Some donors support causes for the access their money buys. Often it’s access to people, but another lure for donor dollars can be access to a place. The place to be for opera fans is behind the curtain, so once a year, the Los Angeles Opera gives its supporters a peek, with an onstage gala at the company’s home, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.“You rarely get to go onstage, so to have this available to people is quite a coup to them,” says assistant director of development for special events Jill Michnick. “They get to see behind the scenes, because as much as we try to decorate, you still see the stage, you still see the lighting. It’s fun for them to see something that’s normally a mystery to them.”
This year, the man behind the curtain was Beverly Hills boutique owner Fred Hayman, who chaired the gala with his wife, Betty. Hayman directed the opera staff to create an atmosphere wreathed in elegance. “‘The elegance of Paris,’” Michnick says. “He said that many times.”
Of course, Hayman’s idea of French elegance is more multi-culti than one might assume. An old hand at entertaining at his Malibu home, Hayman usually peoples his parties with mariachi musicians and fortune-tellers, and he suggested Johnson Edwards Entertainment as a resource for hiring both, as well as the bands, for the black-tie event.
The Mariachi Express greeted guests at the entrance to the Dorothy Chandler, which they reached after traversing a red carpet that ambled from the valet drop-off point on Hill Street. Revelers lingered over forecasts of their future and glasses of Dom Pérignon while four musicians from the Monseigneur Strings played background music in the Grand Hall. Around 8 PM, guests moved to the stage, which the opera staff had transformed for the impending feast for the senses. (Because the event is on the company’s home turf, the onstage gala is more of an in-house affair than usual. The enormous dimensions of the stage, which reaches as high as 95 feet, call for a set designer who is used to working with such a grand space, and union rules require that any onstage technical work be performed by union sound and light people who work for the opera.)
Since the gala was sandwiched between two nights of scheduled performances, Lisa Stone, design manager for the L.A. Opera, had to create decor that was simple enough to construct quickly and would work with the lighting already in place for the current productions. Taking her color cue from Hayman’s fondness for red and pink roses, Stone draped 100 yards of pink glass-sheen chiffon above and behind the stage, crossing two strands overhead and dangling a giant chandelier where they overlapped. Around the perimeter, conical topiary trees that evoked Paris’s Tuileries Gardens were interspersed among tall clouds of pink roses and tiger lilies. The Monseigneur Strings played show tunes while guests sipped more Dom Pérignon at tables topped with pink cloths and huge bouquets of red roses. They dined on Beluga caviar, filet of veal with mushroom crepes and haricots verts et jaunes, and chocolate tart with Chantilly crème.
After dinner, Broadway stars Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone, leads in the opera’s production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, sang selections from their personal repertoires. LuPone performed songs she had sung at the Music Center in the late 70’s, including “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from the pre-Broadway run of Evita, and the women joined together for Judy Garland’s famous duet with her recorded self, “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again.” The LA Allstars band took the stage at 10:30 PM for a rousing performance of 80’s covers, drawing guests to the dance floor at center stage. At 11:15, Hayman gave the signal for the evening to end. The event for 200, including more than a dozen artists from current productions of Mahagonny and Tannhäuser, raised nearly $250,000.
—Irene Lacher
Posted 03.08.07
Photos: © Steve Cohn Photography
This year, the man behind the curtain was Beverly Hills boutique owner Fred Hayman, who chaired the gala with his wife, Betty. Hayman directed the opera staff to create an atmosphere wreathed in elegance. “‘The elegance of Paris,’” Michnick says. “He said that many times.”
Of course, Hayman’s idea of French elegance is more multi-culti than one might assume. An old hand at entertaining at his Malibu home, Hayman usually peoples his parties with mariachi musicians and fortune-tellers, and he suggested Johnson Edwards Entertainment as a resource for hiring both, as well as the bands, for the black-tie event.
The Mariachi Express greeted guests at the entrance to the Dorothy Chandler, which they reached after traversing a red carpet that ambled from the valet drop-off point on Hill Street. Revelers lingered over forecasts of their future and glasses of Dom Pérignon while four musicians from the Monseigneur Strings played background music in the Grand Hall. Around 8 PM, guests moved to the stage, which the opera staff had transformed for the impending feast for the senses. (Because the event is on the company’s home turf, the onstage gala is more of an in-house affair than usual. The enormous dimensions of the stage, which reaches as high as 95 feet, call for a set designer who is used to working with such a grand space, and union rules require that any onstage technical work be performed by union sound and light people who work for the opera.)
Since the gala was sandwiched between two nights of scheduled performances, Lisa Stone, design manager for the L.A. Opera, had to create decor that was simple enough to construct quickly and would work with the lighting already in place for the current productions. Taking her color cue from Hayman’s fondness for red and pink roses, Stone draped 100 yards of pink glass-sheen chiffon above and behind the stage, crossing two strands overhead and dangling a giant chandelier where they overlapped. Around the perimeter, conical topiary trees that evoked Paris’s Tuileries Gardens were interspersed among tall clouds of pink roses and tiger lilies. The Monseigneur Strings played show tunes while guests sipped more Dom Pérignon at tables topped with pink cloths and huge bouquets of red roses. They dined on Beluga caviar, filet of veal with mushroom crepes and haricots verts et jaunes, and chocolate tart with Chantilly crème.
After dinner, Broadway stars Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone, leads in the opera’s production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, sang selections from their personal repertoires. LuPone performed songs she had sung at the Music Center in the late 70’s, including “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from the pre-Broadway run of Evita, and the women joined together for Judy Garland’s famous duet with her recorded self, “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again.” The LA Allstars band took the stage at 10:30 PM for a rousing performance of 80’s covers, drawing guests to the dance floor at center stage. At 11:15, Hayman gave the signal for the evening to end. The event for 200, including more than a dozen artists from current productions of Mahagonny and Tannhäuser, raised nearly $250,000.
—Irene Lacher
Posted 03.08.07
Photos: © Steve Cohn Photography
The Dorothy Chandler got a classic, elegant look for the Los Angeles Opera's gala.
Guests supped at tables topped with pink cloths and huge bouquets of red roses.
Lisa Stone draped 100 yards of pink glass-sheen chiffon above and behind the stage, crossing two strands overhead and dangling a giant chandelier where they overlapped.
Guests danced to the LA Allstars band to end the evening.
