Elegance Is <i> de Rigueur</i> at ‘My Fair Lady’ Gala

“All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air, with one enormous chair, oh, wouldn’t it be loverly?”

--Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady.”

Wouldn’t it? Wasn’t it! There were plenty of rooms--elegant and flower-filled--at the “My Fair Lady” gala staged by Opera Pacific in San Juan Capistrano on Saturday night. And nobody had to worry about cold night air. With temperatures hovering in the 70s, there wasn’t any. As for enormous chairs, well, there are too many to count in Art and Gaye Birtcher’s French style-manse. And they couldn’t be loverlier.

There were even “Eliza Doolittles” sweeping around the annual gala tossed for Opera Pacific founders and underwriters--”Fair Ladies” dressed in flowing gowns designed by Cecil Beaton for the 1964 Warner Bros. movie. And their escorts dressed ultra-fashionably in finely tailored tail coats.

But it was Henry Higgins, a.k.a. Noel Harrison, who stole the show.

Strolling into the chic affair, Harrison, son of actor Rex Harrison, said he was “very much looking forward” to playing Higgins at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (where “My Fair Lady” opens on June 23). “And what’s important for me, since my father created the role, is that I do it as myself and don’t try to copy him.”

What is it about Eliza that gets that irritable, condescending and chauvinistic Higgins to fall for her? “She’s as strong as he is,” said Harrison, looking dashing in a British evening costume borrowed from the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington. “She’s as feisty as he is. He can’t get around her and manipulate her the way he does everyone else. That’s what he falls in love with. She throws him back on his heels!”

The gala, which netted $75,000 for Opera Pacific, was staged in two acts. Party-goers who anted up $500 per couple got to float through the breathtaking Birtcher manse, sipping tea or Veuve Clicquot and dining on fancy little watercress sandwiches or mini-scones with jam and clotted cream. Afterward, they floated outside to bid on auction items in “Covent Garden”; bet on filmed horse races during “Ascot Racing”; dine on delicacies such as Cornish pastries and blackbird pie, and, during dessert, listen to selections from “My Fair Lady” performed by members of the Opera Pacific Overture Co.

Guests who paid $250 enjoyed the alfresco festivities only. And guests who paid a whopping $800 had the option of wearing the Beaton creations.

“These hats will get you,” said Regina McGrath, striking a rakish pose in a black-satin Beaton gown during the champagne reception. “Try getting through a door! Or just walking around a party! How did women do it in those days?”

“They must not have had to worry about high winds,” cracked John Rau.

“I feel like an egg ready to hatch in all these feathers,” said Milli Wieseneck, blowing at the silvery ostrich plumes that climbed up her neck.” But she loved the look. “If women got together we could change fashion and dress like this tomorrow.”

Taking in the Edwardian scene on the sidelines was David DiChiera, director of Opera Pacific. “ ‘My Fair Lady’ is not opera,” he said. “But it’s great musical theater. A masterpiece. I’ve produced it three times and I never get tired of it. It’s fun watching Eliza grow from a spunky Cockney girl to a beautiful, vulnerable lady.”

“I’m in a snit because they won’t let me sing tonight,” deadpanned Floss Schumacher, chairwoman of the Opera Pacific board. “Well, I guess I couldn’t have sung all night. But there sure was a time when I could have danced all night.”

On the committee: Bob and Maxine Gibson, gala chairwoman with Mary Raymond; Laila Conlin; Robert and La Dorna Eichenberg; Martha Green; Isabelle Montupet; Connie Quarre and Jeanette Segerstrom.