Stage star Carol Channing to perform benefit in Sacramento

Proceeds from "Carol Channing and Friends," a song-and-dance revue emceed by Jo Anne Worley and featuring actress Carole Cook and singer-actress Joyce Aimee, will be divided between California Musical Theatre, which produces Music Circus, and the Carol Channing & Harry Kullijian Foundation for the Arts, which supports arts education in schools.

Channing, 88, will formally announce the benefit event to patrons attending Tuesday's opening night of "Thoroughly Modern Millie," the first production in Music Circus' summer schedule.

"Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore and I did the (1967) movie 'Thoroughly Modern Millie.' I got the Golden Globe Award," Channing said Thursday while in Sacramento for the day with Kullijian, her husband of six years. "The Broadway show got the Tony Award, but I never saw it, and I wanted to see this 'Thoroughly Modern Millie.' So they said I could introduce it."

Channing will use the opportunity during her "curtain speech" to reminisce about the movie version of "Millie," which inspired the Broadway show, and to talk about the foundation her husband founded two years ago.

"I'm his spokeswoman," she said.

"You're more than that, baby," Kullijian said, grinning. "This is a part of our life that's so important. The arts is the missing link in our country. The arts have been removed from public schools. We're launching the foundation in California and will be taking it national next year."

Channing, who has appeared in nearly a dozen Broadway shows, was honored in 1995 with a lifetime achievement Tony Award. She began her career in the early 1940s as an understudy to Eve Arden in "Let's Face It."

As part of "Carol Channing and Friends," Channing will reminisce about her days on Broadway and the famous people she knew.

"I'm thrilled she was interested to do it," said Richard Lewis, executive director of California Musical Theatre. "Somebody with that rich theatrical tradition, on a stage in Sacramento with a rich theatrical tradition, is great."

California Musical Theatre shares the mission of arts education with the Channing-Kullijian foundation, he said.

IF YOU GO

-- General admission tickets for "Carol Channing and Friends" are $75.

-- A limited number of $250 VIP tickets include a reception with Channing.

-- For ticket information, call (916) 557-1999 or go to www.CaliforniaMusicalTheatre.com

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Call The Bee's Dixie Reid, (916) 321-1134.

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