Encore with Guillaume Côté

National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Guillaume Côté starred in the Center’s Kings of the Dance 2011, Tour de Force I in 2009 and Tour de Force II in 2011. For an encore experience of his beautiful choreography and spectacular technique, watch Lost in Motion (video above), directed by Ben Shirinian and originally created for Bravo! FACT.

Côté in Tour de Force II (photo below)

Côté, center, in Kings of the Dance 2011 with Denis Matvienko, Marcelo Gomez, Ivan Vasiliev and David Hallberg (photo above)

Off We Go!

Before entertaining his own audience during the Center’s Off Center Festival on Saturday night, January 14, Reggie Watts cruised The Car Plays on the Center’s Arts Plaza. His performance in Founders Hall marked Reggie’s Center debut. The Car Plays will be back January 20 & 21 in what is now a sold-out run. You can still see the powerful play ReEntry January 18 -20, Ten Tiny Dances January 20 & 21 and Mexican Institute of Sound with opener Nancy Sanchez January 21. (Photos: Reggie Watts above and below)

Photos: Ten Tiny Dances above; Mexican Institute of Sound below

Merry Bells Keep Ringing at the Center

This past week, Stefanie Morse, Shannon O’Bryan, Stephen Buntrock and David Elder – the stars of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas

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paused before a performance to send Orange County their holiday greetings. Each is spending a little time away from home, but plan to have themselves a merry little Christmas, anyway. See them now through January 1 in Segerstrom Hall.

Paulo Szot Conducts Master Class

Metropolitan Opera star and Tony® Award winner Paulo Szot conducted a master class for four promising young singers at the Center last week. The singers were Emily Dyer of Chapman University, Alyssa Willis of Cal State University, Long Beach, Sepideh Moafi of UCI and Sydney Daebritz of the Orange County High School of the Arts. Each performed either a selection their operatic or musical theater repertory. (Photo above: Alyssa Willis; photo below: Sepideh Moafi)

( Photo above: Emily Dyer)

(Photo above: Sydney Daebritz) All photos by Troy Grover

Toys for Tots!

The Guilds of Segerstrom Center for the Arts is holding its 16th Annual Holiday Toy Drive on November 29 and 30. All toys are distributed through the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. Toy Drive Co-Chairs Loretta Freund and Kathy Busse are asking those wishing to make sure every child in Orange County has a wonderful holiday to bring new, unwrapped toys that are in their original manufacturer’s packaging to Segerstrom Hall between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the 29th and 30th.

Photo is from last year's toy drive

Seeing Pink

The Arts Plaza of Segerstrom Center was the starting and finish line for the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer on Sunday, October 9. This year’s second walk from Segerstrom Center raised more than $240,000. And more than 10,000 dedicated community members participated in this inspirational 5K walk to honor and celebrate breast cancer survivors, educate people about the disease and raise funds and awareness to create a world with less breast cancer and more birthdays.

Liz Shivener, who portrays Fiona in Shrek the Musical, playing now through October 16 at the Center, got up early herself to welcome and cheer on the walkers, and sang “Morning Person” from the show.

Photo: Liz Shivener sings “Morning Person” from Shrek the Musical.

It Isn't Easy Being an Ogre

In fact, it takes about one hour and 45 minutes to become the title character in Shrek the Musical. Jesse and Kristin Wallace with their children Alison, James and Lauren, won a contest sponsored by Parenting OC magazine and were invited to watch Lukas “Shrek” Poost during his transformation. Here they are backstage on Wednesday, October 6 with Poost. Shrek is at the Center through October 16.

Photo by Eva Lempert