PIFA opening gala and concert dazzle 800 guests

Ooh la la! Can you say “Paris comes to Philly?” It might seem as if our region has been overdosing on Eiffel Towers lately, with the “Springtime in Paris” theme and gigantic base of the Eiffel Tower at the Philadelphia International Flower Show last month, and now the 81-foot-high replica of the Eiffel Tower in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, centerpiece for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, or PIFA, as it has come to be called.

And all things French seem to have coalesced for the fantastic 25-day smorgasbord that was spawned by a magnanimous bequest from the late Leonore Annenberg to the Kimmel Center, requesting this visionary all-inclusive tribute to Paris in the early 20th century, involving all of the arts and culture groups in the region.

When I think of how, just a few years ago, the French and anything connected with France, like French fries and French wine and French perfume and especially French travel, were vilified, because the French government had wisely decided not to participate in George Bush’s war in Iraq, then I am especially delighted that the French are getting back their good name, and crêpes and wine and art and films and fashion and cuisine and everything good about France abounds. And French fries, not “freedom fries,” have been back on the menu for a while now. So the French have been vindicated.

It’s hard to find a single agency or museum or organization or university or dance company or musical organization that has not embraced PIFA wholeheartedly. And the opening-night gala and concert at the Kimmel Center were memorable, momentous, musically inspirational and simply “Mon Dieu!”

The Philadelphia Orchestra seemed to transport the audience of more than 800 patrons with their lively and beautiful version of Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella,” in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Ballet’s original production. Partly because of the energy and joy that conductor Rossen Milanov transmitted as he inspired the orchestra to bathe the audience in the lush tones of “The Three-cornered Hat,” and then accompanied the ballet in one of the most original performances, choreographed by Jorma Elo – just imagine if Michael Jackson’s moonwalk had been done to classical music, and that Jackson had worn ballet shoes.

“Cute” would be an insult for the tremendous control and grace that the 10 dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet exhibited, with their flesh-colored costumes and unique combinations of “pas de deux” and flirtations.

Both the orchestra and the Pennsylvania Ballet received a well-deserved standing ovation from a cheering audience. Verizon Hall was brimming with love and appreciation for the talented performers.

You could tell from the VIPs who appeared at the cocktail hour, stayed for the performances, and then repaired to the elegant dinner, that this was a momentous occasion. Governor Rendell, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell, their son and daughter-in-law were the very first people I encountered when I entered the Kimmel Center Commonwealth Plaza. It was Rendell who had the vision for the regional performing-arts center on Broad Street, and it was he who convinced Sidney Kimmel to make the lead gift in order to accomplish the mission. I believe it was Judge Rendell who spearheaded the effort until Leslie Anne Miller, our own Main Line brilliant attorney, was brought on board as president to complete the construction, get all the arts organizations on board to sign contracts, and plan and preside over a fantastic opening night, just a few years ago. Miller was at the PIFA opening gala, of course, as was Juliet Goodfriend, the visionary head of the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.

In fact it was hard to name a single cultural venue in the region that was not represented at the PIFA opening gala. And it seems as if every single theater group, art museum and singing and performing group for miles around has put together some offering for the festival.

And if you want to brush up on your French, and do it painlessly and for free, just drop by the Kimmel Center every weekday at five o’clock and have a free French lesson by one of the many French-speaking teachers of the Alliance Française de Philadelphie. That’s the same organization that offers year-round French classes, at every level, on Bryn Mawr College’s campus and in its Center City headquarters. You might be fortunate enough to attend a “class” at the Kimmel Center led by Alliance Française board member Marie-Laure Epaminondas, who hails from Ardmore these days.

There is also a series of French Philadelphia trolley rides, hosted by the Alliance Française, based on its French Philadelphia guide book, originating from the Kimmel Center several times a week. You can find out about every single one of the 145 offerings of PIFA by Googling www.pifa.org. Or pick up the ever-present schedules in any newspaper or cultural venue.

Did I tell you that at the opening gala, after dinner, patrons were treated to an aerial ballet by the group called Grounded Aerial, where dancers on wires seemed to be climbing the walls of the atrium of the Kimmel Center while performing to beautiful music? My dinner companions were a bit worried because there was no net. But the skilled acrobat-dancers made it safely back to the floor of the Plaza after their performance.

Oh – and the Eiffel Tower does not just sit there and look gorgeous. As Mayor Nutter and honorary chairman Jerry Lenfest demonstrated at the gala, by flicking a switch, it performs a light-and-sound show to classical music, several times each day and night. You can buy some crêpes and sit at the “café” in the Kimmel Center, waiting for the Eiffel Tower to strut its stuff.