Chats with Kate Walsh, Isabel Allende and other guests at L.A. Opera’s Opera Ball, celebrating ‘Macbeth’
Standing onstage on the Music Center Plaza, the L.A. Opera’s general director, Plácido Domingo, welcomed 400 guests to Saturday’s Opera Ball, but not without joking about his title role in the night’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
“Now, my God, do I have problems,” he said, as he introduced Ekaterina Semenchuk, his Lady Macbeth, describing his character’s return from battle, expecting a wonderful night but instead discovering, “She offers me murder. Wow.”
Beneath the stars and a nearly full moon, guests dined, danced and chatted about the L.A. Opera’s take on the classic Shakespearean tale in which a troupe of climbing demons replace the three witches who prophesy Macbeth’s future as king.
If you weren’t there, you missed having conversations with three of the night’s notable guests.
1.) “To see that Domingo is still singing like a young man is wonderful,” said award-winning Chilean journalist and author Isabel Allende, who just happened to be in Los Angeles. “I had never seen [the opera ‘Macbeth’] or heard of it. It is not a lightweight opera, but I don’t know why it is not done more.” She then gave a nod to the artful staging, calling the demons “dramatic, original and very, very unusual.”
2.) “Since none of us have met witches, I thought, ‘Why can’t they be like bats?’” said the production’s director Darko Tresnjak. “Why can’t they scale the walls? I love scary movies and horror movies. I grew up with them, and it seemed to make sense here, as there’s a lot of darkness in the original play.”
The 2014 Tony Award winner for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” and director of numerous operas said that he had been busy planning the Broadway musical “Anastasia” when the L.A. Opera called him about the opera. “Then they mentioned this little fact that Placido would be singing,” he said. “I called my agent and I called everybody and I said, ‘Rearrange everything. I’m doing it.’”
3.) Kate Walsh of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice” called the music “voluptuous” and the chorus “powerful,” and as for the black-tie gala, she said she enjoyed seeing people dressed up for an occasion other than an awards show. Looking around, she also credited the number of younger guests to a growing interest in the arts in Los Angeles.
“The arts scene in Los Angeles is exploding,” Walsh said. “The visual arts, multimedia, restaurants, dance and all the performing arts. This is the place to be. People are coming here from all over the world. The bad news is that the traffic is going to get worse, but the good news is that we’re becoming more international, more cosmopolitan, and I think we’ll be seeing a more diverse audience, a younger audience and hopefully more funding for music and dance.”
Then she added, “You know it’s real when people from New York and London want to come here.”
The Opera Ball raised nearly $1.1 million from tickets beginning at $2,500 and tables selling for up to $150,000. Also among those joining the festivities were cast members Robert Tagliavini (Banquo), Arturo Chacón-Cruz (Macduff) and Josh Wheeker (Malcolm); conductor James Conlon; gala chair Mary Hayley; and production supporters Milan Panic, Barbara Augusta Teichert, Joyce and Aubrey Chernick and Carla Sands, representing the Blue Ribbon group of the Music Center.
ALSO
Plácido Domingo on playing Macbeth in L.A. Opera’s season opener
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