Chairman of the Board Sandra P. Guthman remembers the exact moment when her project took flight: “When Irving Harris volunteered the construction loan!” And so began the final act on the 1,500-seat, $63 million Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance. The project was 20 years in the making, and the center’s inaugural gala attracted guests eager to see the fruits of so much time, capital and back-scratching. Actor Frank Galati emceed the performances by the theater’s 12 founding companies, ranging from Music of the Baroque to Old Town School of Folk Music. All were roundly applauded, but opinion diverged on the theater’s industrial-grade interior. “It’s a terrific space,” declared Hubbard Street dancer Tobin Del Cuore. “There’s an unfinished edge to it, so anything is possible.” But, whispered one bejeweled guest glancing at the stark white walls and fluorescent fixtures, “I feel like I’m still in the parking garage.”
