The Seventh Annual Jewish Family Services (JFS) of the Desert’s “One Night Only” production by Michael Childers opens April 23 at 6 p.m. at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert. Hold on to your high hat, because this promises to be a night to remember with the “Michael Childers Presents/One Night Only Jewish Legacy of Broadway” tradition. This means a memoir celebrating the vintage personalities that played a role in creating Broadway from Eddie Cantor and George and Ira Gershwin to Al Jolson and Stephen Schwartz who brought Wicked to the world.
The announcement was made at the JFS 11th Annual Patron Party, a cocktail supper on December 9 at the residence of Donna MacMillan in Indian Wells. The Patron Level begins at $1,000.
Last year “One Night Only” was a roaring success, raising $200,000 to fund JFS and the services provided to the community from mental health consulting and camp scholarships to KidsFirst Health Life and Senior Care Management programs.
Ken Katz, an expert in nonprofit fundraising, has met with extraordinary success in staging this annual event. Katz said, “One Night Only sold out in ten days in 2013. It’s an event the desert population looks forward to toward the end of the ‘season.’ Calvin Remsberg will direct the 2½-hour production in two acts. Expect entertainers such as Elaine Paige, Roger Bart and Liz Callaway to bring Broadway into the limelight, with a Jewish spin.”
Katz promises one “unannounced performer.” This year the event takes off the night before, April 22, with a cast party at the residence of Helene Galen followed by the official after-party on April 23 at Acqua Pazza, the popular California Bistro at The River. Both venues are in Rancho Mirage.
For information, call (760) 325-4088 or visit www.jfsdesert.org.
Pam Price is a Coachella Valley correspondent for www.forbes.com/sites/PamPrice/.