Reel Adventures : Fans and Media Rock and Flock to Premiere of Madonna’s ‘Truth or Dare’

The scene: Benefit premiere of “Truth or Dare,” the Madonna rockumentary directed by Alek Keshishian that captures the pop diva in cinema verite-ish black and white on her recent “Blond Ambition” tour. (Proceeds from the event will go to AIDS Project Los Angeles and AIDS Action Foundation; Madonna has long been involved with helping AIDS organizations.) Monday night the Cineramadome was mobbed with fans and media all waiting for Her Materialness. When she finally appeared she was almost unrecognizable in her new Morticia Addams look: long brown hair, cat suit, black eyeliner out to there. After the film, the audience (heavy on the industry, babe) partied it up at Arena, where the music was so loud it made your skull and breastbone reverberate. Guests were greeted at the door by a cheerful woman who chirped, “Here’s your safe sex kit!”

The buzz: The overall reaction to the film was good; even some skeptics seemed to like it, although there were those who thought the self-indulgence ran about half an hour too long.

Who was there: Madonna and most of the backup singers and dancers featured in the film, director Keshishian, brother Christopher Ciccone, best pal Sandra Bernhard, David Geffen with Carol Bayer Sager, k.d. lang, Mimi Rogers, Christian Slater, Joel Silver, Vanilla Ice, Herb Ritts, Catherine O’Hara, Valerie Bertinelli, five event co-chairs Harold Huttas, Bob Merlis, Propaganda Films’ Joni Sighvattson and Miramax honchos Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein; Alan Thicke, and many enormous drag queens.

Entertainment: Madonna and her dancers relived those fun-filled days on the road and danced on a small stage, the audience cheering as girlfriend went to town. But while Madonna pretty much behaved herself, Sandra Bernhard did a few things that might have gotten her arrested in Toronto.

Dress mode: A Madonna crowd is an eclectic crowd when it comes to dress; among the many fashion plates (and platters) were a man wearing a kilt over pants; men with Caesar haircuts; tight, low-cut dresses emphasizing recent plastic surgery; Jean Paul Gaultier wanna-bes with short, dyed blond hair; and various successful--and unsuccessful--interpretations of ‘60s fashions.

Chow: Not a bad spread for Arena: pizzas, sandwiches, roast beef, rice with seafood, crudites , long tables piled with desserts.

Quoted: “I think they were reacting quite amazingly for an industry audience,” said director Keshishian. “I think part of it was because they can really relate to it. There’s a lot of industry jokes in it.”

All in the Famiglia: Said Christopher Ciccone, artistic director on the tour, who retained a fairly low profile throughout the movie: “I tend to stay in the back, you know? We’re very different, Madonna and I. She’s very public and I’m very private.”

Overheard: In the lobby of the Cineramadome, a man walked up to one of the women featured in the documentary and said, “Did you like yourself?”

New Medical Malady: The Madonna hangover, characterized by nausea, headache and occasional dizziness after exceeding saturation point of exposure to self-involved pop star.

Alex, I’ll take nightclubs for $400: “And the answer is: A frustrating and nightmarish situation that never seems to get better.”

“Uh . . . what is the parking at Arena?”