The phoenix rises again to help fund the Center

Fundamentally, it’s about money. The most generous donors

supporting the Orange County Performing Arts Center were invited to

dinner last week to join their formidable forces for the annual Fire

Bird Dinner.

Hosted by Center chairman Paul Folino and President Jerry Mandel,

the Fire Bird celebration brought together the Center’s distinguished

donors for an annual “meeting of the minds� that is also a very grand

and gracious formal thank you to a selection of Orange County

citizens who donate upward of 25% of the Center’s annual operating

revenue.

Arriving at the edifice that has come to symbolize the center of

culture in Orange County, guests walked down a red carpet and were

ushered into the Performing Arts Center and up to the first floor

lobby where waiters served cocktails and passed hors d’ oeuvres.

Mandel stood at the top of the stairs, joining his staff of

development executives including J. Terry Jones and Michael Halpern

to make sure each and every patron was greeted with appropriate

aplomb.

Among those “pressing the flesh� with Mandel as they arrived for

the annual celebration were significant donors including Nora Hester,

escorted by her daughter Marilyn Gianulias; Lido Isle’s Joan and Tom

Riach; the ever-elegant patroness of Harbor Isle, Elizabeth Colyear

Vincent with close friend and Newport’s latter day Hedda Hopper,

Vesta Curry; the pretty and vivacious Sandi Simon with her formidable

husband Ron Simon; and the highly respected Dr. Eric Nelson and his

lovely wife Lila.

As mentioned, the evening was about money. Big money. Funds coming

from donors who underwrite performances for countless thousands of

school children who would otherwise be unable to attend any sort of

live performance. Donors that underwrite shows that would otherwise

never get off the ground and onto a stage. Donors that make sure that

the arts of symphony, opera and ballet -- from classical to

avant-garde -- continue to have a place in the complicated lexicon of

a performance schedule managed by the amazing Judith MorrMoney

therefore, is not the root of evil, but rather the foundation of

success and artistic exploration for a community of some two million

citizens, many of whom avail themselves of the gifts of the Center

all throughout the year.

Some 150 generous guests converged upon the cocktail reception,

mostly dressed in conservative business attire. This was more of an

evening of substance rather than style. An architect’s model of the

Center expansion was set up in the cocktail area to demonstrate the

tangible value of donor dollars being put into brick and mortar.

Patron Henry Segerstrom joined his wife Elizabeth in representing

the Segerstrom Family Foundation along with Ruth Ann Moriarty,

Segerstrom family daughter, and her husband Gene. As the cocktail

reception ended, the patrons were escorted to the second tier where a

spectacular dinner had been set by organizers working with the Four

Seasons Hotel, Newport Beach.

Table settings for the Fire Bird Dinner are always the most

creative and imaginative, using exotic florals and exquisite fine

china set at round tables flickering with candlelight. Prior to

dinner service remarks were brief as distinguished donors took their

bows. Some of the deserving included Nick and Heidi Shahrestany,

David and Tara Troob, Peter and Susie Ellis, Mary Reinhold, Elizabeth

Steele, Luis and Margaret Webb, and General William Lyon and his

bride Willa Dean Lyon.

A first-rate Four Seasons dinner began with a salad of mixed baby

lettuce, apple slices and candied pecans garnished with beets and a

raspberry vinaigrette dressing. The crowd raved over the halibut with

roasted eggplant caviar and artichoke hearts. However, the chocolate

and hazelnut Napoleon dessert, each individual serving created like a

architectural replica of the main lobby of the Center, using a

garnished almond tuille ring to simulate the Fire Bird sculpture,

added that extra, over the top, stylish touch.

A few more brief speeches, including more introductions of

patrons, ended the dinner service. The crowd was then escorted

downstairs into Founder’s Hall to enjoy a private performance of

“Forbidden Hollywood.� Spotted in the crowd were Robert and Teresa

Nichols, Sue and James Swenson, Karen and Steve Tsubota, and the

glamorous Jan Salta and her husband Mike.

As the Center marks it’s 16th anniversary, supported by a host of

individuals and corporations sharing the goals of the founders

established in 1986, the annual Fire Bird Dinner is a testament to

the concept of turning vision into reality and making a difference in

the community. It’s all about money well spent, making miracles

happen.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.