No, not basketball...this time, it was the 50th Anniversary Ball for the Kansas City Lyric Opera. Justin was lucky enough to score a couple of seats at the UMB table - and it was certainly an event to remember.
Kansas City is especially proud of how its Opera has evolved over the past ten years. Until recently, all shows at the Lyric were actually performed in English instead of the native languages in which they were composed, much to the dismay of local and visiting opera afficionados. So an Opera Guild was formed to bring the Lyric up to snuff with other American opera houses. The effort was a success, in large part due to money raised by the Guild through events such as the Annual Ball.
The Ball started with a silent auction/cocktail hour, followed by a 5-course dinner during which opera singers performed popular scenes from some of the Lyric's past shows. After dinner, the Steve Miller Orchestra came on stage for music and dancing. And then at midnight, like Cinderella, we left the ball and, unlike Cinderella, returned home with a surprisingly large load of silent auction goods (Note: when silent auctions coincide with cocktails and food, people forget to bid!! Except for Justin and me, apparently.)
Although we have yet to actually attend a performance at the Lyric, we'll look forward to the 2008 season - which will certainly be all the better thanks to an incredible $1.4 million netted at this year's Opera Ball.
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