On Friday night, a crowd of local boldface names, including Mayor Richard Daley and his wife, Maggie, attended the world premiere of the Tommy Tune-directed musical Turn of the Century at the Goodman Theatre. The performance was the centerpiece of the theater's three-part season-opening benefit, which began with cocktails and a seated dinner at Standard Club and culminated in post-show cocktails and snacks at Petterino's. A team of three co-chairs—Neal S. Zucker, Cynthia E. Levin, and Cheryl McPhilimy—planned the event.
The musical's story of a time-traveling couple inspired the evening's clock motif, which appeared on the invitation and in gobos that decorated the entrance to Standard Club's dining room. For the three-course dinner of pear and Stilton salad, sliced tenderloin of beef, and chocolate and raspberry almond mousse cake, guests sat at tables that Kehoe Designs decorated in linens of teal and gold—the same hues that appeared in the invite. Silver vases filled with billowy black feathers had a turn-of-the-century aesthetic and evoked some of the costumes featured in the musical.
In keeping with the evening's theme, time was a main factor in one of the event's greatest challenges: To accommodate Turn of the Century's 8 p.m. curtain, co-chairs planned for pre-show cocktails to begin at 5 p.m., with dinner being served by 5:45 p.m. The co-chairs also ensured that charter buses were outside the Standard Club immediately after dinner to transport the 325 guests the few blocks to the theater and prevent any stragglers.
Ultimately, the event raised $550,000 for the Goodman Theatre.
Correction: A caption in this story has been updated to correctly identify the lead actor in Tun of the Century.
