NYCs West Bank Cafe calls in stage stars to help raise funds after fighting off closure

A beloved Manhattan dinner theater that fought off closure with a flood of donations got a Playbill-worthy encore this week to raise even more funds.The iconic West Bank Cafe in Hell’s Kitchen — which raked in more than $120,000 to keep it from shuttering over the summer — staged a performance Tuesday featuring Broadway stars to help pay for rent and upgrades at the time-worn joint.Tony-nominee Liz Calloway, Tony-nominee Amanda Green, and SAG award-nominee Richard Kind lit up the stage during a three-act show as Bianca Leigh of the hit Broadway comedy “Oh, Mary!” emceed.More than 160 people attended the $500-a-ticket fundraising gala, where theater-world celebrities vowed to bend over backwards to save the quirky hotspot.“I will help this place stay alive as long as I am able,” said Kristy Cates, a gala sponsor and actress known for her role in “Wicked.”“I just feel like [West Bank] is a safe haven in a city that is so wild, unyielding, and unforgiving,” she added.“This is a place where we really come and be ourselves.” “I remember sitting here with [Tony-winner] Chita Rivera eating in the back, I remember warming up with Ariana Grande when she was like 12 years old.

I sang countless shows and made countless friends,” she said.In July, the star-studded dinner theater joint — where the likes of Stephen Sondheim and Tennessee Williams once hobnobbed — said its curtains could close forever due to financial woes.Theater buffs, along with some celebrities and regulars donated to its GoFundMe, raising over $120,000 of their $850,0000 goal, supporters said.The amount was enough for the eatery to indefinitely postpone its original closing date of Aug.

24 to October, according to Broadway producer Tom D’Angora, a regular who started the online fundraiser.The lack of a COVID bailout first caused the cafe to turn to GoFundMe in 2020, when fans raised $350,000 to keep the lights on.The dinner theater is still in negotiations with the build...