It was 10:00 am on Saturday when Broadway legend Sutton Foster broke the news to Olney Theatre Center that she had a bronchial infection and couldn’t headline the theater’s annual gala the next evening.
This left Olney leadership scrambling with little more than 24 hours to put together replacement entertainment for the 250 guests and donors who would soon be arriving for Olney’s biggest fundraising event of the year.
“The first feeling when something like this happens is complete panic,” says Kevin McCallister, Olney’s Director of Curated Programs and Artist Advocacy, who had organized the gala performance.
But after the panic came the planning. McCallister conferred with Olney leadership, and the team collectively decided to go ahead with the event, which, in addition to Foster’s headlining performance, included a dinner and a fundraiser, events that required months of planning and had already cost — and accrued — the organization a lot of money.
“We decided that rather than cancel the whole event, we would take her [Foster] up on her offer to reschedule, continue with our gala dinner, and figure out a way to put on a performance for the guests who had already invested so much,” Olney Managing Director Debbie Ellinghaus shared.
But putting together an entire concert in 24 hours was a daunting task. McCallister spent most of Saturday conferring with Olney Associate Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Christopher Youstra, who was in a rehearsal for Olney’s upcoming production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. “We knew we wanted artists with ties to Olney, who were seasoned pros that the audience would recognize and who were flexible to put something together quickly,” Youstra says. McCallister led the effort, and by 10:00 pm, he had a team of 14 artists lined up and ready to perform a cabaret-style concert the following evening.
The next step was to decide what songs these artists would perform.
McCallister and Youstra spent Saturday evening compiling a list of songs from Olney shows past, present, and future. “We wanted to celebrate both the donors and the artists who have been with us for so long,” McCallister shared. “Everyone needed to see themselves and the work they’ve loved for decades on the stage.”
And there were other factors to consider when devising a night of entertainment on the fly. The songs needed to match each performer’s vocal style. In addition, the evening had to be entertaining. “Too many ballads and everyone is asleep. Too many uptempos and you’ve lost the passion of the evening,” McCalister shared.
Youstra, who would provide piano accompaniment to each song, had his own challenges. “My focus was to prepare the music and get a music book together, but of course, my printer stopped working, so I had to drive back to Olney at midnight to make copies,” he shared.
The next day, everyone gathered for a three-hour rehearsal, carved out in between rehearsal times for Gentleman’s Guide, before the gala’s 5:00 pm dinner and 7:30 pm performance.
When donors and guests filed into the recently renovated Bernard Family Theatre, they were treated to an invigorating reminder that the DC region is home to a deep bench of theatrical talent.
“No one but the theater community could have stepped up like this,” Olney Managing Director Debbie Ellinghouse told the assembled crowd when introducing the show.
The performance kicked off with DC theater star Bobby Smith performing a song from Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, the musical that earned him his first Helen Hayes Award. Smith returned later in the program to perform a jaw-dropping patter song from Barnum. Several Gentleman’s Guide cast members performed songs from that upcoming production (don’t sleep on tickets to that one!), and Brynn Williams, who recently originated the lead in Olney’s world premiere production of Little Miss Perfect, performed the title song from that show as well as “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid.
McCallister himself performed the humorous “Your Feet’s Too Big” from Ain’t Misbehavin’ and the heartfelt “Something Was Missing” from Annie, while entertaining the crowd with stories of his sleepless night planning the event. Ben Lurye performed a tear-inducing “Bring Him Home” from Les Mis, and real-life married artists Derrick Truby and Kylie Smith Truby partnered adorably on “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors. The performance ended with a group singalong of “Stand By Me” (audience participation was encouraged and the enthusiastic audience delivered). These songs and more were accompanied by Youstra, who played tune after hastily practiced tune with joy, humor, and prowess.
Indeed, if you hadn’t been privy to the backstage machinations of the performance, you would hardly have known it wasn’t all according to plan. Aside from the occasional misplaced spotlight, the team put on an impromptu show that was, dare I say, more entertaining than many a traditional gala performance, thanks to the artists’ talent and camaraderie and the adrenaline coursing through the theater.
This year’s gala was especially notable because it was the inaugural performance at the Bernard Family Theatre, Olney’s newly renovated original 1938 theater space, a product of Olney’s Staging the Future Capital Campaign, which funded major renovations to performance, rehearsal, storage, and classroom spaces on the theater’s 14-acre campus.
“It was a lot of flying without a net,” Youstra reflected on the event the next day. “But when you have a room of talented people who really care, magic can, and often does, happen.”
—
Olney Theatre Center’s Annual Gala performance took place on June 14, 2026, in the Bernard Family Theatre at Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd, Olney, MD. Sutton Foster’s performance has been rescheduled for August 9, 2026. Tickets to that concert will be available soon.
Olney’s world premiere solo production of Carla Hall’s Please Underestimate Me is playing now through July 12, 2026. See Trey Graham’s review, Carla Hall serves up her origin story in ‘Please Underestimate Me’ at Olney
Olney’s mainstage production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder will open on July 2, 2026.
The Cast of Olney’s Impromptu 2026 Gala Concert
Patricia Hurley Carpenter
Wynter Cook
Sadie Koopman
Benjamin Lurye
Kevin McAllister (Director and performer)
Donna Migliaccio
Canter O’May
DeCarlo Raspberry
Bobby Smith
Jacob Tischler
Derrick Truby
Kylie Smith Truby
Brynn Williams
Sumie Yotsukura
Chris Youstra (Music director)
