Saturday night I made my way to Variety’s 52nd Annual Dinner with the Stars at the Peabody Opera House. I’ll go see John Legend if he comes to town every week, because he’s only failed me once in all the time he’s been crankin’ out hits and coming through STL to sing them. When he kicked things off Saturday night with “The Penthouse” and jumped right into “Tonight” I was like, “I guess he didn’t get the memo that Variety is a children’s charity.” He did, because that was as risqué as it got. This show was a little more showy than usual for him. He had a little dance routine, hopped on the piano and everything. But even though it was a bit different than what I usually see as far as the pace and the selections, it was still great. He clearly knew it was a children’s charity event when he flung the theme song from “Beauty and the Beast” up in his set list out of nowhere. And I was not the least bit mad. I was quietly thrilled and hoping as his next TV production he would star in a live television version that will most certainly eclipse “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Congrats to the folks at Variety for $2.1 million raised – and a shout out to David Steward and family for the additional $50K and his daughter Kimberly Steward’s $20K donation on behalf of her company K Period Media.
