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| Carol Channing will perform Feb. 2 to raise money for scholarships. |
Beloved Broadway legend Carol Channing will give a 90-minute performance at Cal Poly Pomona that will help raise funds to support the arts.
An Evening with Carol Channing is scheduled Friday, Feb. 2, in the University Theatre at 8 p.m.
With her distinctive voice and wide eyes, Channing is a well-recognized stage and screen star. She is best known for her work in two iconic roles: Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly and Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
“This is an amazing opportunity to see one of the all-time, great Broadway performers,” said theatre department chair Bill Morse.
Proceeds from An Evening with Carol Channing will benefit a scholarship endowment at Cal Poly Pomona for students studying the arts. The show will open with short performances by musical theatre, voice and dance students.
“We are so thrilled that a musical theatre legend like Carol Channing has taken an interest in our students,” said Lisa Nashua, director of development in the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. “Her scholarship is an expression of her belief in the impact the arts have at all levels of education. The arts play a key role in the development of creativity in students from all fields of study.”
Morse credits his foray into theatre to Channing. He remembers watching her and the Broadway cast of Hello, Dolly in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s.
“We were way up in the second mezzanine, but it didn't matter,” he said. “There was Carol Channing in all her power and glory. She could just grab the audience. All the emotions went through me from laughing to crying. At the end of the show there were six curtain calls with the audience on its feet clapping like crazy. I don't think I've ever seen that many again. I remember thinking to myself that this is something I want to be a part of. Now I've been in theatre for 35 years.”
VIP seating and a reception with Channing cost $100; VIP seats $50; general seating $35. For more information on general seating, call (909) 869-3800; for VIP seating, call (909) 869-6848.