It’s hot in the Hamptons but that didn’t stop the fashionistas from fundraising for Bay Street Theater. Isaac Mizrahi auctioned off a dinner with Sarah Jessica Parker, Mathew Broderick, and Donna Karan then threw himself on the auction block for another bidding war. The celebrity auction raised several hundred thousand for the vital programs at The Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts. Lifetime Achievement Awards honoring Dame Julie Andrews, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Matthew Broderick were presented at the event. Bay Street Board Member Carol Konner was also honored for her many years of philanthropic support.
Sarah Jessica Parker accepted her Bay Street Theater Lifetime Achievement Award after a video was shown to the audience of Parker at age 12 years old in the musical Annie on Broadway. Ms. Parker has appeared in five Broadway shows and received two Tony nominations. Sarah Jessica Parker may be best known for her character Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City but her earnings in the fashion world rival her acting paychecks. SJP has earned tens of millions of dollars from her fashion sense. Her appearance in the 2000 MTV Movie Awards with fourteen costume changes led to multi-year contracts with The Gap, Jordache Jeans, Gilt, and partnerships for her shoe line with Nordstroms not to mention her hair and bridal wear endorsements. She is one of the world’s most photographed celebrities and her outfits set fashion trends whether she is in costume or just dropping her kids off at school.
Also, receiving Bay Street’s Lifetime Achievement Award was Matthew Broderick. Broderick holds the record as the youngest person to be awarded a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Broderick was 20 years old in 1983 when he won his first Tony Award. He also received a second Tony Award for How to Succeed in Business in 1995. He is known for his extensive collection of bowties and wore a Hampton’s ocean blue one to accept his Bay Street Award.
Auctioneer for the night and Bay Street patron Isaac Mizrahi is a fashion designer who has created costumes for several Broadway shows. Mizrahi has also appeared on the stage of Broadway as the character Amos Hart in the long-running hit musical Chicago. Mizrahi sings and does comedy in a cabaret act he performs regularly at Cafe Carlisle.
Other notable fashionistas heating up the Bay Street Theater Gala’s red carpet included LuAnn de Lesseps (former Housewives of New York), Eric Bergen (Madame Secretary), Ada Samuelson, Hope Hamilton (actress granddaughter of Julie Andrews), Emma Walton Hamilton (Bay Street Theater Founder), Frankie Lane (artist), Bonnie Comley (BroadwayHD Founder) and Julia Mytyka (actress). Also, adding to the glamour of the red carpet were The Bay Street Theater Board of Trustees including Steven Todrys (Chair), Patty Baker, David Fink, Carol Konner, Stewart F. Lane, Riki Kane Larimer, Tracy A. Mitchell, Scott Schwartz, and Christine Wächter-Campbell.
Emma Walton Hamilton was one of the founders of the Bay Street Theater in 1991 with her husband Steven Hamilton and Sybil Christopher. Emma presented the award to her mother, Dame Julie Andrews with a beautiful speech. The forever elegant, Dame Julie Andrews accepted her award by video expounding the importance of the programs and initiatives of the Bay Street Theater.
The funds raised at the gala support Bay Street’s educational programs and initiatives. Bay Street Theater is a year-round, not-for-profit professional theater and community cultural center, which endeavors to innovate, educate, and entertain a diverse community through the practice of the performing arts. It serves as a social and cultural gathering place, an educational resource, and a home for a community of artists.
For more information, see www.baystreet.org