By Wendi Winters

The Capital

October 31, 2011

Every chair in the 88-seat Bay Theatre in Annapolis was packed Wednesday night with excited partygoers in cocktail attire. Still more lined the aisles. All eyes were on the stage, set up to resemble a hospital room.

The audience was eagerly anticipating the start of the High Society Fashion Show, part of a gala fundraising evening for the 10-year-old theater company.

By the event's end, more than $13,000 had been raised through ticket sales, a live auction and donations. Bay Theatre is donating 5 percent of the evening's proceeds to Anne Arundel Medical Center in support of women's cancer care.

"Only half of the money we need to produce Bay Theatre shows comes from theater ticket sales," John Yorkilous, president of Bay Theatre's board of trustees, informed the audience. "The rest comes from fundraisers and from donations."

Beyond the allure of viewing luxurious fashions for men and women from popular Main Street retailers, there was the opportunity to see local celebrities strut, pose and vogue on stage like supermodels.

The celebrities did not disappoint.

Backstage, a former Maryland delegate, attorney Dick D'Amato, the evening's live auction auctioneer, tried to corral the models into a lineup for photographers. But, former Maryland first lady Kendel Ehrlich was showing off the diamond jewelry from Zachary's Jewelers and fluttering the eyelash extensions applied by stylists from Morgan Gerard.

Though he wore his trademark cowboy boots throughout the show, state Sen. John C. Astle, D-Annapolis, practiced the flourishes and winks he'd demonstrate later in the limelight.

Annapolis Symphony Orchestra conductor Jose Luis Novo was twiddling with his wide, sheer alpaca scarf, sweeping it through the air like a matador's cape.

"There's a first time for everything," he quipped about his new profession as a fashion runway model.

There were celebrities in the audience too, including an ambassador from Peru - OAS Ambassador Hugo de Zela and his wife Maria Eugenia de Zela, also a consul.

Veteran Broadway actress Valerie Leonard, the show's commentator, described the women's fashions as "chic, playful and ultrafeminine, all in an array of natural and stunning bright hues." Of the menswear, she cooed: "They'll send you over the moon with desire."

Through a series of vignettes, the multi-generational cadre of 21 volunteer runway mannequins dramatically strutted their stuff.

Ehrlich swanned across the stage at one point, expertly flinging her poncho across her shoulders while flashing the diamonds. Astle strolled to display a striped sweater beneath his leather aviator jacket and flirted with two women - Janet Luby, the theater's founder and artistic director, and Kelly Brown, an interior designer and former Miss Montana USA. Obviously this was more fun than wrangling over a budget amendment.

Afterwards, retired schoolteacher Taffy Wanderman said: "The show was fabulous. I loved John Astle!"

Her friend, Magothy River Middle School instructor Andrea Hamilton, agreed: "The clothes were terrific. I'm ready to go shopping right now."

"I'm delighted so many people turned out and grateful for all the people who modeled tonight," Luby said. "I'm amazed at the people who rallied around to make this evening fun, unique and successful.

"As important as raising funds for the theater, this event succeeded in raising awareness about Bay Theatre and its productions. It created a different buzz."