What: The Sweet Potato Queens World Premiere Opening Night Party.
Where: Founders Club Salon at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.
The scoop: Tiaras, oversized cat-eye glasses and pink feather boas filled the room as guests celebrated the new musical based on Jill Conner Browne's best-selling books about sisterhood and self-empowerment that have spawned more than 6,000 chapters in 22 countries. Browne joined Grammy-award winning pop star Melissa Manchester, who wrote the music, Tony award winner Rupert Holmes, who wrote the book, and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Sharon Vaughn, who wrote the lyrics, in praising the production, which is part of the TUTS Underground series.
Phoenicia Specialty Foods catered the affair, using cheeky recipes from Conner Browne’s The Sweet Potato Queen’s Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner). Hors d’oeuvres included tuna salad and ham and cheese sandwiches, deviled eggs, "Pig Candy" (brown sugar lacquered bacon), Crab-and-Artichoke “Queen Dip,” paired with the “Queso Pig-Etarian Dip,” and “Bitch Sexy Meatballs with Sexy Red Sauce.”
For dessert, such delicacies as "Cat Shit Cookies" (sugary chocolate confections), "The Pumpkin Stuff that Dorothy Makes," and "Linda's Killer Cake with No Apples" were served, along with custom Sweet Potato-Cinnamon hot and cold-brewed coffee from Katz Coffee, and custom cocktails. The cast cut into a three-tiered bright green and magenta cake amid much applause.
The production runs through Sunday at the Hobby Center.
Who: Joining in the fun were Rob and Amy Pierce, Neil and Maria Bush, TUTS artistic director Bruce Lumpkin, TUTS associate artistic director Marley Wisnoski, Alan and Tricia Ratliff, J.J. Smith, Ernie Manouse, Joan Cohen, Charles and Carol Thornburg, Chris and Cindy Foushee, Bart and Becky McAndrews, Gaurdie and Simone Banister, Monte and Deborah Stavis, Larry and Charlotte Whaley, Brian and Shelly Hendry, Joel Szulc, Randy and Sandy Stilley, Adrian and Deborah Shelley, and Jeff and Elyse Cross.
Amy Pierce, Rob Pierce, Jill Connor Brown, Neil Bush, Maria Bush.
