The 2023 Broadway Dallas Gala Treated Guests to an Immersive Night at the ‘Moulin Rouge!’

As I walked down a red carpet and towards the Music Hall at Fair Park, a shirtless man wearing suspenders and a bowler hat (with a better smokey eye than I can do) seductively barked at me, “No flash photography!” before cracking a whip against his thigh. Welcome to the Moulin Rouge, indeed! 

On Saturday, April 1, 2023, Broadway Dallas, formerly known as Dallas Summer Musicals, welcomed 350 ladies and gentlemen, bohemians and artists, and coquettes and boulevardiers to the Music Hall at Fair Park for their annual fundraising gala featuring a full performance of Moulin Rouge! The Musical. The event raised $870,000 for Broadway Dallas’ education programs, making it the most successful gala in the organization’s storied 82-year history.

I’m admittedly biased (full disclosure: I also work for the organization!), but Broadway Dallas’ Gala is a “spectacular spectacular” departure from the standard lineup on the Dallas fundraising circuit. The cheeky actors hired to mingle with guests as cabaret performers indicated upon arrival that this wasn’t your standard Charity Chicken. (I admired the actors’ dedication, too. At one point, I saw the aforementioned whip double as an oar while the actor mimed swimming upstream through the crowd. It’s called art, Karen!)

Inside, guests browsed the silent auction items in “Satine’s Boudoir,” while an actress primped and preened at her vanity in a voluminous pink chiffon robe. For dinner, HAS Events bedizened the Crystal Terrace restaurant, creating the illusion of a tent by draping panels from the ceiling and filling the entire room with luxe shades of, well, rouge. With Ambassador Kathryn Walt Hall and Craig Hall as the Honorary Chairs for the evening, the HALL wine flowed and paired perfectly with the four-course menu created by FGF Catering. 

Donning red boas, Co-Chairs Jolie Humphrey and Gail Plummer welcomed the jubilant crowd. Broadway Dallas Board Chair and FORVIS CEO Tom Watson thanked attendees for their generosity and support. Most importantly, Broadway Dallas’ President and CEO Ken Novice (in a Thom Browne kilt!) reminded everyone why they were there. 

“Spreading the spirit of Broadway is our driving force, and because of the generosity exhibited at this year’s gala, we are able to continue and build upon our education and community initiatives as we work to make a difference in the lives of others through the power of live theater,” Novice remarked. 

The cornerstone of the evening, 30 students from Guyer High School, who participate annually in Broadway Dallas’ High School Musical Theater Awards, performed “Paris Holds the Key (To Your Heart)” from Anastasia. Inspired by the students’ talent (and reassured that the future of Broadway is very bright!), guests opened their wallets for the quintessential paddle raise and to bid on two luxurious live auction packages from HALL Wines and Louis Vuitton (which were so fabulous, decadent, and hush-hush that I can’t even write about it here!). At 8 p.m. the silent auction closed online just as gala guests hurried to their orchestra seats for the show itself. One lucky online bidder won an F1 package to Mexico City with all the first-class bells and whistles from the comfort of their own sofa. (The height of luxury if you ask me!)

The best part of Broadway Dallas’ Gala? They stick to their own bread and butter for entertainment. Guests enjoyed the full spectacle that is Moulin Rouge! The Musical, which won 10 2021 Tony Awards including Best Musical, before returning to the Crystal Terrace for the After-Hours Fête post-performance party.

Covered in confetti that rained down during the curtain call, partygoers feasted on French fare including crepes, truffle pommes frites, and croque monsieurs against the electric backdrop of DJ Sheka, perched on a platform high above the crowd. 

Simply stated? Broadway Dallas knows how to make fundraising fun again.

Less than 48 hours later, 2024 Gala Co-Chairs John Quattrocchi and Joseph DeMartino hosted a planning meeting at Park House for their turn as the fete’s ringmasters.  Confetti still lingered in my clutch from Saturday night’s soiree, yet here we were, planning the next one. But, hey — that’s showbiz, baby.