Pushing Back Bedtime for a Midnight Supper

The Scene: Tuesday night’s L.A. premiere of “A Few Good Men,” the military courtroom drama that was a surprise Broadway hit 2 1/2 years ago. This touring company of the production has been on the road for four months and is at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills for a monthlong run. After the show, guests drove to the Beverly Hills restaurant Tribeca, where a reception for the cast was held upstairs.

The Buzz: The movie version of “A Few Good Men” is expected to be one of the heavyweight pictures in theaters this Christmas. Playwright Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay. The movie will star Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore, none of whom showed up for the play’s L.A. premiere.

Who Was There: Playwright Sorkin; director Don Scardino; stars Michael O’Keefe, Alyson Reed and Paul Winfield; as well as Bonnie Raitt (O’Keefe’s wife), John Raitt (O’Keefe’s father-in-law), Jackson Browne, Kathy Bates, Timothy Busfield (who starred in the play on Broadway), Barbara Eden, Elizabeth Montgomery and Robert Foxworth, Lesley Ann Warren, Lisa Pelikan, Jay Thomas and Betty Garrett. Rumors that Bruce Springsteen would come with close friend and fellow musician Bonnie Raitt proved to be unfounded.

Dress Code: None, but it was fun to compare the theatergoers in their blazers and slacks with the Tribeca bar crowd downstairs, where every man seemed to be wearing a ponytail and a double-breasted suit with shoulder pads and lethally sharp lapels.

Chow: Blackened meatloaf, pasta, chicken dumplings, scallop cakes and fruit, plus an open bar.

Quoted: Sorkin was 28 and had labored for years as an actor when “A Few Good Men” opened on Broadway, establishing him overnight as a playwright. “I thought I’d miss it, that I’d want to be up there with the actors, but I don’t,” he said. “Besides,” he added diplomatically, “these people up there are better than I could ever hope to be.”

Glitches: By the time everyone got to the restaurant it was 11:30--a little bit late for Angelenos who gain status by scheduling before-work breakfast meetings and 6 a.m. workouts at the gym.

Triumphs: There were still plenty of people celebrating well after midnight--about the time most adults are going to bed and their teen-agers are just going out.