Admittedly, we’re not quite there yet, but it felt like the opening of the season yesterday evening at Edgemere in Dallas, where The Dallas Opera Guild held its annual opening gala.
The event was particularly interesting as it encouraged movement from room-to-room, upstairs and down, permitting patrons to view the beautiful silent auction items, enjoy fabulous Spanish tapas and sangria, learn more about the wide variety of volunteer opportunities, savor a lovely sit-down dinner in a setting reminiscent of a Mediterranean villa and garden, explore the upcoming season with opera senior staff, and finish their evening with door prizes, Mary Kay gift bags and a bravura performance by “The Three Redneck Tenors.”
There was much teasing of Director of Artistic Administration Jonathan Pell who had evidently exercised his option NOT to bring one of the singers back to perform at The Dallas Opera (Yes, these guys are the real deal; one made his Metropolitan Opera debut several seasons ago.) and sang a variety of opera standards intermixed with the theme of the “Andy Griffith Show” and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (a definite highlight)!
The theme was the wedding of Figaro and Susanna (i.e. “The Marriage of Figaro”) which was carried off with panache, right down to the inappropriately dressed entertainers belting out big musical theater numbers (“To Dream the Impossible Dream”). In lieu of a gift, the happy fictitious couple accepted cans of food destined for the North Texas Food Bank.
All that was missing was the first dance of the bride and groom which, given the amount of wine and sangria we had consumed, may have shown spectacular foresight on the part of the planners.
Speaking of which: a “Standing O” to Guild President Gloria Rege and her small army of dedicated volunteers who pulled off this sparkling evening.
You made fund-raising fun.
Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Mktg., The Dallas Opera