York City’s shelter animals find permanent homes by informing New Yorkers about the plight of the thousands of “homeless” dogs and cats in the New York City metropolitan area. Last year’s Broadway Barks attracted an audience of more than 6,000 theater fans, pet owners, and animal lovers, and featured the participation of more than 24 animal shelters from the New York City area, as well as Broadway stars from the hit shows of the season.

And this year, the event, which is produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and is sponsored by the ASPCA, Pedigree, and The New York Times, promises to be just as exciting. Joining co-hosts Moore and Peters in presenting animals for adoption will be such Broadway luminaries as: Christine Baranski (Boeing Boeing), Victoria Clark (The Marriage of Bette & Boo), Glenn Close, Harvey Fierstein (A Catered Affair), Boyd Gaines (Gypsy), Shuler Hensley (Young Frankenstein), Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu), Andy Karl (Legally Blonde), Lacey Kohl (Cry Baby), Nathan Lane (November), Mario Lopez (A Chorus Line), Priscilla Lopez (In the Heights), Orfeh (Legally Blonde), Judy McLane (Mamma Mia!), Matthew Morrison (South Pacific), and Faith Prince (A Catered Affair).

The potential pets that will be up for adoption at Broadway Barks 10 will come from several New York City animal shelters and adoption agencies, including Animal Haven, ASPCA, Animal Care & Control, Bide-A-Wee, Humane Society of New York, Long Island Greyhound Rescue, Metropolitan Maltese Rescue, Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue, NYC Siamese Rescue, Staten Island Council for Animal Welfare, Stray from the Heart, Tigger Foundation, Arf, and Save Kitty. Representatives from these organizations will be on hand to offer educational information on spaying and neutering.

Along with animal adoptions, Broadway Barks 10 will also feature an auction of celebrity-autographed memorabilia. Proceeds from the auction and other donations received during the day will benefit the shelters and organizations attending Broadway Barks 10.

Also adding to the excitement will be a book-signing by Bernadette Peters of her best-selling children’s story, aptly titled Broadway Barks. The book, which is dedicated to her late husband Michael Wittenberg, tells the story of Kramer (based on Peters’s own pet), a down-on-his-luck dog who, after being abandoned, follows a woman home from the park and finds a whole new life at the Broadway Barks event. Included with the book is an exclusive CD which features Peters reading the story and singing Kramer’s Song, a lovely original lullaby for which she composed the music and lyrics. Peters’s royalties from the sale of the book will go to the organization.

So why not throw a doggie a bone (or a kitty some catnip) and head on over to Shubert Alley on Saturday, July 12th? You may just wind up with a new best friend!

(Broadway Barks will take place on Saturday, July 12th in Shubert Alley – located between 44th and 45th Streets, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. The festivities begin at 3:30 p.m.; celebrity presentations of pets from citywide animal shelters will take place between 5:30-6:30 p.m. Bernadette Peters’s book signing will take place prior to the main event at 12:30 p.m at the Broadhurst Theater: 235 W. 44th Street. For more information about Broadway Barks 10, call (212) 840-0770, extension 477, or visit www.BroadwayBarks.com.)