RSVP : The <i> Other </i> Tenor Didn’t Sing a Note

It was the night of the two tenors.

What drew them--plus 700 more guests--to the Music Center on Thursday was the kickoff for the L.A. Music Center Opera’s 10th season, a performance of “Stiffelio” followed by a lively Motown-fueled, black-tie dance party on the plaza.

The evening’s authentic tenor/heartthrob/star was Placido Domingo. He sang the lead in Verdi’s opera. But the vocalist who ran second in attracting attention never appeared on stage. This was Frank Sinatra, whose entrance was dramatic even by operatic standards.

He was hurtled into the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the core of a 30-person moving huddle that included uniformed security guards, feverish paparazzi , private bodyguards, television film crews (one TV reporter kept shouting, “Will you put to rest . . .” never finishing the question), autograph seekers and the usual squad of unidentified walkie-talkie wielders.

“He likes opera,” said Domingo of the Other Tenor. “He comes all the time in New York.” Domingo also mentioned that Sinatra has expressed a desire for them to record together. While they were being photographed, Sinatra was heard to say: “You gotta find one song, we work together.”

Though that song probably won’t come from “Stiffelio,” the opera was popular with the crowd that streamed onto the plaza.

Honorary gala chair Paloma Picasso, who represented party co-sponsor Tiffany & Co., said “Stiffelio” was “wonderful.” Wendy Goldberg said she loved it, but “it really bothered me that they made such a big deal out of adultery.”

There was also much praise for gala chairwoman Joan Hotchkis, who transformed the plaza with a black-and-white dance floor, topiaries on each table and an eight-piece band with three singers. The dance floor was saturated with couples--the best barometer of a successful party. “The opera’s a bit dark and semi-tragic,” said Hotchkis. “I didn’t want the party to be like that.”

The most dazzling touch was the fireworks that exploded halfway through dinner. Set off from the Dorothy Chandler’s roof, these were major pyrotechnics that included rockets, smoke bombs and a waterfall of phosphorous-white sparks that stretched from the eaves to the ground. “In all the years I’ve been at the Music Center, you couldn’t get the fire department to approve votive candles on tables,” said an awed Suzanne Marx. “Somehow Joan gets fireworks.”

It was also opening night for the Music Center’s new food service, Restaurant Associates, which received high marks for their breast of chicken stuffed with mushroom entree. and an exquisite fig sabayon dessert. A dissenting note came from members of Local 11, the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union, who handed out flyers protesting the loss of jobs in the changeover.

Among the guests dining were Barbara Davis, Pierce Brosnan, Roy Ash, Kelly Day, Nancy Davis, John Mack, Mary Hayley and Selim Zilkha, Flora Thornton, Tara Colburn, Alice Coulombe, Carol and Warner Henry and opera General Director Peter Hemmings.

As a fund-raiser, the evening was a major success with more than $300,000 raised from tickets priced as high as $725 each. Proving, in the words of Moliere: “Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive.”