A beloved Manhattan dinner theater that fought off closure with a flood of donations received a Playbill-worthy encore this week to lift much more funds.
The enduring West Financial institution Cafe in Hell’s Kitchen — which raked in additional than $120,000 to maintain it from shuttering over the summer season — staged a efficiency Tuesday that includes Broadway stars to assist pay for hire and upgrades on the time-worn joint.
Tony-nominee Liz Calloway, Tony-nominee Amanda Inexperienced, and SAG award-nominee Richard Sort lit up the stage throughout a three-act present as Bianca Leigh of the hit Broadway comedy “Oh, Mary!” emceed.
Greater than 160 folks attended the $500-a-ticket fundraising gala, the place theater-world celebrities vowed to bend over backwards to save lots of the quirky hotspot.
“I’ll assist this place keep alive so long as I’m ready,” mentioned Kristy Cates, a gala sponsor and actress identified for her function in “Depraved.”
“I simply really feel like [West Bank] is a secure haven in a metropolis that’s so wild, unyielding, and unforgiving,” she added. “This can be a place the place we actually come and be ourselves.”
“I keep in mind sitting right here with [Tony-winner] Chita Rivera consuming within the again, I keep in mind warming up with Ariana Grande when she was like 12 years previous. I sang numerous reveals and made numerous mates,” she mentioned.
In July, the star-studded dinner theater joint — the place the likes of Stephen Sondheim and Tennessee Williams as soon as hobnobbed — mentioned its curtains may shut without end because of monetary woes.
Theater buffs, together with some celebrities and regulars donated to its GoFundMe, elevating over $120,000 of their $850,0000 purpose, supporters mentioned.
The quantity was sufficient for the eatery to indefinitely postpone its authentic deadline of Aug. 24 to October, based on Broadway producer Tom D’Angora, an everyday who began the web fundraiser.
The dearth of a COVID bailout first triggered the cafe to show to GoFundMe in 2020, when followers raised $350,000 to maintain the lights on.
The dinner theater remains to be in negotiations with the constructing’s landlord and has raised 25% of the cash wanted to make sure the cafe can keep open — and transfer ahead.
Throughout the gala Tuesday, Liz Calloway sang in a gap efficiency, with a West Financial institution-themed rendition of “I Know a Place” by Petula Clark.
“When life is low and you’re lonely you possibly can at all times go to… West Financial institution!” Calloway belted to an enthusiastic viewers.
Gala tickets price no less than $500 for a night that included an open bar and loads of hors d’oeuvres.
Hosts Tom D’Angora, Michael D’Angora, and proprietor Steve Olsen buzzed round checking in on patrons within the typical “household spirit,” gala attendees advised The Publish.
The cafe, which additionally hosts the 80-seat Laurie Beechman Theatre in its basement, has a storied historical past and has additionally been frequented by Al Pacino and lots of up-and-coming Huge Apple actors.
Joan Rivers had her last efficiency within the theater and different acts, similar to Chita Rivera, referred to as the theater and restaurant dwelling.
Extra reporting by Natalie O’Neill
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