Costume gala paired well with the opera
Last week's costume gala benefiting
the Fort Worth Opera was a happy success.
While most of the 200 partygoers wore black tie for this
fund-raiser at Ridglea Country Club, many did dress like "The Greatest
Couples, of All Time:" including Lady and the Tramp, Russian royalty
Nicholas and Alexandra, Bonnie and Clyde, and others.
Event chairman Sheila Jane Reynolds and her husband,
Randy Reynolds, led the way as Scarlett and Rhett. "Call me
Wreck Butler," Randy joked. Those who dressed the part competed for
trophies awarded in several categories. Who knew plastic statues would
be so coveted!
You'd think that University of North Texas Health Science Center
honcho Ron Blanck & and his wife, Donna, as Fred Astaire
and Ginger Rogers, would do a little soft-shoe in front of the judges'
stand, but they didn’t. It was opera fan Bil Butner,
dressed as a flapper, who cut a rug for me and my fellow judges:
Darla Robertson Robinson, the PR honcho for Fort Worth's
Neiman Marcus, and Grammy-nominated pianist
Danny Wright.
We all found the beautiful costumes and wigs worn by Browning
as Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Deveroe as the Earl
of Wessex irresistible and they went home with the top prize.
Sheila kept the spotlight on fun. She didn't give an opera
commercial or thank members of the large event committee. "You know
who you are and thanks," she said, before the James Davis Orchestra
struck up the music that got lots of partygoers onto the dance floor
while others drifted off to the casino gaming tables.
Mary Rogers - Fort Worth Star Telegram
