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.
