“The Kennedy Center said they wanted some administration people to come, and I said, ’How many do you want?’” remarked an unassuming Anne Johnson, co-chair of the center’s spring gala moneymaker, during the pre-dinner reception on the Opera House stage Sunday afternoon.
Standing within range at that moment were Secretary of State Colin L. Powell (whose wife, Alma, is interim Kennedy Center co-chairperson along with Ken Duberstein) and half of his Cabinet colleagues, plus Karl Rove, Joshua Bolton, Ken Mehlman and a good number of other top advisers who are rarely seen out and about the town.
All that and Laura Bush, who appeared briefly onstage to offer some high-minded comments about the importance of the arts before the show, a musical tribute to Washington native Duke Ellington dubbed “Ellington, Etc.” Garbed in a diamond necklace and black silk chiffon by Oscar de la Renta, the first lady also made an unprecedented appearance at the pre-show dinner.
Mrs. Johnson, the wife of Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Clay Johnson (an old Yale pal of President Bush’s), teamed up with another Kennedy Center trustee, fellow Texan Cappy McGarr, in a bipartisan effort to pull out all the stops, which resulted in a record 1,500 guests contributing a record $2.8 million toward the center’s annual $16.2 million programming budget.
“It takes a Texan to get things done,” Mr. McGarr reminded anyone who asked about numbers.
“And there even was a waiting list,” exclaimed Donna McLarty, another trustee.
The four-act spectacle — cocktail party, dinner, show and “’til midnight dancing party” — which traditionally fills the institution’s educational and artistic program coffers to the brim, is a lot of things to a lot of people. Some paying guests like showing off fancy spring finery; others like hobnobbing with Names.
Craig Fuller, a Kennedy trustee emeritus — “They never get rid of you,” he said with a laugh — noticed “a lot of new people. [Kennedy Center Honors in early December] brings out the real Kennedy Center family; the gala opens it up to everyone.” (In other words, tickets — at a minimum $500 a pop — are easier to come by for the spring fling.)
The audience in the Concert Hall — decorated onstage with colored spots and 14 full floral arrangements by party designer David Tutera — got the full treatment with some greater and lesser-known Ellington titles performed by Dianne Reeves, Regina Carter, Nancy Wilson and two dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, all backed by the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Liza Minnelli was featured at the close, substituting for Aretha Franklin (who was ill) and titillating the audience with a humorous aside about the mysterious glass of red liquid she sipped between numbers.
“It’s Gatorade,” the pop star volunteered. That brought laughs from sympathetic audience members aware of the vicissitudes of her well-publicized personal life.
— Ann Geracimos
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