Lorna Luft to Perform at VNA California's ONE ENCHANTED EVENING GALA, Honoring Lainie Kazan
By: Tyler Peterson Mar. 09, 2016
On Saturday, May 7, 2016, VNA California will host their Annual "One Enchanted Evening" Gala at the Palm Springs Hilton from 5 to 9 p.m. Presented by The Advocate and Here Media (Media Sponsor), this evening promises to be an event to remember when VNA will honor Lainie Kazan with The John L. Treadway Loving Care Award. Lorna Luft accompanied by Colin R. Freeman will provide a live performance ending what will truly be "One Enchanted Evening!"
As VNA California celebrates their 85th Anniversary in 2016, it will be the 30th Annual Presentation of The John L. Treadway Loving Care Award. It is VNA California's way of recognizing some very special people for the extraordinary care they have given to a family member, friend or in Lainie's case, we are recognizing her generous philanthropic efforts and a supporter of various non-profit organizations, in particular, those which provide care for people afflicted with AIDS. Presenting Lainie with this well-deserved honor are Connie Stevens and Tab Hunter. VNA California is honored to present Lainie Kazan with The 30th Annual John L. Treadway Loving Care Award.
Special Guests who are CONFIRMED to attend our "One Enchanted Evening" Gala as of March 9, 2016 include: Johnny Cannizzaro ("Colony" and "Jersey Boys"), Sharif Dean ("Food Network Star"), Nicholas Downs ("Pearl Harbor"), Scott Evans ("One Life to Live"), Tab Hunter ("Damn Yankees"), The Honorable Robert Moon (Mayor of Palm Springs), Jai Rodriguez ("Malibu Country"), Connie Stevens ("Hawaiian Eye") and Darryl Stephens (Noah's Arc) with more to follow.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lainie Kazan is the embodiment of the word entertainer, an artist who has reached the pinnacle in virtually every area of performance. She has come a long way since she was Barbra Streisand's Broadway understudy in "Funny Girl." Once she was able to display her electrifying talent in two shows, she appeared in nightclub stints and guest appearances on virtually every top variety and talk show in network television, including an unparalleled 26 appearances on "The Dean Martin Show."
Her acting career began when her old college friend, Francis Ford Coppola, offer her a part in "One For the Heart". This led to other roles including "My Favorite Year", "Beaches", "My Big Fat Greek Life" and a variety of other stage, film and television projects.
Lainie has received critical acclaim for her role in the blockbuster comedy "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which has grossed over $600 million worldwide and won the People's Choice Award. She is currently starring in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" which debuts in March of 2016.
Her extensive body of work appearing on stage, screen and television have brought her critical acclaim garnering her Golden Globe, Emmy, Cable Ace and Tony Award nominations. She has received "Woman of the Year" from B'nai Birth and in 1990, she received "The Israeli Peace Award".
Lainie is a strong supporter of various charities such as AIDS Project LA and The Gay Men's Health Crisis. In addition, Lainie is an Adjunct Professor at the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television and a Lifetime Member of The Actor's Studio. Lainie is the proud mother of daughter, Jennifer, 37 and grandmother of Isabella Blue 9.
Lorna Luft's upbringing could hardly have been more star-struck. Born to the legendary Judy Garland and her film producer husband Sid Luft, Lorna had the entertainment business in her blood. And as if to confirm her status as showbiz royalty, the new baby girl's godfather was one Francis Albert Sinatra.
She made her debut in the industry at the age of 11, singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in the 1963 Christmas edition of her mother's television show. That episode also featured Lorna's siblings Liza Minnelli and Joey Luft, and by the following summer she was appearing in the family's concert tour. Culminating in a month-long residence at New York's Palace Theatre, it was the last time the 14-year-old Lorna would star on stage with her mother.
Lorna made her Broadway debut four years later in the show Promises, Promises written by Neil Simon, a musical version of the film classic The Apartment that was best known for the song "I'll Never Fall in Love Again." She returned to the stage in 1981 for an American tour of They're Playing Our Song and the following year made her big-screen debut in Grease 2 alongside Michelle Pfeiffer. In 1983, she appeared opposite Farrah Fawcett in the tough drama Extremities.
Television guest appearances followed throughout the 80s before she once more went back to her stage roots. She spent several weeks in 1990 touring the United States in an extravaganza called Jerry Herman's Broadway Years, before starring as Miss Adelaide in a US and subsequently world tour of Guys and Dolls that ran for nearly two years.
Lorna has maintained a concert career alongside her other performances and has won huge critical acclaim for her shows, appearing at such prestigious venues as the Hollywood Bowl, the London Palladium and Madison Square Gardens.
Lorna's multi-media production, entitled Songs My Mother Taught Me, toured the UK in 2007 and was released as an album the same year, co-produced by Barry Manilow and Lorna's Scottish husband, Colin R. Freeman. The show proved hugely popular with both audiences and critics: when it was staged in the US, Variety magazine hailed it as "a rousing, dramatically riveting musical event", while the LA Times called her performance "heart-stopping and thrilling... an incandescent revelation not to be missed".
Adding to her list of talents, in 1998 Lorna wrote a family memoir entitled Me and My Shadows, which was subsequently adapted as an Emmy award-winning television mini-series. And she's also a tireless campaigner for charity, not least since being diagnosed with breast cancer herself in 2012. Vowing to fight the disease, Lorna is committed to being an avid fighter and fundraiser.
In 2016, Lorna has been back on the cabaret scene with a new solo show entitled Triumph, as well as guest-starring in An Evening of Movies and Musicals. There's little evidence of her giving up on what she calls "the family business." But then, with showbiz in her blood, that probably shouldn't come as any surprise.
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