NYMF Gala

I had the immense pleasure of accompanying Grad to the NYMF Gala on Sunday night. The event was being held at the Edison Hotel Ballroom and I was excited to get a chance to wear the new outfit that Kathryn and I had bought at Bebe. We arrived early and Grad introduced me to Isaac, the founder of NYMF, and Sharon, the Board President. They were busy finishing up last minute details so we helped with namecards. The ballroom was very beautiful but also intimate which was nice. We had a table up near the front which would be great for the performances later in the evening. Our dinner companions arrived and I met the people we would be eating with – they included Warren Adler (author of War of the Roses), his wife Sunny (former editor of the Washington Dossier), several doctors included the man who perfected the liver transplant technique and their daughters, one of whom, Dana, is a senior in vocal performance at Ithaca College. Dana and I chatted through the cocktail hour which was nice since we had a lot in common. Later, we went downstairs for dinner – I had filet mignon (delicious) and potatoes. They started the awards section of the evening and we were treated to great performances from some of the shows from this past Festival. A couple parts of the awards made me think about Mo and Ryah. Mo because the Title of Show folks did a spoof on New York One’s theatre report and Ryah because of the awards for Fat Camp, which she was in. Once again, it’s funny how many random connections I have to things here from Seattle. Later we had dessert (chocolate lava cake and lemon meringue tart) and they also came around with random little items like mini ice-cream cones and HoHo-like sandwiches. I had a great time talking with such fascinating people and everyone was very kind and interested in what I was doing here. Although I did get quite a few “It’s such a hard business” talks. =) And yes, I’m aware. And no, it doesn’t change anything.

Later in the evening there were some famous guests including Richard Kein, Chad Kimball, Alice Ripley, Gavin Creel and Sherie Rene Scott. And I was so happy to see Greg Naughton and his wife Kelly O’Hara as well. We did a Christmas concert a few years ago in Montana and they are so sweet. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to say hi to them because a woman at our table lost her purse so we spent a lot of time looking for it at the end of the night. She thought she had put it in her gift bag (bad idea since everyone’s looked the same) but some staff later found it in the women’s restroom so that was a relief. Her husband came back and I ran it out to him from the afterparty location – the Paramount. We went over to the Paramount and the afterparty was very fun. At first, it’s always strange to be at these schmoozy things but they usually end up being fun and Grad is great at introducing people. I ended up talking to Chad Kimball (I had seen him in Memphis but had no idea he was from Seattle!) and I met the lovely Soara-Joye Ross not realizing that she was the beautiful girl in the purple dress during the awards (she won for her performance in a Festival show) and she was the one who performed later on in costume as an older slave woman. Seriously transformative. What was hilarious was that at the party I finally made the connection because she had accidentally left on her gorgeous rhinestone heart cascade earrings for her performance but no one had told her. So when I saw her wearing those earrings at the party I finally made the connection and I told her about it and she was mortified that no one had told her because she had made sure to take off all her rings, etc.! We had a great laugh about it and I told her I should have stood up and yelled it during her song because at one point people were yelling and clapping during her song at a particularly rousing point. She thought that was hysterical – playing Mama Lyla with some serious bling. I think I will call her Ms. Bling from now on. Haha! I also ended up meeting a girl who had worked as a stage manager at SecondStory Repertory and was the house manager when I did Pirates of Penzance there back in 2005 or something! How random! This just keeps happening. Manhattan – the Biggest Little City in the World! I also had a great time with Dana and her dad – they explained the Yule Log on TV to me. Who knew? Instant party in your home – just turn to channel whatever it is. Yule Log burning 24/7 throughout the holidays. We had an awesome time at the afterparty and totally shut it down. I got home around 2:00 a.m. and of course had to Skype with James to tell him about my awesome night! That meant not going to sleep until 3:00 a.m. Gross. But totally worth it!