Another Wonderful Holiday Event and Awards Show--
Filled with Love, Reminiscence and Melancholy.
DO40 Honors its Own – the 2013 Legacy Awards
Members, see videos of this event now!
Members and Non-Members view photos of the event.
(l to r: Bob Avian, Tracy Everitt – accepting for Skip Randall – Lawrence Merritt,
Chita Rivera and Ellie Quick, accepting in honor of her sister, Louise)
DO40 presented its fifth annual Legacy Awards at their Holiday Dinner, this year again LIPS restaurant in NYC. Honorees this year were Chita Rivera, Bob Avian, Lawrence Merritt, Skip Randall and Louise Quick (posthumously), with a special Honorary Award to BC/EFA Executive Director Tom Viola. Speakers Lisa Mordente, Baayork Lee, Larry Fuller, Teak Lewis, Harvey Evans and Tracy Everitt were all eloquent and heartfelt in speaking the praises of all these wonderful people, who have given so much to their profession – and to DO40.
A special video montage was shown in honor of Legacy Honoree Louise Quick, who died November 1st. Her sister Ellie flew in from Colorado, along with her daughter Ashley and other family members to accept Louise’s award. Both Chita Rivera and Lawrence Merritt offered stories about Louise and shared their love for her. There was humor and heartache, laughs and gentle tugs at the heartstrings.
(Clockwise at the Honoree and Speakers’ table: Chita Rivera, Lisa Mordente,
Tom Viola, Lawrence Merritt, Baayork Lee, Peter Pileski, Bob Avian and Joe Tremaine)
Hostess for the evening was Broadway and Off-Broadway Diva Christine Pedi. She regaled the audience with story after story as well as impressions of the great stars singing holiday songs. Tracy Everitt filled in for Legacy Honoree Skip Randall, who was unable to fly in from New Mexico with his wife. Skip was in Call Me Mister and Make Mine Manhattan in the ‘40s with a young upstart named Bob Fosse…
(Chita Rivera – center – with Louise Quick’s sister Ellie and her daughter, Ashley)
Also in the audience, former Legacy Award winners Nicole Barth, Bella Malinka, Ken Urmston, Larry Fuller, George Marcy, Harvey Evans, Joe Tremaine, Lee Roy Reams and Norma Doggett-Bezwick. Members roamed the tables finding old friends they hadn’t seen in decades. And our newest – and youngest – board members, Roger Ellis and Bethany Elkin, were on hand to help out with our video set-up and round up loads of volunteers from Marymount Manhattan College. It’s so important for the younger generation of theater and dance students to understand the importance of the history, legacy and lives of our community.
Our volunteers for the evening – l to r, DO40 member Lawrence Leritz, Marymount Manhattan College students Tim Allen, Allison Scott, Liane Zelinski, Katrina Colletti and new board members – and teachers at Marymount – Bethany Elkin and Roger Ellis. Not pictured, DO40 members Leni Anders, Diana Baffa-Brill and Eileen Casey, and DO40 Board Members Teddy Kern, James Dybas, and Gitana Garcia)
The special honorary award to Tom Viola was so very important, as BC/EFA has played a central role in the growth of DO40, and with their yearly funding, have allowed us to produce the panels and performances we have today. We are like a sister organization, giving back when we can, through our dance concerts and at the BC/EFA Flea Market every year. DO40 has donated over $10,000.00 to BC/EFA in the seven years we have participated in that event.
(Hostess Christine Pedi, along with Harvey Evans, speak the praises of BC/EFA Executive Director Tom Viola)
Also in the audience... Patti Lupone and Matt Johnston, John Breglio, Patricia and Bert Michaels, Denise and Steve Boockvor, Marianne Selbert Troy and hubby Hector, Steve Jones and Valarie Pettiford of the Verdon/Fosse Legacy, LLC, Carol Maxwell, Felicia Velasco, Lori Tan Chinn, Roseana Mineo, Jodi Moccia, Frank Davis, Rose Dennis (in from Pennsylvania), Kim Greenberg (in from Rhode Island), Karin Baker, Carolyn Kirsch, Penny Worth, Ellen Fluhr, Mary Six Rupert, Loida Santos and cast members from every 1950s, 60s and 70s show imaginable! An impressive crowd. An impressive evening!
DO40 is so fortunate to have a membership of such dedicated people!