At the Nutcracker Family Opening Night Dinner on Wednesday — amid the bowling-pin-tossing jugglers, the towering Toy Soldier stilt-walker and the herd of children scampering about — a decidedly un-family moment occurred.
Santa Claus, looking suitably jolly in his red coat and cap, suddenly found not a little boy or girl on his lap, as he is so accustomed, but a grown woman.
“Ho, ho, ho,” Santa said, unfazed — for even grown-ups have holiday wishes. “What would you like for Christmas?”
“A bag of cash,” said the giggling woman (who preferred to remain nameless), “a Lear jet — and a boyfriend.”
It’s no wonder adults turn childlike at this party hosted by the Joffrey Women’s Board, which drew nearly 500 to The Chicago Club and raised $120,000 for the Joffrey. The night ends with everyone trooping off to the opening-night performance of the Joffrey’s “The Nutcracker” — a magical ballet that so often recalls childhoods past.
“I’m so excited!” said Sandy Fitzpatrick, who brought her 10-year-old son, Sean Griffin. “I haven’t seen `The Nutcracker’ since I was a little girl and it was at the Arie Crown [Theatre].”
Before dinner, performers dressed as Clara, the Nutcracker and the Mouse King greeted children, who clamored for photos with them before a soaring Christmas tree.
Other roaming characters were less identifiable. One wore white T-shirt and a pink tutu. Seven-year-old Julianna Foster pondered the sight, then ran to her mother, Elizabeth Foster, and announced: “I saw a man in a tutu! He must be confused.”
Nearby, Wolfgang Beintzle rolled in his 8-foot-high German wheel. Beintzle is a former world champion on the wheel — yes, it’s a competitive sport — and he happily gave a ride to 6-year-old Joe Taylor.
After, the slightly dizzy Taylor tried to persuade 5-year-old Luke Grisko to give it whirl.
“You feel like you’re falling!” Joe said, at which Luke promptly declined the invitation.
At dinner in the club’s wood-paneled Lounge Room, the children feasted on chicken fingers — which the grown-ups eyed covetously. Last year, the chicken fingers proved so popular among the adults, who swiped them off their children’s plates, that the women’s board this year giddily decreed: “Chicken fingers for everyone!”
That idea might have flown at another venue, but it was not deemed appropriate by the private, century-old Chicago Club. “The answer was no,” said Joffrey Women’s Board member Melissa Babcock, who, like the rest of the adults, made do with herb-rubbed chicken breast and mashed potatoes.
Joffrey artistic director Gerald Arpino dined with longtime women’s board member Nancy Klimley, who created the Family Dinner years ago. Also in the crowd: Ravinia president Welz Kauffman; event co-chairs Lisa Malkin and Liz Sharp; and auctioneer Leslie Hindman.
While “The Nutcracker” ballet is often derided by dancers as lacking depth, Arpino said he looks forward to it every year. “It’s only at `The Nutcracker’ that I see fathers coming in with their children on their shoulders, and it’s so important, because we’re so sports oriented,” he said. “Of course, I wish fathers would come to all the ballets — but they do come to `The Nutcracker.'”
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lhahn@tribune.com
