- Photo by Steve Wagner
Cleveland Public Theatre's annual fundraising bash Pandemonium will descend upon Detroit-Shoreway tomorrow night and it promises to be as spectacular and Moulin-Rouge-ian as ever.
Paupers take heed: tickets are a steep $135 ($75 of which is tax deductible!) so it's not exactly for your everyday nihilistic twentysomething, but CPT's development director Catie Dargue says that if you do have the resources to attend, you can leave your wallet at home.
"Your ticket covers everything," Dargue says. "We really want to stress that. Food, drink. Valet is paid for. You literally walk in and there's a guest list and then you just enjoy yourself. It's a celebration."
Pandemonium is CPT's major annual development initiative and Dargue says it takes six months to plan and funds roughly a fifth of the theatre's annual operating costs. If you've been before, you know what a sensory feast the evening truly is. And Dargue hints that this year, they've got some new and exciting "pieces" in their performance portfolio.
"The really exciting thing this year is the church space," she says. "It has been transformed into a Vaudeville theater made entirely out of cardboard. You walk in, and you'd think someone would have spent years constructing it."
Dargue says guests can look forward to a few more interactive performances — a lighthouse keeper searching for his lost love sounds pretty darling — and the traditional dance groups which take part in Pandemonium every year.
"There are almost too many acts to mention," says Dargue.
Festivities begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday evening: BRING. YOUR. OWN. ABSINTHE.
