Edward Callaghan News

The Glimmerglass Festival held its 2012 Spring Gala GL!MMERATA! on April 10 at The Metropolitan Club in Manhattan. The glittering evening benefitted the company's Young Artists and Summer Internship programs.

GIVE KIDS A SHOT! National Meningitis Association Gala 2012 , A Benefit to Save Lives in the Fight Against Meningitis, a Vaccine-Preventable Disease, Honorary Chairs Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. and Sharon Loeb & Nick Springer; Gala Chairs Lenore Cooney, Cooney/Waters Group & Gary Springer, Springer Associates PR ; Master of Ceremonies is EMMY Award winning actor Richard Thomas. Auction Chairs: Matt Klarberg & Errol Rappaport.

The NYC Dance Alliance Foundation (NYCDAF) celebrated its first anniversary at The Joyce Theater with a dazzling evening of dance artistry "Destiny Rising" featuring outstanding NYCDA alumni, the dynamic choreography of NYCDA faculty and special guest performances by stars of prominent dance companies all to benefit the NYCDAF College Scholarship Program.

Fred & Adele Astaire Awards Producer Patricia Watt, The Douglas Watt Family Fund for the Performing Arts, & art consultant Julie Keyes hosted a kickoff cocktail reception for the committees and sponsors of the 30th Fred & Adele Astaire Awards Gala at the theater district's Remi Restaurant. Astaire Awards Associate Producer Carolyn Kendall Buchter and Alix Michel, the Co-Chairs of the 30th Anniversary Awards Gala were also on hand to welcome guests that included such theater world glitterati as 5 time Astaire Award winner Susan Stroman, producers Emanuel Azenberg, Wendy Federman and Dan Whitten, SDC Executive Director Laura Penn, Lee Roy Reams, Bruce Michael, NYC Dance Alliance Executive Director Joe Lanteri, J. Elaine Marcos (Priscilla: Queen of the Desert), Kearann Giovanni (Hugh Jackman Back to Broadway), Meggie Cansler (Wicked), Rob Ashford (How to Succeed...), actresses Sondra Lee, Sarah Bierstock, Cassandra Seidenfeld Lyster & Jacquelin Murphy. Also lending their support for the 30th annual Awards which will take place in spring 2012 were Sara Johnson, Wendy Diamond, Kirk Pacheco, Suzy & Lincoln Boehm, Lynn Surry, filmmaker AlBert Maysles, Andrew Wargo, Caroline Lieberman, Pamela Morgan, Regina Kravitz, Barry Minsky, Joel Breiter.

Amas Musical Theatre presented yet another marvelous event at The Players Theater as part of its Six O'Clock Musical Theatre Lab: a staged reading of The Countess of Storyville.

Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist William Kennedy was the guest of honor at a special toast at popular Theater District eatery, Trattoria Dopo Teatro. Longtime friend and noted film and theater producer Barbara Ligeti along with Trattoria Dopo Teatro owners architect Emilio Barletta & Giuseppe Manica hosted the reception to salute the author on the release of his eagerly anticipated new novel, 'Chango's Beads and Two Toned Shoes'.

The Development Wing which has dedicated itself to nurturing new musicals via partnerships with regional not for profit theaters held an exclusive, intimate one-night-only benefit concert on Sunday July 24 featuring Broadway stars singing songs form three new musicals at the historic Tewksbury, New Jersey home of Cherie King.

The 29th Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards, hosted by Bebe Neuwirth and Lee Roy Reams at the magnificent Skirball Center for The Performing Arts at NYU once again honored excellence in dance and choreography on Broadway and in film. Susan Stroman took top honors for Best Choreographer on Broadway in a field of nine nominees for her stunning work in 'The Scottsboro Boys'. It was a record breaking 5th Astaire Award for the 5 time Tony Award and 5 time Drama Desk winner. Two time Tony Award Winner Bebe Neuwirth presented the award to Ms. Stroman. Sutton Foster star of 'Anything Goes' took home her second Astaire for Best Female Dancer on Broadway for her rousing performance as 'Reno Sweeney'. Her first Astaire was for 'Thoroughly Modern Millie'. Desmond Richardson, Tony nominee for 'Fosse' and co-founder and co-artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet presented the award to Ms. Sutton. First timer Norbert Leo Butz star of 'Catch Me if You Can' took the prize for Best Male Dancer on Broadway presented by Tony and Drama Desk winner Karen Ziemba . Australia's Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon won the Astaire for Excellence in Choreography in Film for their breathtaking dances in 'Mao's Last Dancer' presented by Tony Award winner Bill Irwin. Legendary dancer, choreographer, teacher and founder of the National Dance Institute Jacques d'Amboise received the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award named for the late drama critic and co-founder of the Award with Fred Astaire. Following a major tribute in dance including a brilliant performance by NYCB's Russell Janzen of a piece from the ballet 'Who Cares' created by George Balanchine and first danced by d'Amboise; an exuberant performance of 'Shall We Dance' by d'Amboise's students at the National Dance Institute and praiseful introductions by Len Cariou, Charlotte & Christopher d'Amboise, Brian Stokes Mitchell presented the award to Mr. d'Amboise.

The 29th Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards nominees were announced by choreographer & director Lee Roy Reams at a special reception hosted by Carolyn Kendall Buchter, Ronald Buchter and Patricia Watt, Producer of the Astaire Awards at Theater Row's Firebird Russian Restaurant,. The 'Astaires' are the only awards to honor excellence in dance and choreography on Broadway and in film. Check out photos from the reception below!

ROLEX Career Transition For Dancers 25th Anniversary Silver Jubilee was a complete sell out with everyone of the 2,700 seats at City Center filled. Over 800 guests went on the the Hilton for the Anniversary supper, the live luxury auction and dancing with the dancers. The evening raised a cool $ 1.2 Million which will go to CTFD's scholarship programs. Allen Brill, ROLEX USA, CEO & President committed to presenting the annual Jubilee for three more years.

On Our Toes in the Hamptons, the annual performance and fundraising gala featuring Ronald K. Brown's Evidence, A Dance Company one of the world's most acclaimed dance troupes, returned to the Hamptons for the seventh year to celebrate its 25th anniversary & honor longtime supporters Prince Kunle Omilana of Nigeria & his American born wife Princess Keisha Omilana at the Hamptons estate of The Honorable Bernard H. Jackson and his wife Joyce Mullins-Jackson.

Emmy award winning actor Richard Thomas currently starring in the hit play 'Race' on Broadway announced the nominees for the 28th Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards honoring excellence in dance and choreography on Stage and in Film at a by-invitation-only cocktail reception at famed celebrity watering hole Elaine's.

The event was a special toast to nine time Tony award winner Tommy Tune who will receive the group's Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Brooke Shields at the awards gala benefiting The Auditory Oral School of New York.

David Steiner's mammoth Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, the largest film studio on the East Coast was the setting for a salute to stage and screen legend Patricia Neal, Wall Street whiz Shirl Penney and The Count and Countess Alexandre de Lesseps. The 'Hooray For Hollywood' gala evening benefited The Auditory Oral School of New York, a non profit organization which specializes in teaching deaf and hard of hearing children to listen, talk, think and socialize.

Ann and Bill Van Ness hosted a cocktail party to toast the honorees, co-chairmen and committees of Career Transition for Dancers upcoming Jubilee Gala 'Dance Rocks' at City Center on October 29.

John Randolph Hearst hosted a poolside cocktail party to support Ellen Adler and her son Tom Oppenheim, President and Artistic Director of Stella Adler Studio of Acting, upon the announcement of the upcoming 2nd Harold Clurman Festival of the Arts.

With its landmark home at Guild Hall of East Hampton undergoing massive renovations under the master architect Robert A.M. Stern, Josh Gladstone, the John Drew Theatre's Artistic Director, has taken his band of actors and designers on the road, so to speak.

Ardent dance fans came in from The Hamptons or drove down from Connecticut for Patricia Kennedy and Rolex USA CEO Allen Brill's annual kickoff luncheon for the Career Transition for Dancers Jubilee Gala at famed restaurant Sardi's for the announcement of this year's honorees and the lineup of participating artists.

Wynn Handman, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre was toasted by a gathering of theater and film luminaries at a reception in his honor

Judith Ivey, Harris Yulin, Joseph Stein, Scott Frankel and more recently turned out for a screening and celebration of Grey Gardens at the fabled estate in East Hampton