Out & About
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Who’s walking around with an engraved iPod these days? The chairman of the global advertising firm the Omnicom Group, Bruce Crawford, received that hip gift Wednesday night, on the occasion of his last Lincoln Center gala as chairman of the arts complex.
Mr. Crawford ends his three-year term in June, capping more than 30 years of service to Lincoln Center and its constituents, including more than three years as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera.
To make the gift really special, the president of Lincoln Center, Reynold Levy, loaded up the portable music player with Mr. Crawford’s favorite music: Act II of Verdi’s “Otello”; the second movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 “Titan”; Act II of Leo Janacek’s “Katya Kabanova”; the second movement of Franz Schubert’s Sonata in B flat, and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Mr. Crawford discussed each work on the WNYC program “Mad About Music” last year.
Mr. Crawford told The New York Sun, “I’m not going to disappear,” and when the jovial executive is wearing his iPod, he should be easy to spot.
The gala, attended by 850 guests, raised a reported $2.1 million. The dinner and dancing party under a white tent in Damrosch Park followed the first night of a three-day run of the musical “Passion” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, starring Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, and Michael Cerveris.
A New York City Ballet board member, Daniel Brodsky, presented the Arts Laureate Award to the chairman and chief executive of the Bank of New York, Thomas Renyi, who said: “Lincoln Center is a true collaboration, something that is true of all performances and true to the spirit of New York.”
Several guests recalled the Broadway musicals that made a big impression on them. Ms. LuPone’s was “Camelot” with Julie Andrews. Fiona Rudin has a soft spot for “Brigadoon,” because one of the heroines is named Fiona. Kelly Cornell Mecartney’s first musical was “42nd Street.” “I saw it when I was 6 – and I can still tapdance to it,” she said.
Leading off with “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” Peter Duchin’s band once again got everyone on the dance floor – well, not everyone, but certainly the most fun-loving guests. Thanks to Frank Savage for twirling me around a few times – and to his wife, Lolita, for letting me cut in.
