Turtle Creek Chorale keeps upping the ante with its Rhapsody divas, beginning with stage and screen star Idina Menzel in 2020 and followed by six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald in 2022.
This year the benefit gala welcomed Patti LuPone for a deliciously intimate concert filled with Broadway belting and juicy asides.
The star sang everything from Sondheim to Styne to Piaf, bravely plucking each tune at random from a top hat and teasing the audience with an excited giggle or a loaded "oh shit" upon seeing what's next.
But before the three-time Tony winner took the stage at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on April 1, there was a private cocktail reception and seated dinner for supporters of the Turtle Creek Chorale, the most recorded men's chorus in the world.
While guests dined, emcees Erin Ward and Rob Morean got right to the fun stuff with a live auction packed full of one-of-a-kind experiences.
A dream vacation to Cortona, Italy, for 10 people; a Thanksgiving cruise for two on the inaugural sailing of the Celebrity Ascent; and private in-home dinner prepared by James Beard semifinalist Junior Borges commanded big bucks to help support the Chorale and its mission to entertain, educate, unite, and inspire.
Members of the public then joined gala-goers for a truly memorable concert by LuPone, who was accompanied by long-time collaborator Joseph Thalken and sang from such career-defining shows as Evita and Company (though notably no Sweeney Todd or Sunset Boulevard).
At the end of the signature song "Ladies Who Lunch," LuPone even doused the delighted front row with the contents of her martini glass.
LuPone's personal favorites snuck in as well, with an entertaining one-woman duet to "A Boy Like That/I Have a Love" from West Side Story and even the Elvis Presley tune "Love Me Tender" with a backstory on growing up in a rock music-filled house.
Another duet, "If I Were a Man" from the short-lived Broadway musical War Paint, became a solo because "I prefer it that way," LuPone said slyly.
TCC artistic director Sean Mikel Baugh led the more than 250 members of the Chorale when accompanying LuPone, and on a poignant rendition of "A Million Dreams" from the film The Greatest Showman.
Then it was time to party. Spotted rocking out at the afterparty were TCC executive director Jeremy Wayne, honorary chair James Lynn Williams, and Rhapsody host committee members Marc Buehler and Junior Hernandez, Chris Clawson, Taylor Cleghorn, Bryan Daniel, Robert Emery, Ben Holden and Chris Hickman, Forrest Johnson and Gil Jesus, Casey Martin, James May, Wes McCormack and Daniel Kuhn, Peter Overland, Roger Poindexter, Jamie and Servando Rawson, John Rieger, Chuck Sweatt and Michael McGary, andFreddy Valderrama and Michael Scott Smith.
Photo by Cash Anglin and Justin Yoder
This is the third year for Rhapsody.
The Turtle Creek Chorale was founded in 1980, and today is comprised of more than 250 singing and auxiliary members who contribute over 100,000 hours annually to rehearsals, performances, and community outreach. You can learn more, donate, and see the Chorale's performance schedule here.
Ice skaters showed off their moves in the "Central Park" rink.Photo by Ashley Gongora
The Kilgore Rangerettes channeled the Radio City Rockettes.Photo by Ashley Gongora
Dessert included a cake that looked like a blue Tiffany box.Photo by Michael Merry