20 years in one weekend

GARRY Marshall may be an old hand at directing film comedies that gross more than $100 million, but none of that prepared him for the standing ovation elicited by his maiden voyage as a Los Angeles Opera director Sept. 10 evening. “I high-fived the diva,” Marshall said after the curtain came down on the premiere of his high-spirited interpretation of Jacques Offenbach’s opera bouffe, “The Grand Duchess,” with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade in the title role. “Not many times do you get to do that.”

If Marshall’s future took a turn at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion that evening -- he is already discussing the possibility of more projects with the company -- the performance also heralded a weekend of parties and premieres commemorating the past: L.A. Opera’s first 20 years.

The 20th Anniversary Celebration Weekend, which launched Sept. 9 with a private party for big donors at the Pasadena home of board member Carol Henry, raised $1 million for the fledgling company.

The gala weekend kicked off the 2005-06 season with back-to-back openings that showcased company General Director Placido Domingo’s artistic strategy of meshing movie industry talent with L.A. Opera’s panache. Sunday afternoon featured an encore performance of film director Franco Zeffirelli’s colorful production of Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci.”

Wrapped around the performances were elegant festivities planned by board member Mary Hayley. After “The Grand Duchess,” about 500 guests in black-tie finery filed out of the Dorothy Chandler onto the Music Center Plaza for the Saturday night gala underwritten by the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation.

Revelers entered an “enchanted forest” with white lights strung among trees and hedges and towering centerpieces of silvery branches and white cymbidium. After a dinner of smoked salmon tarts and lamb tenderloin with pearl onions and fava beans catered by the Patina Group, Domingo introduced the cast of “The Grand Duchess.” A flurry of fireworks soared from the roof of the Mark Taper Forum, accompanied by a six-minute pastiche of arias sung by the evening’s stars as well as its host, Domingo.

The next day, about 150 guests dined on a Tuscan-style lunch in honor of “Pagliacci,” which followed. A light dinner and congratulations followed the performance. Board Chairman Marc Stern introduced Domingo as “the person that is the past, present and future” of L.A. Opera.

In his remarks, Domingo reflected on his long-standing relationship with the company. “I made my debut in this theater 39 years ago,” he said. “It was ‘Don Rodrigo’ for the New York City Opera. Many of our stars were hardly even born.... It is a lot of time. But really the last 20 years are the ones where I have been so much involved with you and I am so grateful.”