JOSEPH N. BELL -- The Bell Curve

The greatest joy of writing a column like this is derived from

connecting with people. You don’t have to agree with them to find a

satisfying and often delightful exchange. But the greatest joy of all

comes from discovering a soul mate in an unexpected place. Like the

eighth grade of Ensign Intermediate School in Newport Beach.

Four years ago, I visited the Laguna Playhouse to see a fine

production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” and wrote about it in this

space. My thesis was how deeply Sondheim’s lyrics touched me, not only in

“Company” but in many of his other shows. That column produced a

wonderfully articulate letter from an eighth-grader named Felicity

Claire, who told me that his lyrics reached her in the same way. Even

though she disagreed with some of my reactions to the show, Sondheim’s

words literally built a bridge across three generations.

A year later, my wife and I saw Felicity as a freshman at Harbor High

School doing her first Sondheim role in “A Little Night Music.” At 14,

she had all the stage presence of a seasoned pro. Since then, I’ve

followed her work intermittently through her letters. Leading roles in

Harbor High productions. A growing list of theater festival honors that

last year included a second place in the world in an international

competition in Lincoln, Neb. At all of these festivals, she performed

“cuttings” -- mini-scripts she extracted and crafted together from the

original texts -- from a variety of Sondheim shows.

In a few weeks, Felicity will graduate from Harbor High. And, Tuesday

evening, the Harbor Drama Department presented a program of this year’s

dramatic and musical highlights on the stage of the Costa Mesa Civic

Playhouse. Felicity’s work was an important part of the show, and my wife

and I were happily in the audience.

If we could somehow harness the energy put out by these young people,

there would no longer be a shortage. The variety and quality of talent

was quite remarkable. And so was the manner in which Felicity commanded

the stage, whether she was doing a dramatic monologue from “Copenhagen,”

singing the ironic lyric of “Barcelona” or taking charge of an ensemble

performing a cutting of Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along.” She was

professionally mature and quite splendid.

Watching these kids perform, knowing how tough show business is to

crack, seeing it so very closely these days through the eyes of my

stepson who is four years up on the cast of the show we watched, I

couldn’t help thinking about the meager way in which we support the arts

with public funds in this country. We are investing billions of dollars

in a Star Wars device that demonstrably doesn’t work and would drive off

our closest friends if it did, while people seeking help for the arts

have to grovel for a pittance -- and in recent years have struggled to

avoid being cut off completely.

That the same problem exists locally on a smaller scale was driven

home by a poignant plea before last night’s show from Damien Lorton, the

artistic director of the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, where Sondheim’s

“Into the Woods” is playing. After 35 years of feeding the soul of this

city, the Playhouse, said Lorton, is approaching the end of the line.

Unless the group is able to raise $8,000 quickly, it will have to shut

down. And the first victims will be local kids denied the summer

activities of the playhouse.

“Into the Woods” will be playing there (661 Hamilton Ave., [949]

650-5269) through June 10, and a heavy turnout would take a healthy bite

from this deficit. I haven’t seen this production, but I’ve seen the show

several times and can strongly recommend it. I can also strongly

recommend that the Costa Mesa community not let the playhouse slip away.

It was supported by city funds until seven years ago. Restoration of that

funding would prevent a serious loss in a community that sorely needs

such affirmation today.

Meanwhile, Felicity will be going to New York to explore the next step

in her theatrical education. Gail Brower, the head of Harbor High’s Drama

Department, says that Felicity “has never wavered in her devotion to the

theater or her determination to work in it.” But her youth was a

deterrent at Juilliard, where she was told to come back in a year; she

hopes it won’t be at the Manhattan School of Music, where she also

recently auditioned.

Seventeen of the students we saw perform Tuesday are seniors who --

like Felicity -- will be reaching out and moving on next year. Tuesday’s

program included a silent auction to raise money for at least a token

support of these seniors.

“We hope,” said Brower, “to give each of them $100. That’s not very

much, but at least it says ‘Thank you’ for all their dedicated work these

past four years.”

One of the Sondheim songs Felicity gave us Tuesday night was “Move On”

from “Sunday in the Park with George.” It might well have offered a

challenge to all these young students, just as it always will for some of

the older people in the audience.

I fully expect Felicity to be delivering Sondheim from a New York

stage one day. And I fully expect to be around to see it.

* JOSEPH N. BELL is a resident of Santa Ana Heights. His column

appears Thursdays.