'A trip to the stars, to Venus and Mars'...
Well I didn't get to Venus and Mars last night, but I was surrounded by Stars. My dear friend, Nancy Ford, invited me to be present at her table at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Dramatists Guild Fund at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Columbus Circle. Nancy was a patron of the event and her writing partner for their numerous Broadway shows, Gretchen Cryer, is the President of the Fund. The evening was honoring John Kander, half of the team of Kander and Ebb who wrote many musicals including Chicago and The Kiss of the Spider Woman.
After a cocktail hour and a sumptuous dinner, the show began.
Lots of candles and wine glasses!
The first to perform was Joel Grey who sang 'Willkommen' from Cabaret. Stephen Schwartz, the President of the Dramatists Guild spoke in glowing terms about the honoree. Karen Mason sang 'Colored Lights' from The Rink, Rita Gardner sang 'There's a room in my house' from A Family Affair and 'You would never shame me' from Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Paul Bogaev, in addition to being the pianist for much of the evening, sang 'The First Time' from Zorba, Howard McGillin sang 'I miss the Music' from Curtains, and Debra Monk stopped the show with 'Everybody's Girl' from Steel Pier.
Christie Brinkley introduced Bebe Neuwirth and Karen Ziemba who recreated 'Nowadays' from Chicago, followed by Stockard Channing who sang 'A Quiet Thing' from Flora the Red Menace. Terrence McNally introduced Chita Rivera who did a medley from Kiss of the Spider Woman.
After a presentation to John Kander of the Guild award, Liza Minnelli wound things up with four numbers ending with 'New York, New York'. She then got Chita back onstage and eventually the entire case gave a rousing finale.
Liza is 66 and Chita is 79! The last time I heard Liza sing I thought her vocal cords were shredded. Somehow, last night, they worked. Chita did well, too. After years of eight shows a week, it's a wonder that any of these actors has any voice left. But that problem is for another blog.
Needless to say, it was a heady evening for this country boy. I apologise for the condition of some of the pictures. My camera doesn't do well when there are lot of stage lights being used.
