A wellspring of creativity (with links!)

In all of the wonderful surprises of New York City, nothing could prepare us for our first trip to the Rainbow Room. Our story begins at my design firm's Christmas party last year. The Scottsman's wife, Chippy, asked us if we would help her out with a project. "I'm doing a show for the big Sir John Soane Museum gala in April at the Rainbow Room. I'm doing a Masque that will depict his life in approximately five minutes. I'm calling the show, "The Apotheosis of Sir John Soane!"

A couple of months later, Chippy emailed us, "Could you send me both your measurements? I'm making your costumes for the show!" Luckily, my real job (opera) requires that I have my measurements on hand and up to date. I did spend an enjoyable evening measuring Kitty.

I bumped into Chippy in March during a quick stopover at their house in the country. "The costumes are coming along! I've made her dress entirely out of old newspapers!"

At this point, my expectations have changed slightly. It turns out that our costumes were made entirely out of reused items. There were plaster-of-paris masks, hats made out of funnels, cat food cans decorating kilts made from scraps of fabric, wigs made of braided plastic newspaper bags... I could keep going, but words can't really describe the variety and inspiration that was involved in producing these costumes.

Kitty and I drove out to the country for the rehearsal and gave two cast members a ride out. One has been a friend of the Scottsman since before he was married. She had participated in several of these shows. As it turns out, many different productions have happened over the years. For one show, Chippy and the Scottsman rented a theater on Broadway for the night. They wrote all of the songs and the audience included Andy Warhol! Our other passenger is an agent for animal talent. Her number one client? Toonces, the Driving Cat! Unless you were a teenager during the Dana Carvey years on Saturday Night Live, you would not know how important this is. When I learned this, I felt like signing, "You complete me," a la Jerry Maguire.

We met the rest of our castmates at the first rehearsal in the ballroom of Chippy and the Scottsman's country home. They included an architect on the board of the museum, Chippy's fashion designer friends, and friends who had been in previous productions. Everyone was thrilled to be there and threw themselves into the performance and rehearsal with gusto.

On our lunch break, we sat in the formal dining room at the small table with Chippy and her designer friends. Prior to her career as an accomplished book author, Chippy had spent several years working in the fashion district, designing clothing for several different companies. Kitty made instant friendships when we started asking our the three gentlemen at our table about life in the fashion industry. "Oh, Donna? (yes, Kitty verified, as in Karan), She is such a bitch! We worked together for years and, oy! what talent and a what a temper!!" one cackled. The name dropping continued and I doubt we stopped laughing throughout lunch.

It's the day of the show, y'all!

The show opened with Chippy singing an old musical theater tune. She creatively altered the words of the song to explain the what a masque was and also tell a bit about Inigo Jones, an archicect who, in addition to developing sets for these types of shows, also was an influence on Sir John Soane. The play itself was a poem in rhymed couplets, narrated by Chippy, that described the life of Soane. We, dressed in our mad costumes, acted out the action. Each of the 10 actors had different roles. Kitty and I helped act out a bit with Sir John Soane's favorite columns. Thankfully, we had one task to do besides dance across the stage at the beginning of the show. There is a video out there somewhere and if I can figure out how to get it on YouTube, I will definitely upload it.

After the show, performed on the 65th floor in the ballrooom of the Rainbow room, Kitty and I changed and met our fashion friends for dinner in the staff area. As we sat and drank wine from the open bar, Kitty and I were regaled with stories of the fashion world. A world of brutal deadlines and gigantic personalities. We heard stories from Ann Klein and, just as the stories were winding down, some of the donors walked by on their way to the restroom, dressed in their tuxes and gowns. "Oh, honey, that color makes you look like forgot to put your face on." "That's it, I'm going after her, someone needs to save her from herself, look at those ties down the back of her dress!... she's like a muffin top with 5 muffins!" We grab his arms to keep him from running after the girl. "If her dress had on the top what it lacked on the bottom, she would look beautiful!." "Some girls can pull off orange-- honey, you ain't one of 'em!" Tears of laughter are streaming down Kitty's face as they dig in like only gay fashionistas can do.

The herd of donors started to thin and our eyes were drawn to the table of "thank you" bags that guests were supposed to take as we left. "Do you think we can take one?" asked Fashionsta #1. "Darling, I just spent an hour dressed in woven trash bags-- yes, they were fabulous, but simply must have one as a reminder of the evening," said Fashionista #2. "That's IT! I've had it with this dump!" said Fashionista #3. He picks up his jacket and puts it on. He throws his head back and announces, "I'm LEAVING!" We grab our things to follow as he storms out of the restaurant, grabbing a gift bag as he goes. Of course, we all follow suit. (pun intended)