Domingo Is Also Center Stage at Post-Concert Benefit

They worshiped him. Jumped to their feet to applaud him. Paid $500 each to dine with him.

But some of the opera buffs who joined tenor Placido Domingo for dinner on Saturday night after his performance in the Spanish opera “El Gato Montes” at Segerstrom Hall questioned the appropriateness of a soon-to-be-53-year-old playing the role of a young matador.

“He was a wonderful matador--a very handsome matador, “ observed one female guest during the champagne reception at the Four Seasons in Newport Beach. “Even if a little older matador. I mean, wasn’t he playing someone in his 20s?”

It seemed Domingo had heard it all before. No sooner had he swept into the hotel ballroom than a guest asked him about the “challenge” of playing opera.

His graceful reply: “All of the roles I play are for young people, you know? It is important for me to use my imagination, because I am over the age of any role I play. I try to keep the sound very lyrical, the voice really calm.”

Then he flashed a smile that would melt a lorgnette. “Mostly, I am very proud and happy that an opera so close to me is loved by the public.”

Indeed. The audience applauded wildly at the conclusion of “El Gato Montes” (The Wildcat), a Los Angeles Music Center Opera production presented by Opera Pacific.

Said his co-star, the Chile-born soprano, Veronica Villarroel: “On stage, we could feel the warmth of the public from the beginning. We could see their smiling faces. It is very energetic music--people like the feel of it.”

During the final act, Villarroel lies in repose, flickering tapers at her feet, while a lover (Justino Diaz in the role of Juanillo) and a band of Gypsies bemoan her fate. “It is difficult to lie there so quietly,” said this vibrant young soprano who has performed at the Met and La Scala. “You have to be very relaxed. I sing with the people in my mind to maintain it.”

As for performing with Domingo, “it is always an unforgettable experience,” she said. “We have done many concerts together. We also did this opera together in Madrid last summer.”

During the festivities--which included a sit-down supper and a stand-up demitasse with Domingo--an ebullient David DiChiera, general director of Opera Pacific, told the crowd: “The exciting thing about tonight is that, besides being its West Coast premiere, this opera gives us a wonderful opportunity to create a bridge to the Hispanic community here in Orange County.”

Among guests were gala co-chairwomen Mary Roosevelt and Michelle Rohe (“Placido Domingo has always been my husband Frederick’s favorite tenor,” she said. “And though Frederick cannot be here with me tonight, he is in my heart”); Floss and Ed Schumacher; Dr. Walter Henry and Spain-born Maria Del Carmen Calvo (“I loved the bullfight scene,” she said. “I used to go to the bullfights with my father in Madrid”); Renee (“I saw bullfights in Spain when Franco was in power”) and Henry Segerstrom; Laila and Bill Conlin; Dick and Jolene Engel; Zee Allred; Ed McGrath; Tom and Marilyn Nielsen; Elaine Redfield; and Dotti and Glenn Stillwell.

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Still buzzing over London: South Coast Repertory supporters climbed aboard a British Airways jet and spent New Year’s Eve in London, catching “Sunset Blvd.,” “Carousel,” “King Lear” and “The Madness of George III” during a jaunt that also offered tea at the Savoy, a medieval feast at a hunting lodge in the country and a tour of the National Theater.

Tour-goers paid $1,699 each and SCR ended up with about $20,000 in its coffers. “The first time we did this was 10 years ago--on our 20th anniversary,” said Susan Reeder, the theater’s associate director of development. “It was fabulous.” The highlight? “New Year’s Eve, when we watched the cast of ‘Sunset Blvd.’ come out for a curtain call. They shot streamers and confetti into the audience and we all sang ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ ”

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A Tribute to Athalie Clarke: In what may be the year’s most emotional social gathering, a reception launching the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Memorial Exhibition will be held on May 5 at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

Not only was Clarke Orange County’s grand dame when she died last May, she was a friend to Presidents Nixon, Carter and Ford.

The exhibit consists of about 50 paintings that were displayed in Clarke’s Newport Beach home. Paintings that she contributed to the Irvine Museum will also be in the show.

Accompanying the exhibit will be the publication of a 125-page book, “Memories of My Mother,” written by Clarke’s daughter, heiress Joan Irvine Smith.

Clarke’s unpublished memoirs are being incorporated into the book, which will also contain photos of her art collection and archival photographs from her life--from her first baby picture to the final picture of her taken on Valentine’s Day last year.