S.F. Symphony gala has note of audacity

Elizabeth Castaneda boogies to the Michael Jackson tribute band Foreverland at the after party for the Spring Gala – an event that was a change of key from Symphony tradition. Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle

Before the San Francisco Symphony’s Spring Gala this week, the evening’s 26-year-old Symphonix co-chair Rebecca Miller was nervous – it was her first time chairing a gala and, she said, she’d maybe gotten too excited.

“I have a Mohawk right now,” she said, her voice a little rattled on the way to her mother’s hotel room. “A pompadour, I guess, maybe, but a Mohawk, really. I need Mom to figure out what to do, but text if you have questions.”

A Mohawk? Texting?!

In a radical departure from typical gala programming, the venerable 102-year-old Symphony put on its first-ever Spring Gala on Thursday night at City Hall. Instead of sit-down dinners separated by ticket price (Patrons higher, Symphonix lower), there was one big communal buffet. And though past gala programs tended to range from Berlioz to Beethoven, this spring fling featured R&B singer Janelle Monae, who performed with the full orchestra – an honor only Paul Simon has received here, and it wasn’t at a gala.

Everyone was watching carefully: With the spring Black and White ball on hiatus next year, there were rumors that this spring fling could be its replacement.

“When we started talking about this – about something targeting a different demographic – some people, maybe the older generation, they said, ‘That’s not my thing.’ But my son? He said, ‘Finally,’ ” said Symphony President Sako Fisher. “We have to be flexible, nimble, or forget it.”

In the dining room, the caterer McCalls had set up buffet stations named after neighborhoods like SoMa (steak, salads), Japantown (sushi) and North Beach (risotto).

“We’ve never done this before,” said Executive Chef Lucas Schoemaker. “But they’re having more fun, you can see.”

Some of the 300 diners never sat down, preferring to move and snack between stations.

“Is there City Hall Wi-Fi?” said Ye-Hui Lu, the 32-year-old Symphonix president, who reported that she had seen three patrons wearing onesies (dress code was creative black tie). “Usually you sit down at an assigned seat, and you can’t go to the bar, and you can’t do anything.”

Next to the sushi spread, patron Amy Wagner was taking cell phone self-portraits with event chair Angelique Griepp, who wore a black stretch crepe bodysuit with a deep dive – “My husband thinks I’m insane. He’s like, ‘Really, a jumpsuit, really?’ Yes.”

Bobby Boyle, 24, said he’d never been to the Symphony before – “It’s like that scene in ‘Home Alone 2’ when he’s peering in at the concert through the ceiling vents. I always felt like him, but now I’m here, and it’s awesome.”

Many lingered over their dinner conversations and ran late to the concert.

Onstage, Monae, in a tuxedo and pompadour, asked the crowd if it was “ready to jam.” Several people golf-clapped. With the second song, people were hollering. At the third, some patrons began to raise their arms. Monae tore her earpiece out and started dancing – jumping, twisting, sometimes pretending to be a conductor facing the orchestra. By the time she began her soulful rock piece “Cold War,” Fisher could no longer contain herself. She jumped up and started shimmying. Canes clattered to the ground, furs rolled off shoulders, as all but a few of the 2,500 joined in.

Leaving the auditorium, 77-year-old Fred Smith and his wife, Gloria, danced down the walkway.

“See, people think the gala is just stuffy, and we’re losing audiences because of it,” said Smith. “This is the new trend – less structured, inviting people to mix. We didn’t sit with our old friends. We met people we’d never met before. We danced. And we loved it. Though Gloria and I, we always close the gala dance tents down.”

Miller, who had flattened her Mohawk, admitted she probably could have kept it.