JUMBLE of FUN

Suzie Harrison

Gallimaufry Performing Arts has exploded onto the art scene.

While the company is new to Laguna Beach, the people behind it

aren’t.

The group’s founder, Steve Josephson, is a well-known local

artistic director, choreographer, dancer and performer who most

recently acted as artistic director for No Square Theatre. The music

for its first production, “42nd Street,” will be directed by Pat

Warren, who has performed at the Laguna Playhouse, and the

choreography will be led by Tod A. Kubo, who has directed the Laguna

Beach High School Dance Company for eight years.

Formed a few months ago, it’s blasting off quickly with a

full-scale staging of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit on July 30

and 31 at the Artists’ Theatre.

Josephson said the name Gallimaufry (pronounced gal-imaw’-free) is

a 15th century French word for stew, where everything in the kitchen

is thrown into the pot.

“The dictionary definition is ‘a mixed-up jumble or a hodgepodge,

a ridiculous medley or a promiscuous assemblage,’” Josephson said.

He thought the name was perfect for the type of company he wanted

to create and has been thinking about the new performing arts company

for several years.

“I seem to always be working within all the different performing

arts -- working and producing theater, working with the California

Choreographers Dance Festival and also finding musical performers for

other events,” Josephson said. “I’ve been looking for a long time to

put all the performing arts together under one roof.”

He said the company accomplishes this goal and is dedicated to

promoting all the performing arts.

“We hope to take the performing arts to a new level here in town,”

Josephson said. “We have every medium of visual arts, but we don’t

have the same thing happening with the performing arts.”

The company will also present performance art in public places,

new works, collaborations within different art media and a

performance arts festival is being planned.

“There has been talk with California Choreographers Dance Festival

about merging,” Josephson said. “One of the ideas is to conserve

resources. So much within the different art organizations overlap.”

By doing things more collaboratively, Josephson said, there will

be less of a strain on all the board members, production staff and

creative personnel.

Some of the key players with Gallimaufry were formerly involved in

No Square Theatre, Laguna’s original community theater. Josephson

took over as artistic director when Bree Burgess Rosen left in June,

2003. He left No Square Theatre in April. But Josephson doesn’t see

his new venture as a competition between the two.

“I just don’t see anything as being competitive,” Josephson said.

“It’s better for the arts in general if there is more of it. Is the

Festival of Arts competing with the Sawdust Art Festival and the

Art-A-Fair in competition with them?”

He said they fulfill different needs.

“The main difference is going to be what we see as helping support

all the performing arts instead of one singularly,” Josephson said.

“We’re not going to be just one performing arts [company]. We’ll be

collaborating many, many in the process.”

He said its upcoming production of “42nd Street” with performers,

musical direction and choreography coming from different parts of the

performing arts community, is a good example of collaboration the

company will aim for.

Musical direction will be by Warren, whose credits include

performing on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Radio City Music Hall, Laguna

Playhouse and more.

“The great thing is that there will be a play and theater area, a

music area, a dance area and other performing arts that are seemingly

disparate wings,” Warren said. “And that’s one of the things I find

so exciting about it instead of just theater.”

Students from dance companies throughout Southern California are

performing with the high school’s award-winning dance troupe.

“In essence, we have some of the best dancers in all of Orange

County,” Warren said.

Kubo has a background in directing and choreographing musicals

throughout the country and around the world.

It’s his second time choreographing this production.

“I’m glad to choreograph ‘42nd Street’ again, and since the

revival on Broadway in 2001, there are a lot of elements from the

movie that we’re adding to the show,” Kubo said. “And there’s a lot

of Broadway choreography. It’s a huge landmark of the show.”

Besides this play, the company has a youth theater department,

“The Generation Gap,” that will get experience putting on a stage

performance including writing, directing, producing, promoting and

performing.

To purchase tickets to “42nd Street,” call (949) 499-5060. For

information about Gallimaufry performances and upcoming events, go to

https://www.gallimaufry.com.

The Artists’ Theatre is at 625 Park Ave. Performances are at 8

p.m. Thursday, July 30 and July 31 with an additional matinee at 2

p.m. July 31. Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for seniors,

students and children.