Channing To Be Honored At Palm Springs Gala 2/5

Tony winning Broadway legend Carol Channing will be honored at the LIGHT OF HOPE AWARDS on February 5, 2011 at The Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Palm Springs, California for her outstanding work with The Dr. Carol Channing And Harry Kullijian Foundation For The Arts in advocating for arts education in all public schools across the nation. The "Night At The Movies" Gala will star Tony Nominated stage, film and television actress Jonelle Allen and the nationally renowned young performing group, The Kids Next Door. Proceeds from the event will benefit Christophers Clubhouse, a non profit organization dedicated to educating and empowering children, parents and communities to keep children safe from predatory crimes.

The fully staged and costumed song and dance extravanganza will feature songs from the movies ranging from the MGM classics to Disney Favorites to Footloose and Moulin Rouge and including several of Ms. Channing's signature songs, Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend and Before The Parade Passes By.

Carol Channing is best known for originating the roles of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello Dolly, for which she won the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical. She received the Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award Nomination for her work in the film Thoroughly Modern Millie starring Julie Andrews. In 1981 she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and in 1995 received the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award. She was granted a doctorate in fine arts by The California State University, Stanislaus in 2004. Carol and her husband Harry founded the Dr. Carol Channing and Harry Kullijian Foundation for the Arts in 2004 to advocate for arts education as part of the standard curriculum in all public schools throughout the United States.

Jonelle Allen made her Broadway debut when she was four years old in the revival Wisteria Trees starring Helen Hayes, Ossie Davis, Cliff Robertson and others at the New York City Center Theatre. Ms. Allen received a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Musical and won the Drama Critics, Drama Desk, Theater World, and Outer Circle Awards for her performance as Silvia in the New York Shakespeare Festival production. Other Broadway credits include the original casts of Hair and George M, starring Joel Grey and Bernadette Peters. Ms. Allen has appeared in numerous feature films and teleVision Productions including Hotel New Hampshire, Cagney and Lacey, Hill Street Blues, Generations, Twice In A Lifetime for PAX-TV and Strong Medicine for Lifetime Network and she co-starred for six seasons on CBS-TV's Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.Ms. Allen also wrote and starred in Harlem Renaissance: The Life of Florence Mills which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland last year.

The KIDS NEXT DOOR are a nationally renowned song and dance troupe, in residence at Southern California's Musical Theatre University, and for the past twenty years have performed their high energy productions for conventions, trade shows, charity events, throughout Southern California and the United States, working with such corporations as Toyota, Walt Disney Productions, Coca-Cola, Isuzu, Southern California Edison and Home-Aid Orange County's "Project Playhouse". They have appeared on both national television and radio and have produced and starred in five PBS television holiday specials. They have appeared as headliners seven times in Las Vegas and worked with such stars as Tony Orlando, Debbie Reynolds, Vicki Lawrence, Carol Burnett, Bob Hope, Cathy Rigby, Rita Moreno, Don Ho and Broadway legend John Raitt. Alumni of the KIDS NEXT DOOR include Tony nominated actors Susan Egan and Matthew Morrison, Stephanie Block, Lindsay Mendez, Krysta Rodriguez, Anneliese vanDer Pol, Scott Barnhardt and more.

For tickets or more information about the LIGHT OF HOPE GALA please visit www.christophersclubhouse.org.

Photo Credit: Mark Rupp.

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