Saturday Night Fever Breaks Out at KI ’70s Prom ‘Fun-Raiser’

By MICHAEL AUSHENKER | Contributing Writer

Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation celebrated its 65th anniversary in style—and in the style of the 1970s and ’80s, to be precise.

Saturday night fever hit hard at Palisades Charter High School’s Mercer Hall on May 21 when some 180 attendees (predominantly KI members and staffers) broke out their powder-blue tuxes and funky gowns for a prom night-themed disco party.

“Our prom is about building community,” said KI Executive Director Matthew Davidson. “This is our end of the year event.”

Some women even used the event as an excuse to attend wearing their actual high school prom dresses.

“Who wouldn’t want to wear their original prom dress,” said Rhona Rosenblatt, adding that she and her husband came with six other couples she met through KI.

“This brings us all back together,” said one of Rosenblatt’s friends, Gina Rossen.

Indeed, the prom-themed party was the “fun-raiser” response to an actual fundraiser earlier that year: an extension of Cantor Chaim Frankel’s effort to assemble a KI yearbook.

Senior Rabbi Amy Bernstein appeared resplendent in a white gown as prom queen while Cantor Frankel was dressed in a tie-dye shirt more reminiscent of a 1960s Grateful Dead concert than a formal high school dance. Still, both Bernstein and Frankel were high energy on the dance floor.

Freewheeling cover band Wayward Son (named after a Kansas lyric), decked out in Me Decade garb (including checkered Vans sneakers), melded the ’70s and ’80s with a selection of live renditions such as Journey’s “Faithfully,” in which they comically inserted some adult alternate lyrics.

The live band notwithstanding, attendees also got down to all manner of hits from those decades, including KC & the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight,” Queen and David Bowie’s collaboration “Under Pressure,” Joan Jett’s cover of “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” and Dee-Lite’s “Groove Is in the Heart.”

As prom royalty, Rabbi Bernstein appropriately got her groove on the moment the opening of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” burst across the speakers like aural confetti.

Catered by the Beverly Hills-based Someone in the Kitchen (which has handled many KI events in the past), the party wowed attendees with pizza and pita chip appetizers, three different kinds of French fries (regular, curly and sweet potato), three types of pigs-in-a-blanket (including pretzel dogs), four different types of brioche-bunned sliders (beef brisket, salmon, grilled chicken and Portobello mushrooms), various salads (including quinoa) with breadsticks, plus coffee and dessert.

A bar kept the wine and spirits flowing while servers near Mercer Hall’s front entrance poured from bowls of “PROM-egranate” spiked punch, stationed front and center as people arrived.

The prom party took six months of planning, said event chair John Benun.

“It’s fun,” said Felicia Alexander, in attendance with husband Greg Alexander. (Their son, Gavin, 9, is a Palisadian-Post junior reporter.) “I’m very impressed with how many people dressed up and took advantage of the theme.”

“It’s a great night for people to celebrate,” said KI Jewish Experience Center Office Administrator Roxanne Banuelos, who, alongside co-workers Cyndee Hayes and KI Early Childhood Center Office Administrator Shirley Chacon, proved a cut-up at the photo booth, striking silly poses in wacky oversized glasses and fire engine hats.

With so much seriousness conveyed at Kehillat Israel throughout the year via inspirational sermons, educational lectures and discussions of current events, May 21 was truly a chance for the synagogue’s extended family to celebrate in a night of unpretentious, go-for-broke, over-the-top fun.

“Everybody really got into it, reliving their glory days,” Davidson said.