January 2017

Singer/songwriter
Neil Sedaka will
perform at the
“Night of Stars”
Feb. 11 at the
Kravis Center.
(Courtesy of
Kravis Center)
Actor, musician and composer
Darren Criss will perform at
the “Night of Stars” Feb. 11 at
the Kravis Center. (Photo by
Catherine Asanov)
Singer Storm Large will perform at the
“Night of Stars” Feb. 11 at the Kravis
Center. (Photo by Laura Domela)
Dance Company, Roberta Peters, and the Florida Philharmonic
Orchestra. It drew an audience of 2,000.
After the show, guests proceeded to the transformed roof of
the Kravis Center parking garage where a dinner dance took
place.
One of the mightiest “acts” in Kravis history was its creation –
a process that took a good 40 years. From early cultural arts
inklings that roused in the early 1950s came the Palm Beach
Playhouse, which morphed into the Royal Poinciana Playhouse
in Palm Beach. Ideas for a more elaborate venue came and
went and locations were suggested, changed, or tossed away.
Bessie and
Raymond Kravis.
The Palm Beach County Council
of the Arts (later renamed the
Palm Beach County Cultural
Council, which still exists)
was formed, chaired by
Alexander W. Dreyfoos, then
chairman and president
of Photo Electronics
Corporation/WPEC TV-
12, and Judy Goodman,
an executive with his firm.
That panel began to give
serious thought to a major
performing arts center.
prominent geologist and philanthropist who wintered in Palm
Beach with his wife, Bessie. This gift served as a catalyst for
a private fundraising campaign and inspired the naming of the
center in Kravis’ honor.
The goal of the Kravis Center, Mitchell said, has been to
“present diverse, world-class entertainment; offer arts
education programs for all-ages; provide a home for local and
regional arts organizations to showcase their work; and, offer a
comfortable, safe, and state-of-the-art gathering place for our
community.”
Kravis is home to such area arts organizations as the
Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Miami City Ballet,
Palm Beach Opera, Palm Beach Symphony, and the Young
Singers of the Palm Beaches.
Mitchell promises that Kravis will continue to offer “performers
and shows that will appeal to audiences of all ages and every
entertainment preference, from Broadway to offbeat musical
sensations to delightful
shows for children.”
“As we have
done for the last
quarter-century,
the Kravis Center
is once again
providing superior
programming as
sophisticated, as
diverse and as
family-friendly
as the community
The effort grew to involve
many people and many donors
contributing a great deal of cash. In
1986, a major contribution shifted money-raising efforts
into high gear. A consortium of friends of Oklahoma native we serve.” P
Raymond F. Kravis agreed to raise $5 million in honor of the
the PARKLANDER 61