Carol Channing Appears at Jewelry Sale Fundraiser in FL, Jan. 12
By: BWW News Desk Dec. 30, 2005
Steve Watt, owner of Gulfshore Homes, is partnering with Gulfshore and has generously donated the use of his exclusive custom home, the Montserrat, in Mediterra for the evening. At 5pm, there will be a private gourmet dinner (which is now sold out) at The Club at Mediterra with Channing and her husband, Harry Kullijian.
Carol Channing, a recipient of the 1995 Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, has been a star of international acclaim since a Time Magazine cover story hailed her performance as Lorelei Lee in Gentleman Prefer Blondes writing; "Perhaps once in a decade a nova explodes above the Great White Way with enough brilliance to re-illumine the whole gaudy legend of show business." Her Broadway appearances include So Proudly We Hail, Let's Face It, Lend An Ear (Theatre World Award), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Show Girl, Pygmalion, The Millionairess, The Vamp, Four On A Garden, and Wonderful Town. Making theatrical history, she won the Tony Award in 1964 for her legendary portrayal of Dolly Levi in Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!. Jacqueline Kennedy and her two children made their first public appearance after JFK's death by seeing her perform in Hello, Dolly! and later visited her backstage. She has since played the role in over 5,000 performances, including a smash London engagement at the great Drury Lane Theatre without missing a single performance. She then toured with her own revue, Carol Channing and Her Ten Stout-Hearted Men and critically acclaimed tours of Jerry's Girls and Legends, in which she co-starred with Mary Martin. She has been the star of numerous films, TV shows and animated features, as well.
Kristen Coury, Producing Artistic Director of Gulfshore Playhouse, states, "We are absolutely delighted that Carol is willing to come host our event. She believes fervently in the need to encourage the love of live theatre in the next generation and stands behind our goal of building a Regional Theatre in Southwest Florida."
At 6:30pm, Carol will sing "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" to kick off an hors d'oeuvres, dessert and cocktail reception, including an exciting jewelry sale, hosted by the Kazanjian Foundation. Harry and James Kazanjian emigrated from Armenia in 1912 to the United States and made the American dream a reality. They were so deeply affected by our nation's liberties and impressed by the strengths of its leaders, that they carved four of the world's largest Sapphires into busts of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Kazanjian Foundation is a charitable organization established to support scientific, artistic, cultural and other worthy causes. The Kazanjian Foundation specializes in gathering donations of jewelry and fine collectibles for charitable purposes. The Foundation then markets and sells the donated jewelry, passing 100% of the proceeds to other charities and charitable causes. Pieces currently in their collection that could be for sale on January 12thare Bing Crosby's 14K Gold cufflinks, Gregory Peck's Diamond Ring, and Madonna's Wedding Tiara. 30% of the proceeds will be donated to Gulfshore Playhouse.
Gulfshore Playhouse recently made an announcement that Land Development Group, LLC, an affiliate of The D'Jamoos Group, Ltd., is committing the donation of enough land for Gulfshore Playhouse to build their new state-of-the-art Professional Regional Theatre. This space will be located in a new development project named "Estero on the River," which is situated on the Northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Corkscrew Road. The commitment is contingent upon the successful rezoning of the land that is currently under contract for this project. Kristen Coury adds, "We have just hired Westlake, Reed, Leskosky as our architects out of Cleveland, Ohio and are delighted to be entering the design phase for our Professional Regional Theatre."
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