Rob Williams, Dennis Beckingham, Eve Rounds, Meryl Beckingham and Sabrina Williams at the Apollo Award dinner

David and Pat Squire at the Apollo Award dinner

Orly d’Ablemont Burnes, Lee Pelton and Amy d’Ablemont Burnes at the Apollo Award dinner

Susan Schechter, Alice Bruce and Kirven Douthit-Boyd at the Apollo Award dinner

Shameful fact: Boston has only one public high school devoted to the performing and visual arts. Thankfully, the Boston Arts Academy is nothing short of stellar.

That much was abundantly clear at its Apollo Award dinner, held at the Museum of Fine Arts. The glittery crowd included the likes of fashion plate Eve Rounds and the adoring Jonathan, Emerson grand poobah Lee Pelton, marketing guru Ellen Slaby, the delightful Kathy Sharpless, redheaded beauty Amy d’Ablemont Burnes, art collectors Ron and Ronni Casty, culture vulture Susan Schechter and her
handsome other half, Bob, and honoree Kirven Douthit-Boyd, a graduate of the school and a former Alvin Ailey principal dancer, with his husband, Antonio. The entertainment by current students left everyone slack-jawed in awe, especially a hip-hop dance performance that prompted someone to say, “I’ve paid a lot more to see far worse.”

Meanwhile, the evening’s choicest exchange was this: “What brings you here?”