Ziegfeld Girl Honored at NYC Gala Screening of Lubitsch’s ‘Trouble in Paradise’

posted by hourglass on March 13, 2006 at 4:34 am

NEW YORK, NY — On March 25th, Hourglass Group will kick off its 2006 season with Paradise Follies at the Murphy Amphitheatre at FIT.

Hosted by Tony-nominated Isabel Keating (The Boy from Oz), the gala event will honor the remarkable Dorothy Wegman Raphaelson (1904-2005), the penultimate Ziegfeld Girl. She was the wife of playwright and screenwriter Samson Raphaelson, who wrote the classic Ernst Lubitsch film Trouble in Paradise. In June, Hourglass Group will present the world premiere of a new stage adaptation of Trouble in Paradise at the Hudson Guild Theatre in Chelsea.

Paradise Follies will feature a Gala Champagne reception with Drama Desk award-winning composer Michael Garin (Song of Singapore) on the piano, a tribute film to Dorothy Raphaelson, a screening of Trouble in Paradise and a celebrity-filled afterparty sponsored by Grey Goose Vodka at the soon-to-open Chelsea club, Balance. Balance will house the Museum of Mixology, a museum dedicated to the history of the cocktail.

Many stars from film and Broadway are expected to attend the event: the benefit committee includes Cynthia Nixon, Edward Norton, Julie Halston, Saidah Arrika Ekolona, Charles Busch and John Guare. A portion of the proceeds will also benefit the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic of The Actors' Fund, which is providing health services to entertainment professionals who have relocated to NYC from New Orleans.

Hourglass Group has been producing adventurous new plays and neglected classics since 1999. The company is best known for its off-Broadway production of the first NYC revival of Mae West’s play SEX, which the New York Times called “exuberant, first rate” (Canby) and “smart, funny, and provocative” (Bruckner). Other credits include the world premiere of Ruth Margraff’s Red Frogs at P.S. 122 and Mae West’s Pleasure Man starring Charles Busch and Tom Hewitt.

Paradise Follies will take place Saturday, March 25, 2006, beginning with a Gala Champagne Reception at 6:30pm; the screening begins at 8pm and the after-party at Balance follows at 10pm. The event will take place at the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre at F.I.T., 7th Ave. @ 27th St.. For reservations, call (212) 868-4444 or visit www.hourglassgroup.org.