A Simple, Yet Elegant, Event
The Scene: The Thursday night premiere of Disney’s “Mr. Holland’s Opus” at the Cinerama Dome was followed by a late supper party in the parking lot. A simultaneous captioned screening was held at the Galaxy Theater. The film is the story of a high school music teacher and the lives he changes over his 30-year teaching career, including the life of his son, who is born deaf.
The event raised $294,000 for Tripod, a nonprofit group that provides educational programs for deaf and hearing-impaired children and their families. “It’s the only movie yet that lets you feel good about deafness,” said Tripod executive director Carl Kirchner after the screening.
Who Was There: The film’s star, Richard Dreyfuss, accompanied by his family; co-star Glenne Headly; supporting players Jay Thomas, Alicia Witt and Jean Louisa Kelley. Other guests included Julian Lennon, composer Michael Kamen, screenwriter Patrick Sheane Duncan, actress Anne Archer and Disney execs Michael Eisner and Joe Roth.
Lavishness Index: Party Planners West erected a domed Crystal Palace made of clear plastic and filled with flowers and vine-covered chandeliers. The effect was simple and elegant. Even the black Astroturf flooring sparkled festively. The USC marching band played at the entrance, while a combo playing standards serenaded party-goers inside. Many of the guests were signing to each other, and something about so much enthusiastic gesturing made the party seem more lively than most such affairs.
Chow: Guests dined on a buffet catered by Patina, which included frisee salad, chicken pot pie, lamb en croute, seafood pasta and a slightly too-inventive dish of salmon with beans and bacon.
Good Party? “I have no idea. I don’t remember anything about my wedding reception either. How’s the food?” Dreyfuss quipped before darting off to roughhouse with Nicholas John Renner, who played his son at age 6 in the movie, and who, like the character, was born deaf. Did Dreyfuss learn to sign for the movie? “I learned to sign about as well as I can sing,” he said with a pained expression.
True Story: Joseph Anderson, who played Dreyfuss’ son at 15, took questions through a sign language interpreter and answered by voice and sign. On how he came to be in the film, the first acting job for the deaf teenager, he said, “It was a parallel story to ‘Mr. Holland’s Opus.’ My drama teacher, Mr. Rutherford, saw the potential in me.”
Quoted: Songwriter Julian Lennon composed several songs for the movie. When asked what it was like to compose music with the deaf in mind, he said, “When I was approached I didn’t know that was the case. Initially, I came at it from the emotion between the father and son, the lack of communication, the regrets and the eventual understanding.”
