Behind what’s behind the scenes is lots of hard work

BARBARA DIAMOND

The Pageant of the Masters opened to the public June 7, but financial

supporters and special guests previewed the show one day earlier.

“This is truly a show for all ages,” said Karen Philippsen,

president of the Laguna Beach Visitors & Conference Bureau, who

attended the early performanceThe show includes a circus parade that

wends its way through the audience and it brings back the popular

“Builder” tableau that shows just how the models fit into the sets

and how the magic of light transforms life into art.

“As a theater person, I loved the live elements that DeeDee

[Director Diane Challis Davy] has added,” said Arts Commission

Chairwoman Pat Kollenda a founder of LagunaTunes and director of

Hooked-on Harmony.

“I loved the parade. I loved the singer and the theme was great

fun.”

Kollenda has seen her fair share of pageants.

“My three sons were in it for the first five years we lived in

town,” Kollenda said. “But I go ever year now because I know DeeDee

will do something innovative.”

Martha Lydick, president of the Friends of the Laguna Beach

Library and of the Laguna Beach Taxpayers Association, who owns a

Shelby Cobra and a Cadillac that does everything but cook her dinner,

especially liked the section on hood ornaments for a Rolls Royce

Silver Ghost, a Buick, a Packard and a Pierce-Arrow.

The first act also included travel posters and a stunning painted

ceramic piece from the Dunhuang Cave in China -- an example of art to

be found on the legendary Silk Road of commerce out of China.

The brochure for “On the Road, A Crash Course in Art and Popular

Culture” calls the show “An Interstate-of-the-Art Experience.”

However, no matter what comes before, the pageant always ends with

the depiction of Leonardo’s “Last Supper.”

Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code” inspired new interest in the

painting -- is that just a pretty boy or is the figure stage right of

Jesus really Mary Magdalene? And did you know that for years, the

pageant’s Jesus was portrayed by a woman -- a closely guarded secret.

More than 115 volunteers researched art for the pageant this year.

Volunteers included actress and Design Review Board member Eve Plumb,

John Hoover, and festival board member Ann Webster. Sometimes whole

families got into the act, such as Jaci, Katie, Megan, Pete and

Rhonda Talpash.

Plumb and Rhonda Talpash are also among the 104 volunteers who

plaster the cast with makeup every night. Another 23 help the cast

get into costumes, capped off by 22 volunteers in the headdress

department. Thirty volunteers service the cast area.

But that is still considerably fewer than the two complete

volunteer casts of 180 each that give up their summer nights on

alternate weeks to go through the back-stage rigmarole in order to

stand absolutely still for at least 90 seconds while narrator Skip

Conover explains the background of the “living picture” and Richard

Henn conducts a score.

The pose is held even longer by the folks covered in silver to

reproduce circus figures.

“I don’t know how the strongmen hold their poses so long,” said

Challis Davy.

Try it if you think it’s easy. No sneezing, barely any breathing,

particularly if you are in a tableau close to the audience, such as

the recreation of Luis Jimenez’s “Fiesta.”

“There are as many people in the first act this year as were in

the whole show in 2004,” said Marketing Director Sharbie Higuchi,

whose daughter, Sophie, was among the 15 children in “The Old Stage

Coach” tableau.

Challis Davy said the scale of the tableaux, glowingly painted by

veteran scenic artists Sharon Lamberg and David Rymer, was increased

this year to accommodate works that required a larger cast.

“The show would not be possible without the volunteers,” Challis

Davy said. “I am really pleased with the [audience] reaction to the

show this year, but as important, I think the cast is having fun

backstage.”

The second act was a paean to Route 66, including a live -- really

live -- singer, Robbie Banner. The act begins in Chicago, where Route

66 begins, and ends in Los Angeles.

Get your kicks. The pageant runs through Sept. 1.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature in the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcome. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 222 in the

Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949)

494-8979.