San Diego Opera Gala Opens on Somber Note

The first gala after the start of the Gulf War opened on a sober, thoughtful note.

Champagne, the ritual liquid that rinses away the cares of the world so that galas can, in fact, be gala, flowed early Saturday evening, but the first moments of the San Diego Opera’s Season Opening Night Celebration were devoted to an address by event chairman Sandra Pay.

Speaking from the grand staircase in the lobby of the Westgate hotel, Pay told the 250 music patrons that, “We acknowledge that this has been a somber week, but music makes the realities of life bearable. We can use music to gain the strength to face what is to come in the days and weeks ahead.”

The unusual mix of concern and gaiety that made this event unique, at least for the moment, carried over to the Civic Theatre, at which the audience rose to sing the national anthem before maestro Thomas Schuback waved up the opening notes of Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte.”

Later, Pay said that after the outbreak of the war, several guests had telephoned to ask whether the gala had been canceled. The decision was made to proceed with the long-scheduled fund-raiser, however, and none of the guests canceled their reservations. It was anticipated that the budgeted earnings of $100,000 would be met by this celebration of the opera’s 26th season.

The gala--unofficially subtitled by Pay “A Sleepover With Mozart” and following a five-year tradition--had a demanding schedule. It started with a mid-afternoon check-in at the hotel, followed by an early champagne reception, a 7 p.m. curtain, champagne during the intermezzo, and, finally, more champagne, supper and dancing in the Versailles and Fontainebleau rooms. Guests were then welcome to slip off to their rooms and return to the same ballroom scene in the morning for a farewell brunch.

The supper itself belied the slumber party nature of the event.

Diamonds and sequins glittered under the Westgate’s heavy chandeliers, and the dining rooms glowed with formal, baroque and gorgeously extravagant sprays of flowers that shot over the guests’ heads from slender crystal columns. The presentation of the opera coincided with the observance of the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death, and to evoke memories of the fancy dress balls of his era, mannequins in period livery posed outside the ballroom doors.

Because of Mozart’s fondness for bedroom farces--a description that broadly encompasses the story of “Cosi fan Tutte,” the complete title of which translates as “So Do They All, or School for Lovers,”--Pay injected a touch of naughtiness into the menu by concluding it with a lavish chocolate terrine titled the “Better Than Sex Dessert.”

The meal opened with a salad of chilled bow-tie pasta--what else to serve the black-tie set?--and offered a sort of “surf and turf Amadeus” as its chief set piece.

The gala at moments seemed more a silly symphony than overtly operatic, as when the band, a group called The Heroes, offered a Motown coda to the Mozart performance.

But the scene took on the overtones of opera galas of centuries past when San Diego Opera director Ian Campbell grandly announced the arrival of the principal singers--who were seated at favored tables--in his own inimitable baritone. Standing ovations followed in both rooms. Among the stars digging into the prawns and beef filet were Barbara Bonney, Carol Vaness, Judith Forst, Keith Lewis, Hakan Hagegard and Peter Strummer; director John Copley also joined the group.

The attendance included a large percentage of Opera Benefactors, a group that contributes a minimum of $2,500 annually. Among them were Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan, Irene Allis, Denice and Mitchell Lathrop, Esther Burnham, Harriet and Richard Levi, Anne and Bill Otterson, Peggy and Peter Preuss, Barbara and Bill McColl, Dr. Douglas Pay, Ellen and Roger Revelle, Judith Harris and Robert Singer, Georgette and Jack McGregor, Valerie Preiss and Harry Cooper, Barbara and Bill McColl, Judith Brucker, Lee and Frank Goldberg, and Alberta and Charles Feurzig.

Earlier the same evening, entertainer Ann Jillian found herself under no compunction to sing for her supper.

Jillian, thrice the headliner at local American Cancer Society galas in the 1980s, received recognition for her donated efforts at a dinner dance given at the San Diego Marriott by the society’s Council of Hope, whose members annually contribute a minimum of $1,000 for education and prevention programs.

At the dinner, Jillian became the first recipient of what is planned as the council’s Annual Humanitarian Award. Known for her efforts on behalf of cancer education across the country, the singer in 1986 was presented the national cancer society’s Courage Award by then-President Ronald Reagan.

Event chairman Marc Tarasuck, who designed a sleek, black-and-white motif for the hotel’s San Diego Ballroom, said that Jillian was chosen for the honor partly because in 1987, she became the very first member of the local Council of Hope group. “She’s done so much for us,” Tarasuck said. “But she’s not performing this evening. We’re entertaining her .” The entertainment included a menu of chicken baked with apples and Riesling, and dancing on an ebony-and-ivory checkerboard floor.

The guest list of 300 included Traci and Tom Stickel; Traci will chair the upcoming American Cancer Society gala, which will be given June 8 as the grand opening of downtown San Diego’s new Pan Pacific Hotel. Virginia Monday, who attended with her husband, Jack, and will co-chair the June event, said that it will retain the “Mirage” name and motif that she introduced as chairman of the 1990 ACS gala.

Others attending were local ACS President Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick and his wife, Betsy; Council of Hope chairman June Barrymore; Vangie and Dick Burt; Sheri and Ben Kelts; Jan and Mike Madigan; Linda and John Burnham; Roger Conlee; Lyn and Steven Krant; Catherine and Phil Blair; Linda and Mel Katz; Grace and Pete Malloy; Margarete and Oscar Padilla; Norma and Jim Shiner, and Marilyn and Jack Teele.