An accordion player performing French café classics and elementary school children in red berets waving “Bonjour” welcomed 700 guests to the Washington Performing Arts Society’s annual gala on Saturday, which this year celebrated all things French with a “Jazz Age in Paris” theme. Held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, the 40th annual gala aimed for a sense of whimsy and joie de vivre. Decor in the ballroom foyer included giant glittery black-and-white murals (donated by Lord & Taylor) of Parisian spots like the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge, while can-can dancers in fishnets hit the dance floor with guests before the evening’s featured performance by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

“We want to transport people back in time to the '20s and '30s and recreate the feel of a jazz club in Paris, with can-can dancers and Wynton Marsalis. He’s today’s version of Louis Armstrong or any of the greats that were playing at that time,” said Liz Early, the director of special events for the society.

To recreate the jazz club look, the ballroom received an Art Deco makeover, with tables topped with balls of red carnations and tall white plumes of feathers in lit vases. Hargrove covered the stage in red and gold draping with black and white accents.   

During the eight-item live auction (including a private concert with award-winning violinist Gil Shaham, which went for $40,000), guests dined on a French menu of grilled guinea hen, dauphinoise potatoes, and vegetables pavé, and a dessert inspired by lead underwriter Mars Inc.—a Dove chocolate cheesecake with caramel sauce, a chocolate mousse cake with Twix, and a chocolate cup filled with M&Ms. 

The evening also highlighted W.P.A.S. educational arts initiatives, from the student greeters from John Burroughs Elementary School to performances by W.P.A.S. Children of the Gospel, Step Afrika!, and middle-school students from the Capitol Jazz Project. The gala’s fund-raising goal was $900,000, which supports the society's Summer Performing Arts Academy for D.C. area students.  

During his 40-minute performance, Marsalis challenged the crowd to dance to jazz “without a backbeat.” At the beginning of the set, only one brave couple hit the black-and-white tiled dance floor, but as Marsalis and his band wrapped up the final song, the dance floor was overflowing and guests had formed a conga line while swinging their dinner napkins in the air.