Backstage with Mel Brooks

Last night's performance of Young Frankenstein was attended by none other than the show's creator, Mel Brooks. Joining Brooks in Segerstrom Hall were Susan Stroman (director and choreographer), Robin Wagner (set designer) and William Ivey Long (costume designer). Following the crowd-pleasing performance, these multi-Tony® Award winners went backstage to take a few photos with the cast and crew. Young Frankenstein plays at the Center through September 25.

Photo above: Mel Brooks and Susan Stroman (center) with Synthia Link (far left) and Purdie Baumann (far right)

Photo below: Susuan Stroman and Mel Brooks (center) with Robin Wagner to the right of Brooks and William Ivey Long in the front row (far left)

Century and Valley View High School Kids Take Broadway to the "Heights"

The Center has taken its ongoing partnership with the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) to a whole new height – In the Heights, that is. Students from Century High School and Valley View High School participated in a summer enrichment program organized by THINK Together for the SAUSD in collaboration with the Center and funded in part by the Broadway League. Seventy students worked with theater pros Ruben Garfias and Cynthia McGarity on vocal performance and interpretation using songs from Broadway’s Tony Award-winning show, In the Heights, which comes to the Center August 3 – 15.

The students will also attend the Thursday, August 12th performance of In the Heights at the Center and participate in a special post-performance Talk Back with artists from the show.

(Instructor discusses lines with Century High School students.)

(Century High School kids study their lines)

Center Launches First Broadway Summer Intensive

Local high school students participated in a brand-new weeklong musical theater summer camp June 22 to 26 on the Center’s campus. Five Days of Broadway provided opportunities for kids to work with Tony® Award-nominated actress Erin Dilly, Danny Gurwin and Emily Rozek to build a strong foundation of technique in Broadway music, scene work and dance, as well as career development and an introduction to the business aspects of working as a professional theater actor. Sessions included the fundamentals of acting within a song, learning choreography from a current stage production and the basics of auditioning for a Broadway show. Five Days of Broadway was developed by the Center’s Education and Community Programs Department.



Photos by Chris Emerick.

The Center in Anne Rice's latest novel

It seems acclaimed best-seller Anne Rice, author of Interview with the Vampire and The Life of Christ series, is a fan of the Center. In her most recent release, Angel Time, Rice included mention of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, as well as the Pacific Symphony and Leatherby’s Café Rouge. The book’s central character, assassin Toby O’Dare, muses in this excerpt:

Often, undisguised, I drove over to nearby Costa Mesa to hear the Pacific Symphony. I liked it, the contrast, moving from the stucco arches and rusted bells of the Inn to the immense Plexiglas miracle of the Segerstrom Concert Hall, with the pretty Cafe Rouge on the first floor.

In a personal email to the Center, Rice called the Concert Hall “gorgeous ... a beautiful and special place,” adding that she often incorporates personal experiences into her novels. Said Rice:

It was natural for me to have my hero in this new novel visit the hall. I was so taken with the performance of [the Pacific Symphony’s] The Rite of Spring that I wrote it into the book, and expanded on it fictionally, having the hero hear the composition early in his life, and then again at the Hall.

Thank you for your praise, Ms. Rice. We look forward to the next book.

Dreamgirls on the Small Screen Part Two

Remember - if you're up at 7 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday), check out the cast of the new production of Dreamgirls as they perform the show's title song and "Listen" on CBS' The Early Show. The show is currently running at New York's historic Apollo Theater and will hit the road soon, stopping in at the Center April 20 - May 2, 2010.

Broadway Fans Enjoyed “Trying Before Buying” at the Center's Annual Seat Sale

The Center held its annual Broadway Seat Sale on Saturday, August 8, and many people took advantage of the opportunity to hand-select their 2009-10 Broadway Series season tickets. The seat sale allows fans to review the available seats, tour Segerstrom Hall and check the views and sightlines before they purchase their tickets. For current subscribers, it was the chance to improve their seating location. In addition, ticket buyers were offered the chance to take backstage tours and stand front and center on the 8,500-square-foot stage where Spamalot, Rent, Spring Awakening, Xanadu , Annie, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles, Hairspray, Dreamgirls, Disney’s The Lion King, In the Heights and Young Frankenstein will play this season.

Domenic and Ellen Santucci

Karen Babel, Olivia Espinoza and docent Sue Fractman

(L) Ken Davis and Ran Michels (R) Joan and Bill Worrell

(L) Shaunna and Kate DeHart (R) Linda Rivera

(R) Diane and Fred Gross

NY Loves Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding - who will perform in the Center's Jazz Series Nov. 6 and 7 - made quite a splash at New York's Central Park SummerStage festival this weekend. The New York Times raved about the up-and-coming musician's "ebullient singing and her agile bass playing," deeming her a charismatic and talented artist, bandleader and vocalist.

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, 24-year-old Spalding has also caught the eyes of President Obama and has twice performed in the White House. She is also a member of the faculty at Boston's prestigious Berkelee School of Music, her alma mater. Spalding's latest album, Esperanza, has been hailed by critics for its successful blending of Cuban and Brazilian influences with classic soul and contemporary pop - an irresistible fusion she is sure to exhibit during her visit to the Center this fall.

Read the full NY Times review of her latest performance here.

Awards Galore!

It was an exciting weekend for the Orange County Performing Arts Center with the announcement of the Pulitzer Prize winners and Russia's coveted Golden Mask Awards.

Famed minimalist composer Steve Reich won the music Pulitzer for "Double Sextet," a piece co-commissioned by the Center and performed here last year by eighth blackbird. Though he has been a finalist several times, this award marks Reich's first Pulitzer. Said Reich in the LA Times, "I said, 'You know me, I've got to have pairs of identical instruments, that's really my life's blood. And I thought, what if eighth blackbird recorded themselves, then played against themselves? I'd have two clarinets, two pianos, two percussionists -- I'm home free." NPR aired a great story about Reich and the prize yesterday - click here.

Across the globe, Russia's Golden Mask Awards were announced at the annual festival of performing arts. Celebrated ballerina Diana Vishneva, a familiar face to Center audiences, took home the Best Dancer award for her work in Beauty in Motion, another Center co-commission which received its world premiere here in February 2008. The dance production was also hailed as Best Ballet and winner of the Critic's Prize. Center patrons will have another chance to see Vishneva in action when she dances in Tour de Force: A Gala Dance Spectacular featuring the dance world's brightest stars on May 21.

Congratulations to Steve Reich and Diana Vishneva!

Author Who Inspired 'Fiddler on the Roof' Featured on NPR

"Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor. "
- Sholem Aleichem

Everyone knows Tevye, the iconic dairyman and father of five daughters, at the center of the much-loved 1964 Broadway classic Fiddler on the Roof. But you may not know Sholem Rabinovich - known by his pen name Sholem Aleichem ("peace be with you") - the author and humorist who's many works inspired the musical.

Rabinovich spent the latter half of the 19th century promoting Yiddish writers and was the first author to write children's books in Yiddish. Yesterday marked the 150th anniversary of his birth, and NPR commemorated Rabinovich - dubbed the Jewish Mark Twain - with a segment on "All Things Considered."

Check it out here.

That's Chaim Topol (above), who played the original Tevye on Broadway and also starred in the 1971 film. Topol returns to the Center to reprise the role in Fiddler on the Roof, running August 11 - 23.

Grammy Nods for Center Collaborators

Trout Fishing in America was nominated for its fourth Grammy Award yesterday, this time for the album Big Round World, which features a song created by third graders at Costa Mesa's Sonora Elementary School. The song, "Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks" was produced in partnership between the Center's Education Department and the school district, and received its debut at a special record release party at Sonora in September. Congrats to Ezra, Keith and the kids at Sonora!

More in Grammy news ... John Pizzarelli, who will perform at the Center with his wife Jessica Molaskey January 15 - 18, can be heard crooning on the Grammy nominated track "Johnny One Note" from the album With A Song In My Heart.

Pizzarelli and Molaskey on the radio and at the Center

The talented husband-and-wife jazz duo of John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey received an excellent writeup in Thursday's Washington Post for their radio show Radio DeLuxe, which features classics from the Great American Songbook performed by new artists. Pizzarelli and Molaskey performed together at the Center for last year's private Candlelight Encore concert, and will return to Samueli Theater January 15 - 18 for four performances only. If you can't wait a month to hear more from this delightful pair, tune into their program every Sunday at noon on KSPA 1510.

Check out the article here.

Click here to purchase tickets to the show.

Girl Power

For those of you who weren’t able to make it to The Color Purple’s Girls Night Out because it was sold out (oh yeah!), here are a couple of snapshots of last night's fun-filled pre-show reception from Tier III.

More than 120 ladies enjoyed purple martinis made with Pom and Ocean Vodka and tasty apps by Patina including mac 'n cheese spoons, crab cakes and caprese salad skewers, all in a lovely setting of violet and lavender flowers.

Everyone loved the gift bags – a big thanks to Jaqua, Kiehl’s, shu uemura, South Coast Metro Alliance, Vitalae Wellness, Yogi Tea and YogaWorks for all the goodies!

And the show was a hit with the women. Who could ask for a better night out?!

Check back for details on upcoming Girls Night Out events. We’ll post them here first.

The Color Purple's Felicia P. Fields on KOCE Tonight!

The lovely and talented Felicia P. Fields - who stars as Sofia in The Color Purple - will be featured on tonight's edition of Real Orange with Ed Arnold and Ann Pulice at 6:30 and 11 p.m. Ms. Fields (that's her on the left) lives and breathes Sofia as she originated the role on Broadway and has been playing it ever since. (For those who have seen the film version of Alice Walker's Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, you will remember Sofia as Oprah Winfrey, the generous producer of the musical.) For her efforts, Fields has been honored with a Tony nomination, a 2006 Theatre World Award, two Broadway.com Awards, as Drama League honoree and more. Tune in tonight to Channel 50 to catch Felicia musing on the show and come see her work her magic live on stage in The Color Purple, running now through November 30 in Segerstrom Hall. For more information on the show, click here.