Tickets to Light Up CenterStage at 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, are as hot as the flaming bananas foster that will be served at the JCC’s most glamorous event of the year.
The fabulous fundraiser is almost sold out. If you don’t snag your tickets quick, you’ll be left out in the cold while lucky gala-goers feast on hors d’oeuvres and decadent desserts, sip cocktails from the open bar, bid on lavish items and experiences at the silent and live auctions, and take in a full Broadway revue performed by the stars of CenterStage.
You also won’t be privy to the announcement of CenterStage’s 2016-17 season or get to see the JCC transformed into a magical hidden forest.
“You won’t recognize the place,” said CenterStage Artistic Director John Leffert.
This year’s Light Up theme is “An Enchanted Evening.” There will be lanterns hanging from the ceiling, moss and wood-accented centerpieces, actors posing as statues, and even a few trees scattered throughout the venue.
This year’s auction items are simply dazzling.
Devotees of the Queen of Pop can bid on an awesome Madonna Package, which includes floor seating at her upcoming sold-out KFC Yum! Center concert, VIP booth rental at drag and dance club PLAY Louisville, a one-night stay at Courtyard Marriott Louisville Downtown, brunch for two at The Oakroom at The Seelbach Hilton, and a $50 gift certificate to Mesh restaurant on Brownsboro Road.
Other auction items include a French Lick vacation package with a one-night stay at West Baden Springs Hotel and two tickets to Big Splash Adventure, a 14k yellow gold ring with pave-set diamonds and an oval cut natural sapphire from Cherokee Coins & Jewelry, a haircut and color every 4 weeks for a year from J. Michael’s Spa & Salon, and 140 units of line and wrinkle-removing Dysport and two syringes of Restylane Dermal Filler from Physician’s Center for Beauty.
This year, the way Light Up attendees bid on silent auction items has been revolutionized.
Instead of stalking their coveted auction items and repeatedly writing bids on paper, gala-goers will be using ClickBid, mobile software that allows guests to bid via smartphone, iPad or Tablet, from anywhere in the venue. “Any time you’ve been outbid, you get a text,” and are shown the current high bid, said event chair Sarah Harlan. “You could be standing in the hallway and be furiously trying to outbid people.”
If digital bidding seems daunting, don’t fret.
Harlan said ClickBid and JCC staff will be on hand to guide guests through the process, and an assortment of iPads and iPhones will be available for folks who don’t have their own digital devices.
If ClickBid is a success at Light Up, it will translate into more money for Acting Out, the CenterStage program that is the main beneficiary of the evening.
Acting Out brings full professional theatre productions and corresponding educational exercises to area schools. The latest Acting Out show is And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, a moving and revelatory piece that adds dimension the story of Frank, and also tells the stories of her German Jewish friends and Holocaust survivors Eva Geiringer and Ed Silverberg.
Bidders who log on to ClickBid prior to the event will be able to see auction items, read descriptions, and plan their strategy ahead of time.
JCC Development and Special Events Director Lenae Price said attendees will get directions for joining the Light Up auction on ClickBid when they purchase tickets. Item pictures and descriptions will be accessible a week or two before the event.
Admission to Light Up CenterStage is $900 for a table of 10, and single tickets are $108. To purchase tickets, visit https://jewishlouisville.org/the-j/centerstage/light-up-centerstage/ or call Joanna Blieden at 502-238-2763.