Broadway booster

"We raised $ 98,000 (Rs 72,49,305) on the night of the event,” stated Behroze Clubwala, elated that the virtual Maestro Broadway Evening and online auction fund-raising event on October 24, 2020 was a phenomenal success. It resulted in augmenting the corpus of the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Fund of New York’s Dar-e-Mehr Zoroastrian Temple (DMZT) that was inaugurated in 2016, she mentioned in her detailed response to Parsiana. "We went into the event with nervousness as it was during the pandemic…We could hardly believe our eyes when we read the $ 25,000 (Rs 18,49,312) in the chat box from an anonymous donor… Donations are still coming in… As of November 20, the amount raised was $ 108,549 (Rs 80,29,641) and total pledges $ 724,333 (Rs 5,35,80,722),” added Clubwala who is on the core team led by Edul Daver that planned the event.
The three lady presidents, Marzie Jafari of DMZT, Shirin Khosravi of the Iranian Zoroastrian Association and Khursheed Navder of the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY) reiterated that the goal of $ 1,000,000 (Rs 7,39,72,500) for the O&M Fund should be met by December 2022. They were keen "to keep our Dar-e-Mehr in Pomona, New York, structurally sound and aesthetically beautiful for the next generation as its a Zarathushti cultural and religious center.”
Four accomplished and talented artistes from the community — Jamshed Turel, Meher Pavri, Tara Jamishidian and Zal Shroff — brought Broadway Bawa favorites to the over 500 who had logged in for the event. Accomplished musician and music teacher at the New York University, Piroozi Cooper-Wittlin, from ZAGNY served as the program coordinator. The stage backdrop was the Dar-e-Mehr’s architecturally stunning prayer room, while Ervad Cyrus Pavri tended the fire. "Luckily we had no glitches. With our technical expert Arzan Wadia (president of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America) at the helm… and the dedicated volunteers… we were able to broadcast for two hours brilliantly,” noted Clubwala.

Turel, a violinist, is the head of the music program at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Canada. As a soloist he has performed in concerts across North America, Europe and Asia, and he has additionally performed in the pit for several Broadway and touring productions, including Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific, Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera.
Fellow Canadian, Pavri enjoys performing in opera, musical theater, film and television. Her career highlights include playing her dream role of Maria in West Side Story multiple times, shows at Soulpepper Theatre, Vancouver Opera, Tapestry Opera, and performing the national anthem at NBA Raptors games.
An American soprano, originally from Connecticut, Jamshidian recently switched to the Dramatic Soprano fach (method of classifying opera singers according to the range, weight and color of their voice). She was selected by The Boston Wagner Institute to train for the roles of Sieglinde in Die Walkure, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Leonora in La Forza del Destino.
A clinical lecturer in law and Senior Liman Fellow in Residence at Yale Law School, Shroff is grateful for every opportunity to return to his first and most favorite pastime. Performing in musicals and choruses from age six, during law school he continued to study voice at the Manhattan School of Music, and was the chair of Brown Opera Productions.
The online auction netted approximately $ 3,000 (Rs 2,21,918) the same day. The designer sari for $ 750 (Rs 55,479), the antique embroidered kor for $ 500 (Rs 36,986), and the earrings for $ 400 (Rs 29,589) were amongst the highest priced items. The most popular was the Lonavala chikki and fudge, courtesy Della Adventure, for $ 50 (Rs 3,699) each. Their profits on all the items were 100% thanks to the donors Semone Bamboat, Toos Daruvala, Dhun and Phil Shroff of Art Wear by Dilemma, Jafari and Percis Bansal who secured the sari donation from Anj Kreations and the earrings from Argentum Designs, Bombay. Reassured that Covid-19 did not "dampen the Zarathushti ‘giving’ spirit,” Clubwala mentioned that although shipping food items was difficult during the pandemic, in the future they would like to add a lot of items to the auction and run it for a longer time.
"The group working with Edul is, among our friendly circles, called his ‘Rapid Response Team.’ We collectively fall into place beautifully with each one’s strengths,” noted Clubwala, appreciating the cooperation of Bansal, Mehru Cama, Daruvala, Yasmin Ghadiali, Nina Mistry and Wadia. For the auction, they were assisted by Cyrus Pavri and Malcolm Shroff. "The community is also very nurturing and supportive,” she acknowledged. "At the end of the night we were singing The Impossible Dream.”