A Night in Old Manhattan With the Pasadena Playhouse

In the theater world, it’s bad luck to count the house. But Sheldon Epps, Pasadena Playhouse’s artistic director, was sizing up first-nighters before the curtain rose on Moss Hart’s 1948 comedy, “Light Up the Sky.”

“This audience,” he said, “is as stunning as this theater.”

That’s because the invitations prescribed the dress code for the opening night gala: “black and/or white and dressy.” Although fashion rebels turn up in every crowd, most complied, including celebrities David Hyde Pierce, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, John Raitt and the glamorous guest of honor, the playwright’s widow, Kitty Carlisle Hart, who glittered in a black gown by Pauline Trigere.

Still slender and beautiful, she was escorted by her son Chris Hart, whose revival of his dad’s “You Can’t Take It With You” is running until Dec. 12 at the Actors Co-op theater in Hollywood. “My mother plays around with her age; she’s actually pushing 90,” he confided.

“The only thing that’s changed is my voice,” Kitty said. “I used to be a soprano--everyone was in those days, you know. But now I’m an alto, and they tell me I sound like I’m 35.”

After the final curtain call, Jim Watterson, Pasadena’s relentless party maven, led 500 guests (who paid $200 to $500 to mingle with the stars) into “El Morocco”--or a reasonable facsimile of the old Manhattan watering hole--created in a humongous tent behind the theater.

There, on tables clothed in zebra stripes, Chef Joachim Splichal’s staff dispensed deep-dish martinis and apres-theater supper; John Raitt serenaded Kitty with “If I Loved You” and incurable romantics like 1949 Playhouse grad Don Howard and his wife, Marie, looked on fondly as Chris Hart waltzed his mom off the dance floor and all the way to the street, where a 1948 Cadillac limo was waiting.

Never say show biz ain’t what it used to be.

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Caballeros on horseback and music from Vera Cruz greeted arrivals at the Regal Biltmore for the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s “Bellas Artes Ball.” In honor of Los Angeles and Mexico City’s 30-year relationship as sister cities, this year’s gala took its theme from Mexico’s golden age: the 1930s and ‘40s, when Dolores Del Rio, Ramon Navarro, Cantinflas and Diego Rivera dominated la ciudad de los palacios y bellas artes.

Co-chairwomen Alicia Clark, Mona Mapel and Elayne Techentin and producer Sandra Wisot provided the bienvenidos Nov. 13, and more than 400 guests were heralded by the chorale as they strolled to the Crystal Ballroom. (This bash normally brings out the genuine “ice” and serious ball gowns; however, this year several guests Spanish shawls and the colorful, floppy bow ties called corbatas.)

For their extraordinary (specific figures were undisclosed) gift to Disney Concert Hall in support of the chorale, Jon Lovelace, chairman of Capital Group Companies, and his wife, Lillian, were honored guests. Former honorees Anne Shaw Price and her husband, Harrison Price, presented the couple with a handsome silver tray created by Pavillon Christofle.

The evening’s highlights included a spectacular performance by the Joffrey Ballet’s Domingo Rubio and a mini-concert of Mexican melodies led by Maestro Paul Salamunovich (with a few in the audience chiming in on the ay-ay-ays).

Biltmore chef Roger Pigozzi came up with a south-of-the-border bill o’ fare and Jacob Maarse florists took their cue from the art of Diego Rivera with masses of calla lilies, Colombian roses and red berries. Everyone took home a handsome coffee-table art book, “Mexican Nativities,” and the chorale took home $160,000.

How’s that for singing for your chalupas?

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For more than 25 years, San Francisco Chronicle society news hen Pat Steger gave Bay Area readers a lot of cluck for their buck. Steger died on Nov. 14 following cancer surgery. Thanks for the memories, Pat. You were the best.

Patt Diroll’s column will appear each week. She can be reached at pattdiroll@earthlink.net.