Theater has ‘Something to Hide’

Tom Titus

It seems strange that a play written in 1959 would be making its

local premiere this weekend, but that’s the case at the Newport

Theater Arts Center.

“Something to Hide,” by the late British playwright Leslie Sands,

opens tonight, and director Terri Miller Schmidt is promising a

suspense-filled evening.

“It’s a classic thriller with infidelity, avarice, deception,

intrigue and, of course, murder,” she said. “It’s set in a renovated

country house in Essex with many twists and unexpected turns,

surprises around every dark corner.”

The plot involves a writer, a wife, a mistress and inquisitive

residents of the village. But the biggest mystery seems to be why

“Something to Hide” has been hidden from local audiences for the past

45 years.

Robert Kokol, Christi Sweeney and Ken LaSalle head the Newport

cast, which also includes Anne Rudd, Claire Averill, Stephanie

Schulz, Michelle Calhoun-Fitts and Robert Purcell.

“Something to Hide” will play weekends through April 25, with

curtain at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays at the

arts center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach. Call (949) 631-0288 for

reservations and additional information.

‘SAFE IN HELL’ TO OPEN

South Coast Repertory, which has the world premiere of Amy Freed’s

“Safe in Hell” in the wings for an April 2 opening on the Segerstrom

Stage (more on that subject next week), has another in the hopper as

the just-announced season finale on the Julianne Argyros Stage.

“The Studio,” described as a “play with dance,” was written by

Christopher d’Amboise, who will both direct and choreograph the

production. The show opens April 30 and will play through May 16.

The playwright focuses on a world he knows intimately -- behind

the scenes of dance in New York -- for this story of a choreographer

with a public image larger than life, but a life carefully hidden

from the public. In a bare, mirrored studio, his main character,

Emil, creates a new ballet for two dancers -- a veteran who has seen

it all and a newcomer who wants it all -- driving them to achieve

greatness.

Both “The Studio” and “Safe in Hell” will be part of SCR’s seventh

annual Pacific Playwrights Festival, which also will include readings

and workshops of five other plays yet to be announced. More

information may be gleaned by calling the Costa Mesa theater at (714)

708-5555.

THE DRAW OF DICK VAN DYKE

This year’s eighth annual CHOC Follies -- the annual variety show

that raises funds for Children’s Hospital of Orange County -- will

have a bona fide headliner when it ignites its “Blast Through the

Past” this weekend. It’s none other than TV legend Dick Van Dyke.

Van Dyke is joining the volunteer entertainers, who’ll participate

in the show tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. with a matinee Saturday at

2 p.m. at the Grove of Anaheim, 2200 E. Katella Ave.

Saturday’s performance already is sold out, but tickets for the

matinee may be ordered by calling Lois Augustine at (714) 532-8690.

The annual charity event is the brainchild of Newport Beach

publicist Gloria Zigner, who reports that interest in the show is at

an all-time high, due primarily to Van Dyke’s presence.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.