A night of dueling galas in Silicon Valley
Sunday, February 10, 2008
By Sal Pizzaro, Mercury NewsIt was party-hopping time Saturday night and I bounced between Ballet San Jose’s gala in East Palo Alto and Santa Clara University’s Golden Circle Theater Party in San Jose.
Ballet San Jose decided to up the ante this year by holding a $1,000 a head party at the swanky Four Seasons Hotel instead of the more usual $300 a ticket gala. The evening was tied into the upcoming production of “Swan Lake” and guests were encouraged to wear white tie and diamonds. Ballerina Alexsandra Meijer turned some heads with her swan necklace that included 2,000 diamonds.
Cartier provided beautiful loaner jewelry for event chairs Michelle Rose and Debbie Martin and honorary chair Karen Loewenstern. Between the three of them, they were wearing $3.5 million of diamonds, which explains the tall, military looking bodyguard who was never out of their sight (and based on the bulge you could see in his jacket, you didn’t want to try stealing these jewels). I heard he was former FBI, but I didn’t strike up a conversation. Cartier also provided bottles of its exclusive Brut Rose champagne for the VIP reception held in one of the Four Seasons’ 10th floor suites, and guests left with a package of Cartier stationery, no doubt so they can write their friends about what an elegant evening they had.
Other guests spotted during the even included Ray and Liza Beshoff, Antia and Kevan Del Grande, John and Pam Stringer, Bob and Marie LoPresto, Cartier’s Moto Tomita, restaurateur and tech exec William Chang, and American Ballet Theatre legend (and former Cleveland San Jose Ballet artist) Cynthia Gregory. Of course, some of today’s Ballet San Jose stars were on hand, including Karen Gabay, Maria Jacobs, Raymond Rodriguez, Michael Doerner, Le Mai Linh, Mirai Noda and Seth Parker (who stole a dance with Mrs. Pizarro before dinner).
While the women in attendance were stunning without exception, the fashion sense among the men was a little spotty. Some, including me, went with formal white-tie and tails. Others just added a white tie with their regular tuxedos and some went black tie. Artistic director Dennis Nahat, ever the iconoclast, wore black on black with a mock turtleneck. Metro publisher Dan Pulcrano, who donated a few bottles of wine to the auction, reminded me of Nathan Detroit from “Guys and Dolls” in his velvety black suit with a white necktie. And dancer Maximo Califano practically stole the show, wearing a white tuxedo with red tie and cummerbund accompanied by a full length Native American headdress. Those were his “Swan Lake” feathers, I was told.
Seating was limited to just 200 people and early on, I think organizers hoped that by creating a sense of exclusivity, people would be intrigued and want to get in. The official count at the gala was 170 people, though that included most of the company’s dancers who were performing, as well. I’m told the event didn’t lose any money and that the live auction items would just add to the money raised. So did the ballet’s bold move by abandoning the high-volume gala pay off? I think the jury’s still out. It certainly delivered on its promise of an elegant, intimate evening. But while the performance of a scene from “Swan Lake” was splendid, the evening seemed to lack the punch that a longer performance might have provided. And I’m not sure that moving the venue to the Four Seasons added as much glamour to the night as I thought it would.
I’M ALRIGHT:My review of the Ballet’s gala is incomplete, though, because my wife and I had to depart at the start of the live auction to catch the second half of the 42nd annual Golden Circle Theater Party at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. It’s a fundraiser for various Santa Clara University programs, including the Learning Commons, Technology Center and the library and has included performers such as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Bob Newhart, Robert Goulet and Melissa Manchester. Interesting fact: There hasn’t been a female performer at Golden Circle since Pia Zadora co-headlined with Bob Hope in 1991. How could you top that?
More than 2,200 people swamped the Fairmont for this event, which started with a performance by Kenny Loggins, best known to those of us who grew up in the ’80s as the “Footloose” guy. We missed his show at the Center for Performing Arts but I’m told it was a good mixture of quiet ballads and rock ‘n’ roll. The dinner and dancing portion of the gala was spread out among three Fairmont ballrooms: The Imperial Ballroom featured Dick Bright’s SRO, the Regency Ballroom had Alfie Dreyfuss’ more sedate MVP Orchestra and all the kids were hanging out in Club Regent with my favorite cover band of all time, the Cheeseballs.
Golden Circle is a dizzying affair to say the least. I ran into far too many people to mention, though I’ll give it a shot: Mike and Mary Ellen Fox, Helen and Eddie Owen, Pete and Julie Constant, Norman and Alison Kline, Annette Aiassa, Henry and Shirlee Schiro, Steve and Amy Giachetti, Chris and Beth Johnson, Barbara and Dick Campisi, the Rev. Peter Pabst and Pierluigi Oliverio (who was sporting yet another variation of facial hair). San Jose Magazine publisher Gilbert Sangari was at Golden Circle, too, though his magazine also was the media sponsor for the Ballet San Jose gala.
I must say I was caught a little off guard to see Dave Fry of Fry’s Electronics coming out of the Imperial Ballroom, though. His wife, Shellie Fry, is on the operating board of the ballet and I told him I was surprised not to have seen him at the other event (I think my exact words were “Hey, I was just at the ballet gala. Where the hell were you?” His response was, “Yeah, my brother was there, too,” referring to John Fry, the chair of the Ballet’s operating board). He asked me if I’d met the man he was walking with, some scruffy-looking guy named Kenny. I shook his hand and said hello. The light popped on after the handshake that it was that Kenny. Way to go, newspaper guy.