Quick-Change Artists Will Have a Ball

When Donna Bunce and Gayle Anderson attend Opera Pacific’s 10th gala anniversary at the Disneyland Hotel on Nov. 14, they’ll have several ball gowns in tow.

That’s right, during the course of “A Strauss Waltz Gala,” the ball’s co-chairwomen will each appear before guests in a trio of formals. No, not because they’re clothes horses--or because there’s a new fashion trend afoot--because the evening’s entertainment will feature a retrospective of past balls and their chairwomen.

After dinner at the white-tie preferred affair, guests will watch choreographed scenes set to the music of the nine ball-themes gone by. There will be an English Garden scene from “Norma,” for example, an Egyptian scene from “Aida,” and an all-American scene from “Gershwin.”

Anderson and Bunce--dubbed the “dynamic duo” in fund-raising circles (together they have chaired 10 successful galas)--co-chaired “Aida” and “Gershwin.” So they know precisely what they’ll sport for those segments on the Grand Ballroom stage. (Anderson will be in voluminous gold silk ensemble from “Aida” and a sleek velvet gown from “Gershwin.” Bunce will wear a royal-purple silk outfit from “Aida” and a beaded ruby-red satin number from “Gershwin.”)

But don’t ask them what they’ll sport at “A Strauss Waltz Gala.” In unison, they chirp: “We’re working on it!”

What they’re really working on, they admit, is marketing the $200 per-person soiree, a tribute to ball founder Ruth Ding. Even in a bull market the women don’t take a guest list for granted. And now, with a recession in bloom, it’s even more critical to create excitement and commitment.

So, they have staged luncheons featuring waltz exhibitions and fashion shows. On Tuesday, a tea at the Center Club will feature a table set up the way it will look at the gala. And there will be waltz lessons at Saks Fifth Avenue, an underwriters’ brunch and a Nov.1 dinner in Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom’s home for ball patrons who have donated $5,000. (Hal Segerstrom is a managing partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, owner of South Coast Plaza.)

“We’re hoping to attract 700 people to the event,” says Bunce, an opera buff who edits the glossy society tabloid Newport 714.

Says Anderson, Orange County’s new protocol chief: “So far, we think about 300 are coming. But people don’t send in their money until they receive their invitations.”

And when the gold-embossed Tiffany & Co. invitations are sent, 3,000 of them will flood the mail. “That’s what it takes,” says Bunce with a knowing smile.

The gala’s ambience will replicate the Viennese dance palaces of the 19th Century. “We’re bringing in 40 chandeliers to blaze beside the Disneyland Hotel’s new $250,000 chandelier,” Bunce says. “It will be breathtaking.”

A ball preview: After guests sip champagne and are serenaded in the hotel lobby--decorated with luxurious fabrics, floral arrangements and glittering wall sconces--they will enter the ballroom to a scene of two professional dancers waltzing on one of three dance floors.

Then, after guests are seated, 18 more dancers will waltz down a flight of stairs to the strains of the “Blue Danube.” Guests will be encouraged to dance between dinner courses.

While savvy social types know a Bunce-Anderson effort guarantees an elegant time, we’re betting the gala highlight will be watching the two women oversee the evening and pull off their quick-change acts.

Bets, anyone?

*

Go for Baroque: Neiman Marcus at Fashion Island was turned into a party place on Saturday night when its annual Catalogue Caper was staged on behalf of the American Diabetes Assn., Orange County chapter.

Guests in black-tie and gala gowns sampled hors d’oeuvres near the handbag and jewelry counters, listened to a jazz trio near menswear and ordered cocktails in the cosmetics department before they participated in the “caper” phase of the celebration themed “Go for Baroque.” When store general manager Carol Horowitz gave them the “go” sign, guests, clues in hand, rushed from department to department, hoping to win prize tickets drawn by employees from fancily wrapped boxes.

Chairwoman Shari Esayian, “baroquely” dressed in black velvet, gold braid and a twinkling tiara, came up a loser. “Ah well, you can’t have it all,” she said good-naturedly. Piped her husband, Harry, also a loser: “I even lost on the links today! Life sucks!”

But there were more than 100 prizes awarded to guests, Horowitz noted. After the caper, guests sat in a window-studded tent, dined on roast pheasant, and danced to the Rodeo Drive band.