Curtainup Founder & Editor Elyse Sommer's Epilogue -- I've passed the torch for reviewing and editing new theater productions on and off-Broadway and elsewhere. However, I'll continue to sound off here with my take on Live and Onscreen Entertainment. As for Curtainup's extensive content since 1996-- it's all sill available at www.curtainup.com

Friday, August 19, 2011

Book of Mormon tix = hot auction item

Tickets  for  The Book of  Mormon  are fetching astronomical    prices  and  savvy fundraisers  have  not overlooked  the  hotter than hot  show's  potential  for  raising  big bucks.  
 www.curtainup.com/bookofmormon.html


Debrorah  Graussman,     recently put together one  of  the  best    fund raising  galas  I've  ever  attended  to  raise  money  for   the Lenox, Mass  based   Shakespeare & Company's    widely  respected  education  program.    The enterprising  and talented Graussman   arranged  to  bus  a  bunch  of   Broadway  babies   to  spend  their   "off"  Monday  night  performing  (pro bono)   at  the  company's  filled to the brim   Founders Theater. 

To  add  to the $50,000  already  collected  from  ticket  sales,  Graussman   joined  host  Chip Zien  on  stage and  launched an auction  for 2  prime   Book  of  Mormon  tickets  for a  Saturday  matinee.  The   bidding was  brisk  and   the  winner  ended up shelling out $1900.  

Broadway in the Berkshires was so smartly organized, deliciously entertaining and indeed as close to a night on the Great White Way as you could get. Chip Zien was a delightful host who not only delivered lots of laughs  and  also performed, as did Graussman.

 It was an evening of non-stop highlights such as Brian Charles Rooney's hilarious multi-persona (female as well as male) medley of Broadway hits, and a thrilling dance solo by young Peter Mazurowski, one of the three young actors currently starring as Billy in Billy Elliot.

The  way  this evening was  organized could serve as a master class in ow to run a benefit that truly delivers  what it promised. With a trio of musicians that included the Boston Symphony Orchestra's chef cellist, Owen Young, who could ask for anything more? 

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