STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Albert Griffith might have been taken aback by the opulent 18th century costumes and intricate masks that filled the historic 1884 Lewis & Lemon Building where he sold groceries during Ketchum’s early days.

The Sun Valley Culinary Institute is not a Venetian palace, but it took on the appearance of elegance bathed in purple and green lights with candlelight illuminating waves of peacock  feathers placed around the room as The Spot staged its second annual Masquerade Soiree.

“Feel free to sing along,” said Aly Wepplo as she launched into singing “Time After Time” with David Janeski. “After all, you’re wearing a mask. No one will know.”

The Spot’s second annual Masquerade Soiree was more elegant than ever with champagne cocktails featuring a sugar cube and angostura bitters at the bottom of each flute and auction items ranging from sexy Venetian lingerie to a six-night stay for four in Tulum, Mexico.

“We have the best talent anywhere and we have twice the entertainment this year,” said Meg Vorm, who co-chaired the event along with Susan Flynt and Penny Weiss.

The soiree was a fundraiser for The Spot’s next two productions—“Topdog/Underdog,” which runs April 9-19, and The Spot’s second tuition-free middle school production, which will be “Something Rotten Jr.”

The musical comedy, which runs May 20-23, follows the Bottom Brothers in the 1590s as they attempt to write a hit play while competing with Renaissance rockstar Shakespeare. Teenagers will learn how to fine tune their singing, along with such things as lighting and sound.

“I was so honored to be in the first ever middle school production at The Spot,” 13-year-old Mykala McCann told attendees as she prepared to sing “Dead Mom” from last year’s production of “Beetlejuice Jr.”

“I learned so many things at The Spot, like how to do emotive gestures,” she said afterwards.

Mykala’s grandmother Anita McCann said she got chills watching the production of “Beetlejuice Jr.” that her granddaughter took part in last spring.

“Mykala has always been a singer—she was singing Frank Sinatra of all things at age 6,” she said. “Her great grandmother was an opera singer—that’s where we think she got her musical gene. And The Spot has been so great for her—its given her a lot of identity and confidence.”

Sallie Castle said it was fun to get dressed up in exquisite masquerade outfits mimicking Venetian affairs.

“It really frees you since you’re behind a mask,” she said. “And The Spot is one of my  favorites. Magic happens there. ‘Hedwig & The Angry Inch,’ ‘Avenue Q’….I loved them all.”

“The Spot is a good addition for the valley,” said Richard Waycott, who sits on the board. “And now we’re looking at expanding the theater into the adjacent space we have to make it  accessible to more people.”