Comedian Sinbad headlined this year’s Variety Show! (Photo courtesy of Variety the Children’s Charity)
By: Jacob Elyachar, jakes-take.com
When I walked into the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland last night, hundreds were already registered and mingling in the lobby.
While they were socializing, several donors went to the Mystery Box table and with either a $50 or $100 payment; guests received something extra for lending their support to Variety. Meanwhile, donors also congregated at the Super Silent Auction tables where they tried to outbid each other to win exclusive items such as tickets for the Kansas City Royals vs. Chicago White Sox series and their own cupping session at the Roasterie.
Throughout the hallways and in the auditorium, guests dined on some of the best dishes in Kansas City. Among some of the culinary highlights included Blanc Burgers + Bottles’ Mediterranean lamb sliders, Unforked’s kale salad and Spin’s Swiss chocolate, autumn spice crunch and pumpkin cheesecake gelato.
As they were dining, Variety supporter and country rocker Drew Six did a solo acoustic set that featured a diverse range of covers that included “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Counting Stars.” He later took the Midland stage to perform a moving cover of his hit: “We Choose Livin’,” a song that was dedicated to the charity.
In addition to Drew’s moving performance, performance artist Mike Debus took the stage to show the audiences the first stages of painting the Kansas City skyline. He later brought out the complete painting during the Live Auction and it sold for $1,000.
After the audience sat down, returning co-hosts (and KCTV5’s It’s Your Morning co-anchors) Alexis Del Cid and Dave Hall introduced the show and brought out Variety Show honorary chair Mike Avery, who was joined by special guest (and Variety kid) niece: Katie. Since her involvement with Variety, Katie’s life has changed for the better and hopes to do the same for other Variety kids, as she announced that she would be opening a lemonade stand this summer and all proceeds will go directly to Variety.
Variety President Jill DeBok also opened up on how the charity inspired her daughter, Hannah, to develop philanthropic traits. As a four-year volunteer, Hannah has worked at multiple Variety events including dressing up as the Variety Heart. At the end of her presentation, Ms. DeBok presented a heartwarming campaign video that showed how the charity is active with the community and outlined their goals: giving Kansas City…the power of communication and mobility.
Then, it was time for the most exciting (and at times…intense) part of the evening…the Live Auction. With the help of Wes, the fastest auctioneer in the city, audience members fought hard to get several big-ticket items including attending the Red Carpet premiere of the Amazing Spider-Man 2, George Strait’s final concert in Dallas and private suite at Katy Perry’s show at the Sprint Center.
However, one of the most moving moments of the evening was seeing the Variety children being escorted onto stage during the Fund-A-Need Presentation. Throughout the presentation, audience members opened up their hearts to provide Variety with the funds necessary to give families the ability to send their kids to camp and an adaptable van.
After Alexis tried her brand of “magic,” she introduced Variety fan-favorite Devin Henderson. Last night marked Devin’s third appearance on the Midland stage. He started his set using multiple iPhones from the audience members and was able to get 43,289 on all three phones and on a piece of paper. He also did a little palm reading…which lead to watches suddenly “disappearing” and “reappearing” out of nowhere.
Sinbad took to the stage and set it on fire. His jokes about the cops at Shawnee Mission Parkway to the Border War made the entire audience laugh very hard. Then, he turned the tables on the audience and dedicated the next half of the set to the ladies and let them asked questions to get in man’s mind.
To learn more about Variety, visit their website: http://varietykc.org/
