Broadway Ball Presenters’ fundraiser inspired by Young Frankenstein draws 300 to support Omaha Performing Arts Story and photos courtesy of Omaha Performing Arts.
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seven-foot Frankenstein dressed in a top hat and tails greeted guests in September at the Holland Performing Arts Center for the biennial Broadway Ball to support Omaha Performing Arts. The event theme was based on the upcoming Broadway touring production of “The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein.” Part of the fun included The Scott Recital Hall being turned into a lab where a mad scientist overlooked the party while guests enjoyed hors d’oeurves and green-colored cocktails served from test tubes. More than 300 guests helped raise $380,000. The event was hosted by Omaha Performing Arts and The Presenters, the volunteer organization that supports Omaha Performing Arts. Honorary chairs were Martha and David Slosburg. Event chairs were Ann and Jerry Crouse, Kate and Brad Grabill, and Karen and Larry Nelsen.
Following dinner, guests bid on entertainment-related items including: a walk-on role in the upcoming production of Disney’s Mary Poppins; a chance to have holiday card photos taken on stage with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s The Nutcracker; and dinner on the Kiewit Concert Hall stage at the Holland Center. Following dinner, a “Best of Broadway” performance was held in the Kiewit Concert Hall. Professionals and local students from “Broadway Dreams,” a partnership of Omaha Performing Arts and the Broadway Dreams Foundation, performed. The local students were from the Broadway Dreams Intensive program held this past summer at the Holland. They performed: “She Loves to Hear the Music,” from The Boy from Oz; “What I Did for Love”, from A Chorus Line; “Electricity,” from Billy Elliot the Musical; “New York State of Mind,” from Movin’ Out; and “Putting On The Ritz,” from The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein. A special encore of “Hallelujah” concluded the program. Presenters President Jeanie Jones served as emcee.
Top: Joan Squires, president of Omaha Performing Arts, with Broadway Ball Honorary Chairs David Slosburg and Martha Slosburg and Chairs Larry Nelsen, Karen Nelsen, Brad Grabill, Kate Grabill, Ann Crouse and Jerry Crouse. Right: Honorary chairs Martha and David Slosburg meet “Frankenstein’s monster” - , Chris Murrell, a 7 ft. 6 inch actor dressed in green face and tux who greeted guests in the Holland Performing Arts Center lobby as they arrived for The Broadway Ball – “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” Above: Tom Fey and Joan Squires with Dorothy and Dr. Stanley Truhlsen. www.readonlinenow.com
november/december | 2010
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