You’ve prepared for weeks. Everything was going along smoothly. Then the White Sox got into the World Series, and Game 1 is at the same time as your event Saturday night. What to do? Tempo called around to find out how event planners, theater producers, restaurant managers and others are adjusting.
Shark Ball, Shedd Aquarium, 7 p.m.
After Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, organizers of the Shark Ball, the annual Shedd fundraiser, started thinking about TVs. “We said, ‘If there’s good news about the Sox [i.e., they win the ALCS], we’re going to have to make some adjustments,’ ” said co-chair Sonja Nielson. Indeed. After the Sox clinched the pennant, the ball committee arranged to set up 12 TVs for the party, including three 106-inch sets and, around the Coral Reef tank, eight 21-inch sets.
No one will have to miss a single play, Nielson says.
“We know that the Sox going to the World Series is a huge event, and we don’t want to risk people not coming because of that. You can watch in a bar, but this will be so much cooler.”
Nielson and her cohorts are promoting the party with extra intensity — telephoning people to make sure they’ve purchased their tickets and invited guests. “It’s called ‘dial and smile,'” said Nielson, with a laugh. “We do have this added element of the Sox. So we want to make sure people have bought their tickets and that people know the Sox are part of the party.”
Stroik/Seaman wedding reception at Newberry Library, 6 p.m.
Elizabeth Stroik and Michael Seaman had their wedding for 175 guests planned for Saturday for more than a year, and the two Philadelphia residents couldn’t be happier over the conflict — especially Elizabeth, a former South Sider and huge White Sox fan.
“As we got closer and closer and it dawned on us what could happen, it actually got more exciting, knowing we’d be in town for this,” said Stroik, who said TV sets will be available during the dance and updates will be given by the deejay. “I’m from a typical South Side Irish family from Evergreen Park. Everyone’s White Sox, but no one’s said they’re not coming. I’d understand if they had tickets, though.”.
Silk Road Theater Project’s opening night of “Ten Acrobats in the Amazing Leap of Faith,” Chicago Temple Building, 8 p.m.
“Ten Acrobats . . . ” is a world-premiere play about an Egyptian family struggling to find its place in American society. In a case of life imitating art, the opening-night production of this play will also be adjusting to American society — by featuring updates from the Sox opening night in the lobby. The score will be posted on the theater doors during intermission and before and after the performance.
“When we were scheduling the opening night for `Ten Acrobats’ some eight months ago, I had no idea this weekend was going to be so big for the city,” explained Malik Gillani, Silk Road’s executive director. “So I’ll be checking the Internet and posting the scores. But `Ten Acrobats’ is an amazing show as well, and I hope our audience is able to balance the theater and baseball game.”
Loyola University Law Alumni & Awards Dinner at Westin River North, 6 p.m.
There’s nothing an Illinois politician loves more than a big audience, but State Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), who’ll emcee this event, will find himself competing with a large-screen TV tuned to the game — without sound.
The awards and speeches will start as early as possible to be completed by the middle of the game, according to law school dean David Yellen. “The tricky part is that our prominent alums are more likely to have tickets,” he said. “We may lose a few, but I understand there’s also a chance for rain.”
USO of Illinois Star Spangled Salute Gala, Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier, 6:30 p.m.
This event traditionally is held as close as possible to Nov. 11 — Veterans Day, but was changed this year to accommodate Navy Pier scheduling. Still, event chair Patrick Casey isn’t totally unhappy. “I’d rather have it this weekend than next, when we could be up against a sixth game.”
Casey said large TV screens will be visible throughout the event, but the sound will be turned off. This could make for a very weird setting, he said, considering many attendees obviously will be reacting to the game and not the program. Lee Armey, the ex-Marine drill instructor and TV star, is the guest of honor. Bands and drill teams also are part of the program.
Alison Ruble, community and entertainment coordinator for USO of Illinois, says the event will incorporate and celebrate the Sox’s achievement. “We’re going to announce the scores throughout the night. The first song our band will play is going to be `Take Me Out to the Ballgame,'” she said.
Ruble doesn’t see the game as an inconvenience, but a boondoggle.
“Oh, we’re excited about it. We’re thrilled,” she said. “We’ve got a couple more items in the silent auction, including autographed baseballs by [Sox] team members . . . it just helps us raise more money.”
She added: “We’re capitalizing on the World Series frenzy. We want to use the excitement of it and incorporate that into our night.”
Dine to the Nines 2005 Celebrity Chef at Marshal Field’s State Street store, 6 p.m.
Bring on the 50-inch plasma TV screens. That’s what organizers for this event benefiting Meals on Wheels in Chicago will be doing after learning their bash on the department store’s seventh floor clashes with the White Sox. There will be a seated dinner, but there also will be tasting stations to make it easier for attendees to keep abreast of the Series.
None of the celebrity chefs has bailed. “I’m optimistic those who bought tickets will honor their commitment, but to make it easier we will have those screens,” said Joyce Gallagher, Chicago’s Department of Aging commissioner and an organizer.
Cancer Wellness Center benefit at Hilton & Towers, 6:30 p.m.
More than 500 people bought tickets for this annual event, scheduled nearly a year ago, and TV sets will ring the fundraiser, which counts on people to be present for the program. There even will be monitors set up for the walk from the cocktail reception in the Normandie Room to the dinner in the Grand Ballroom.
“We didn’t want to lose anybody to Kitty O’Shea’s,” said spokeswoman Ann Marie Arzt, referring to the hotel’s pub. There is this bonus for attendees: The hotel is Major League Baseball’s headquarters during the World Series.
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The Spirit of a Woman 2005 Benefit Concert at the Harold Washington Culture Center, 6 p.m.
Pam Davies, coordinator of the event benefiting Southwest Women Working Together, isn’t planning around the Series.
“It has not entered our minds,” she said. “We don’t believe that it will affect attendance. We have people who are very dedicated to domestic-abuse issues. . . . Some of them may set their VCRs at home though.”
“Red Scare,” Second City Chicago show, 8 p.m.
Robin Johnson, producer at Second City Chicago, said they will post the scores in the bar at intermission and after the show.
But, she says, it is a house improvisation.
“Anything could happen and we certainly have White Sox fans in our midst. In the past, scores have been announced from the stage,” she said. “Both the shows [including the e.t.c. stage] are working on new material, taking suggestions from the audience so I would not be surprised if some White Sox content worked its way into the shows.”
Spiaggia, 980 N. Michigan Ave.
“We would never put a television in the dining room,” says Tony Mantuano, chef/partner at the four-star Italian restaurant with the stunning views. Mantuano happens to be a Cubs fan (“I’m not mad,” he says. “It’s great for Chicago”), but it’s all about the customers. “What we will do is keep the servers up-to-date, so they can keep the diners informed. We’ll keep track of the score online.” If the Sox keep winning, they’ll put a “very small” television in Spiaggia Cafe, in the back, which tends to draw more of the locals, anyway. But so far, the restaurant hasn’t had a lot of cancellations for Saturday night.
Ambria, 2300 N. Lincoln Park West
At the elegant four-star restaurant, Saturday night is going to be “business as usual”; no one’s going to be wheeling a huge flat-screen TV into the dining room, according to Beth Brophy, the restaurant’s publicist. Previously, though, when there has been a big game, Brophy says, and “a customer has expressed the need to stay up-to-the-minute, everyone is on it — a messenger delivers the information so that every diner who needs to know knows. It’s like a relay race. So there is a definitely a system in place.” And while Ambria won’t be transforming itself into a sports bar, chef Christian Eckmann will be preparing a complimentary amuse-bouche, in honor of the Sox — a boudin blanc with mustard cream. But will it have a radio in it, or a small TV, to get the scores? “No,” Brophy says.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Joffrey Ballet, 7:30 p.m.
Amanda Golucki, the Joffrey’s marketing and public-relations manager, says they’ll keep patrons abreast of World Series news.
“We will be announcing the scores during our performance on Saturday night. . . . We’re doing three ballets, so in between each ballet,” Golucki says. “We won’t have TV in the lobbies because we can’t get reception.”
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