Charleston Stage’s 13th Annual Dinner and Gala
Last Thursday, The Galliard Auditorium was transformed to “A Night on the Red Carpet” for Charleston Stage’s 13th Annual Dinner and Gala. The evening started out with cocktails and a silent auction upstairs where master of ceremony Greg Tavares of The Have Nots! and auctioneer Ken French were playfully heckling guests to increase their bids on a few of the auction items. They convinced one woman to increase her bid by $200 for the Berlin’s gift certificate.
After the cocktail reception, guests were escorted into the exhibition hall for a three course dinner where a true transformation had occurred. If you are familiar with the Galliard, you know that it is a very hard venue to decorate. Mitchell Crosby of JMC Charleston, once again created a masterpiece. The entire room was softly-lit by candlelight with white chiffon draping throughout. The tables were picture perfect with hundreds of vibrant roses cascading from a variety of distressed finished and ceramic tall floor vases.
Fourteen chefs from local restaurants, including Jacques Larson of Mercato, who fed the Charleston magazine table where I was seated, prepared a three-course meal to die for. Chef Jacques Larson started us with butternut squash ravioli with dried orange and sage, braised beef short ribs with horseradish mashed potatoes with toasted pine nut gremolata, and for dessert a chocolate hazelnut duo with vanilla ice cream on top. Let me tell you, by the end of the evening, all the magazine staffers were happily sedated in a major food coma. During dinner, we were all entertained by the Charleston Stage resident actors and young performers from Charleston Stage Education Programs. They performed a sparkling array of hit musical numbers from My Fair Lady to Mamma Mia. The most memorable moment was when proud mother and Charleston magazine style editor Ayoka Lucas’s son Khari graced the stage with his troop and performed a number from High School Musical. Khari was singing and dancing like a pro. The night ended with a live auction and money raised will provide critical funding for Charleston Stage’s extensive education programs which bring live theatre, acting classes, enriching in-school workshops and high school apprenticeships to more than 20,000 Lowcountry students each year.
