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ICECUBE: Balling at the Academy of Music and Tiffany's & Co.
"One of the prettiest sights in this pretty world is that of the privileged classes enjoying their privileges."
ICECUBE: Balling at the Academy of Music and Tiffany’s & Co.
“One of the prettiest sights in this pretty world is that of the privileged classes enjoying their privileges.”
—Katharine Hepburn, The Philadelphia Story
For 156 years, the Academy of Music has held an annual Ball and Concert to celebrate itself and make certain that there are funds to keep the grand old dame of a building sound and, now, its orchestra solvent. Bully for that. Though I didn’t break out the white tails-and-tie myself (this year I went with black tie and tux) I applaud those who yearly don the uniform (It’s not easy to look good in this penguin suit) who hit up the Ball’s proper pre-events (from the Central Committee for 4th Annual Philadelphia Orchestra Pre-Party reception at Tiffany & Co to the President’s Reception at the Ac of Mus) and the Ball itself at the Bellevue down the block.
The Academy Ball is not necessarily about money. I saw several attendees there who don’t make seven or six figures. It’s about class, the desire to pay into such as architectural marvel, and the willingness to pay into such dedication. Money can’t buy that level of class.
The night started with Jean-Marie Lacroix’s Brûlée Catering fare, with Tiffany-blue box-shaped petit fours and chilled vodka at the Pre-Ball reception at Tiffany. That’s where dressy guests had an opportunity to win a Tiffany diamond pendant by paying $200 for a robin’s egg blue box with the prize stuffed inside. One grand reveal at 6:30 p.m. and poof, the victor of the $3,450 pendant was Deborah Simon. Yay you.
Moments later I was back at the President’s Reception where I spied one-time Inquirer boss Brian Tierney wearing a medal (was he knighted recently? Did he fight at Marseilles?) and talking with Philadelphia magazine president David H. Lipson Jr. I watched PGN boss Mark Segal in a pointing war with recently married reporter Maria Papadakis. I saw the Phils’ Cole Hamels in an ill-fitting outfit (told you it ain’t easy) telling those assembled in the concert hall how he and his missus Heidi were first-time Ballers. I saw way too many women in gowns and gloves attempting to eat sliders with grace. Nope. Not going to happen, ladies.
The concert itself where Hugh Jackman joined forces with the Philadelphia Orchestra and its new conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin? Jackman was an awesome choice, a leggy presence whose kiddish-ness with the conductor aped the relationship between then-maestro Eugene Ormandy and comedian Danny Kaye 56 years previous by acting playfully and wiping his face with a big Philadelphia Union jersey. Nezet-Seguin played the piano while leading the Orchestra in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467. Jackman fist-bumped the conductor, played to the crowd by kissing Governor Corbett’s missus (the white haired governor seemed weirdly at ease) during an easy rendition of “Mack the Knife” and sang “Soliloquy” from Carousel with chatty bravura. Hugh was better than James Taylor and Sting for sure, on a par with the recent guest of the Academy Ball, Billy Joel.
Such a grand night.
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