Auditorium Theatre welcomes some of the biggest names in entertainment every year, and is also home to Chicago’s beloved Joffrey Ballet. On Nov. 3, the theater hosted its 2018 Annual Fall Gala, chaired by Lou and Jill Raizin and Lew Collens and Lee Ayers.
The evening featured a cocktail reception at the Palmer House Hilton with music by Rich Daniels and the City Lights Orchestra, a three-course meal, and a performance by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons at the theater to end the evening. Mel Katten, chairman of the Board of Directors from 2002-2015, received the Adler and Sullivan Award for “dedication to the Auditorium Theatre and to the cultural landscape in Chicago.”
The gala raised more than $355,000, which will benefit the theater’s programming, community outreach efforts, and continued restoration of the theater, which was established in 1889.
Upcoming events at the theater include:
- Jan. 19-20, 2019: “Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah”
- Jan. 24, 2019: “National Geographic Live” — Pink Boots and a Machete
- Feb. 2, 2019: Trinity Irish Dance Company
- Feb. 13-24, 2019: Joffrey Ballet’s “Anna Karenina”
Anna Carlson writes the weekly Weekend 101 column and monthly Recommended Events. A graduate of the University of Missouri, her work has been published in Chicago Parent, Inside Columbia Magazine, and Central California Parent Magazine. She is a proud supporter of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
