Tag: 22651

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Why Phylicia Rashad Is the Queen of Showbiz: Stage, Screen, and a Legacy of Mentorship

Some performers shine. Phylicia Rashad shapes — the medium, the culture, and the generations coming up behind her. Her influence doesn’t just play on stage or screen; it works quietly through every young actor she’s mentored, every standard she’s set, every door her career helped open.

It started, for most of America, with Claire Huxtable. On The Cosby Show, at a time when television rarely granted Black families such depth and dignity, Rashad built a character of intelligence, warmth, and authority — professional woman, loving mother, moral center, all at once. She didn’t just play a role; she redrew what representation could look like.

A stage career of firsts

Theater gave her the historic milestone: the first Black woman to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, for A Raisin in the Sun. More than a personal triumph, it was an expansion of possibility — proof, delivered with discipline and reverence for the craft, that the highest honors had room for more.

Her stage presence has always carried that signature combination: technical mastery with emotional clarity, strength with subtlety. Younger actors study it the way students study a text.

The educator

What elevates Rashad from star to institution is her devotion to teaching. As dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University, she doesn’t merely teach technique — she instills purpose, connecting students to a lineage of Black artistry and reminding them their work means something beyond fame.

Ask working actors about her and the same words recur: guiding presence, discipline, integrity, authenticity. In an industry built on trends and visibility, she represents the steadier virtues — craft, culture, community.

She shares the artistic bloodline with her sister Debbie Allen, whose dance and television work complements Rashad’s own legacy. Together they’ve helped build a cultural foundation that keeps supporting new generations.

That is the final measure of her reign: excellence achieved, then immediately put in service of others. The queen of showbiz, it turns out, spends most of her time building the kingdom’s future.

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Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Jana and Trevor Bezdek Chair Center Theatre Group’s Starry 2026 Gala Honoring Rashad and Grey

Some invitations carry their own electricity. Center Theatre Group’s announcement of CTG The Gala — set for Sunday, March 29, 2026, under the stewardship of gala chairs Jana Bezdek and Trevor Bezdek — arrived with the quiet confidence of an institution that knows exactly what kind of night it can deliver.

The occasion is a milestone: CTG stands on the eve of its 60th anniversary, and the gala serves as both tribute and threshold — honoring decades of theatrical excellence while opening the door to what’s next.

Chairs with a personal stake

Jana Bezdek, named as Gala Chair alongside Trevor Bezdek, brings more than ceremonial leadership. The couple’s engagement is hands-on, setting a tone of refinement and vitality that runs through the entire evening. Their partnership signals shared civic commitment — philanthropy as a joint project, not a photo opportunity.

They’re backed by institutional strength: Snehal Desai as the Brindell and Milton Gottlieb Artistic Director shaping the creative vision, Meghan Pressman as Managing Director and CEO ensuring the ambition lands, and a Board of Directors framing it all.

Honoring two icons

The evening’s emotional core is the recognition of Phylicia Rashad and Joel Grey — two careers that have shaped generations of theater, film, and television. Rashad brings quiet authority built on decades of technically masterful, emotionally clear performance. Grey brings a musical theater legacy of precision and depth that set standards performers still follow.

The performance program bridges legacy and innovation: selections from Here Lies Love and Mamma Mia!, with surprise guests promised to keep the night unpredictable.

An evening in three acts

The structure mirrors a well-built show. Guests gather at Jerry Moss Plaza for cocktails and dinner — a meal prepared by celebrity chef Suzanne Goin, where every course reinforces the evening’s care. Then the Mark Taper Forum hosts the one-night-only gala performance. The night closes back at the plaza with a party leaning fully into joy, dressed in sequined, disco-inspired style — bell bottoms and platform shoes encouraged as participation, not costume.

Behind it all stands a deep bench: a gala committee (Nancy and Patrick Dennis, Jay Marcus, Jeanne and Gary Newman, Marsha Tauber Sallai and Imre Sallai), a host committee spanning foundations and entertainment leaders, and an honorary host committee — Debbie Allen, Sutton Foster, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Lea Salonga, Michael Urie, Ben Platt and more — that reads like a census of theater’s biggest believers.

What distinguishes the evening isn’t scale but clarity of purpose: a celebration anchored in the mission of keeping theater a vital cultural force. Past honored, present celebrated, future funded — all in one luminous night.

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Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Center Theatre Group’s Disco Gala Lights Up Downtown LA Ahead of Its 60th Anniversary

Downtown Los Angeles doesn’t throw a subtle party — and Center Theatre Group’s gala wasn’t one. Sequins, sound, and star power converged at Jerry Moss Plaza for a disco-inspired celebration that doubled as a cultural milestone: the eve of the company’s 60th anniversary.

From the first arrivals, the tone was set — a world of shimmer and warm light nodding to disco’s golden age, executed with the polish of a major cultural institution. Elegant but joyful, nostalgic but current. Every detail felt considered, every transition intentional.

Leadership and legacy

The evening was presented under the Board of Directors, with Snehal Desai as the Brindell and Milton Gottlieb Artistic Director, Meghan Pressman as Managing Director and CEO, and Jana Bezdek as Gala Chair. Their collective vision framed a night honoring both the organization’s remarkable past and its continuing relevance.

The emotional center belonged to the honorees: Phylicia Rashad and Joel Grey. Their contributions to theater are foundational — Rashad’s commanding stage and screen career, Grey’s generation-defining musical theater legacy — and the recognition landed with genuine gravitas.

Dinner, performance, dance floor

Cocktail hour gave way to a dinner crafted by celebrity chef Suzanne Goin, each course reflecting the evening’s commitment to excellence. Then the Mark Taper Forum took over: a gala performance featuring selections from Here Lies Love and Mamma Mia! that blended storytelling with pure rhythmic joy, dissolving the line between performer and spectator.

Back at Jerry Moss Plaza, the transformation completed itself. What began as an elegant gathering became a full-scale disco celebration — lights shimmering, the dance floor filling, downtown LA briefly becoming the music epicenter of the world. Sequins caught the light; distinctions dissolved; the collective spirit took over.

A community behind the curtain

Gala chairs Jana and Trevor Bezdek earned repeated recognition for shaping the experience, supported by a gala committee including Nancy and Patrick Dennis, Jay Marcus, Jeanne and Gary Newman, and Marsha Tauber Sallai and Imre Sallai. The host committee — spanning the Ahmanson Foundation, Fox Entertainment, the Louis and Harold Price Foundation, and many dedicated patrons — and an honorary host committee reading like a theater who’s who (Debbie Allen, Sutton Foster, Carol Burnett, David Byrne, Ben Platt, Lea Salonga, Daniel Dae Kim, Michael Urie, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Justin Mikita, and more) underscored how deeply the institution is held by its community.

Sixty years in, the message of the night was clear: theater endures because people gather for it — and few gatherings make the case quite like this one.

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Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.