The Crowd

B.W. Cook

The event was a first-class extravaganza -- the highlight of the winter

social calendar. The 26th annual Candlelight Concert benefiting the

Orange County Performing Arts Center was nothing less than the party of

the year in Orange County.

Inspired by a Venetian dream, the decor was out of this world. In keeping

with the romantic theme, women dressed to excess. Less was definitely

more, as decolletage was highlighted at more than one elegant table. Yes,

skin was in. Love was in the air. There was a great deal of nibbling

going on, and we are not talking about dinner.

Co-chairwoman Pat Rypinski set the pace and the tone for the event

wearing a daring, low-cut gown of velvet and lace accented with fur cuffs

at the sleeve. Chairwoman Dotti Stillwell took a more demure route,

donning a gown of silver satin and beads in keeping with the holiday

spirit.

The team worked magic together. It was a night to stare. The crowd

dazzled. Jewelry sparkled. Staff hustled. And $1 million was raised for

The Center.

The best-dressed woman of the evening was Patti Edwards. The tall and

pretty blond is always among the most tasteful and handsomely outfitted

ladies on the Orange Coast. For Candlelight, she outshone them all in a

beautifully tailored signal-red evening suit with a floor-length skirt

and Cinderella neckline that looked like she stood for the dressmaker to

create the clothing especially for her. Around her neck, an exquisite

diamond and emerald necklace. She was a princess, pure and simple.

And it was an evening befitting a princess. The setting -- created by

Stillwell and Rypinski with able assistance from a talented committee and

a set designer named Jim Mees from Paramount Pictures -- recreated a

Venetian setting. Table cloths were rich silk-embroidered tapestries.

Flatware shined in gleaming silver. Crystal was rimmed in gold filigree

to coordinate with the table coverings. China was oversized and painted

crimson and gold. And the centerpieces were works of art: golden urns

overflowing with glistening fruits and flowers, centered with a glass

hurricane lamp flickering candlelight.

The glass hurricanes on each table were replicated in the form of tall

torches placed around the stage floor, each hoisting multiple arms of

candlelight toward the rafters. At the back of the stage, a

floor-to-ceiling scrim reflected the projected image of a portion of the

Venetian Doges Palace. No wonder romance was in the air.

Prior to the dinner -- catered by the Four Season’s Hotel, Newport Beach

-- on the stage of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, as has been

the practice for the past several years of the Candlelight Concert

production, the crowd of some 400 was entertained by Broadway performer

Linda Eder.

The intimate performance in Segerstrom Hall is always a highlight of the

affair. The audience feels as if they are experiencing a private concert

in some grand home, rather than a public arena. It is a very special

setting. Eder, star of Broadway’s “Jekyll and Hyde,” took the crowd on a

musical journey introducing numbers from a yet-to-be-staged Broadway show

based on a book about Cuba. The most charming of her numbers was the

simple presentation of Mel Torme’s “Christmas Song.”

Following dinner, the William Hall Master Chorale took the stage in all

its glory sharing with the Candlelight crowd a program of holiday music.

It was simply enchanting. Voices rang out in harmony sharing Christmas

classics and Hanukkah melodies from years gone by. Center Chairman Jerry

Mandel encouraged the diners to stay until breakfast and dance until

dawn.

In the crowd were Cerise and Larry Feeley, Roberta and Howard Ahmanson,

Ginger and Tony Allen, Beverly and Dave Carmichael, Carole and Ralph

Cicerone, Renee and Sidney DuPont, Carole and Robert Follman, Barbara and

Jim Glabman, The Center’s Michael Halpern with his pretty wife, Danielle,

Dee and Larry Higby, Barbara and Mark Johnson, Kimberly (another of the

best-dressed women) and Fletcher Jones, Gail and Roger Kirwin, Victoria

and Gil LeVasseur, Penny and Al Newman, Colleen and Roger Oglesby, Joan

and Tom Riach, Sheila and Ygal Sonenshine, Tom and Elizabeth Tierney, and

a formidable contingent of the Segerstrom family including Jeanette,

Peggy, Sally, Sandy, Ted, Anton, and, of course, Renee and Henry.

If Patti Edwards was best dressed, Renee Segerstrom was most enchanting.

Now there’s a new category.

Also on hand to support The Center were Pamela and Malcolm Paul, Kelly

and Duane Roberts, Marilyn and Tom Sutton, Marcia and Hank Adler, Ronnie

and Byron Allumbaugh, Zee Allred, Ron and Betty Dominguez and Belle and

Jack Lindquist.

* B.W. COOK’S column appears every Thursday and Saturday.