James Dawson, Head of School, was the first distinguished speaker. He has a sophisticated humor that was perfectly appropriate to the occasion. He presented Yefim Bronfman with the Richard Rodgers Award for Distinguished Service to the Performing Arts. Mr. Dawson spoke of Mr. Bronfman's background in Israel and Russia and about his personal experience with music. He was described as one who has brought us to a place where we appreciate the arts and ourselves. Mr. Bronfman joked about the challenge of eating the large chocolate piano dessert. Mr. Bronfman tore into the onstage piano with a passionate Rachmaninoff. He devoured the piano as he had devoured the dessert. With total confidence and poise, he mesmerized the banquet room.

Raffles for Broadway shows were drawn next, and winners will attend performances of Movin' Out (Watch for Upcoming Stories and Reviews) as well as Man of La Mancha, Take Me Out, and The Play that I Wrote.

Students performed next, in song and dance routines, with a George M. Cohan arrangement for All Aboard for Broadway/My Town (Jaime Gleicher, Jennifer McNulty, Caroline Pugliese), in which students joyfully pretended they were aboard a train and sang and danced in Broadway style, very well, I might add. Athena Adamopoulos played George Gershwin's Prelude No. 1, in a most distinguished and romantic manner, and Jessica Azenberg and Heather Levites adorably sang and danced Irving Berlin's Puttin' On the Ritz to piano and percussion with tuxedoes, leotards, and batons.

New York, New York, by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green, was sung by three boys (Harley Adams, Sean Hanley, Matthew Koplik), in a campy, but very On-Broadway style. Bernstein's and Sondheim's Somewhere was performed with a brilliant violin solo, by Yo-Yo Fann, an elegant and evocative vocal arrangement, sung by Alyssa French, and a lovely ballet, danced by Emily Adams, Paige Adams, Michael Gleicher, Ralph Ippolito, and Ariel Merrick. Milena Zhivotovskaya played Prokofiev's Suggestion Diabolique, Opus 4, with amazing piano fluidity, drama, and fearlessness. This was a lengthy and demanding piece for a tiny, but tremendous performer.

Be a Performer, by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, was performed by Harley Adams, Paige Adams, Zachary Bernhard, Jessica Dean, Jonathan Demar, Lucy Watson, Jessica Weiss, & "Friends". This ensemble of dancers, musicians, budding opera divas, gymnasts, and Broadway style singers, was strongly applauded and appreciated for their purposeful and powerful act. Sing, by Marvin Hamlisch and Ed Kleban, was presented by Kether Fernandez, Jason Marcus, & Chorus, with mellifluous voices, charisma, and professionalism. Final performances were Old Friend, by Stephen Sondheim, with Pierce Cravens, Jason Marcus, and Jessica Weiss, Waiting for Life to Begin, by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, performed by Jessica Graff, and Razzle Dazzle, by Kander and Ebb, a Full Company number. As an encore, I Love a Piano was sung and danced to Yefim Bronfman, Guest of Honor, in a coquettish and campy style.

For more information about Professional Children's School or next year's Gala, Contact John Tucker at PCS, 212.582.3116 or email jtucker@pcs-nyc.org