Festive fir

Having seen the lighting of the famous tree at Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center, Sean McCarthy is no greenhorn when it comes to giant firs strung with lights. That’s not to say there was nothing novel for the native New Yorker as he stood with his 3-year-old daughter on his shoulders and watched ribbons of golden lights illuminate the 115-foot tree at Fashion Island for the first time Friday.

For one thing, he’s not in the habit of attending outdoor Christmas celebrations wearing only a short-sleeved polo shirt. Equally unusual is the fact that the white fir tree was anchored to a grove of nearby giant palm trees with metal wires.

Such are the paradoxes of celebrating a winter holiday in the land that seasons forgot, but it was a welcome change of pace for McCarthy.

“It’s great,” he said, looking down at his uncovered arms and smiling.

The musical that led into the lighting had no fewer contradictions. Singers and dancers from the California Conservatory of the Arts danced in front of a backdrop of snow-covered evergreen trees singing everything from classic Christmas carols to Disney tunes, to a country western rendition of “Jingle Bells.”

They square danced in cowboy garb and did the can-can dance, wearing multicolored burlesque costumes with feather plumes on their heads.

Olympian Cathy Rigby, the first American woman to medal in a world gymnastics event, starred in the show as Mrs. Claus, who tried to get her mopey husband, Santa, not to give up on Christmas.

A crowd of hundreds gathered around the stage trying to shuffle into tight spots and peek their heads into the scarce open spaces where the show was visible. Small children sat on their fathers’ shoulders to get a better view.

After about a half hour of singing and dancing, Rigby succeeded in convincing Santa Claus to put on his red velvet suit and fur-trimmed hat and jump into a hot air balloon with her where they counted down from 10, heralding the anticipated lighting of the tree.

An encore performance will take place tonight at 6.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.