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.
