CHOC Follies fans brave rain for fun show

Tom Titus

The weather outside was frightful, but the show inside was, well,

delightful.

CHOC Follies VII, the annual variety show that’s raised more than

a million dollars so far for Children’s Hospital of Orange County,

played its second and final performance to a nearly packed house at

Anaheim’s Grove Theater.

A cast of 90 -- about a third of them from Newport Beach or Costa

Mesa -- made the audience’s trip through Saturday’s record rainfall

worthwhile as they staged a “musical romp through TV Land” titled “As

the Channels Turn.”

Imagine trying to convince -- if they were still alive and

available -- entertainers like Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Jackie

Gleason, Carolyn Jones, Dinah Shore, Dale Evans or Flip Wilson, or

today’s living legends Carol Burnett, Buddy Ebsen, Monty Hall, Joan

Collins, Fran Drescher, Candice Bergen, Florence Henderson or Shirley

Jones, to perform gratis in Orange County.

Well, they were all there -- or at least some local reasonable

facsimiles -- for this ambitious spoof of yesteryear’s video

personalities. Most cast members would hardly be mistaken in a

crowded room for the person they were portraying.

Some superior talent emerged.

Most notable was Newport’s Mia Maffei -- who has performed in all

seven CHOC Follies -- as a dreamed-up character called the “Sitcom

Situationer.” Maffei treated the audience to a splendid set of vocal

cords, as did another Newport entertainer, Janet Travers O’Malley, as

the villain of the piece, a TV star known as “Regina Ruthless.”

Former Costa Mesa Mayor Linda Dixon had a nice turn as Shirley

Jones’ TV mom Shirley Partridge, head of the “family” of that name.

An even more spot-on impersonation was Mary Beth Rissmann’s Carol

Brady -- who could easily have been mistaken for Florence Henderson,

the mom of TV’s “Brady Bunch.” Carol Burnett arrived in the personage

of Follies Co-chairwoman Dale Skiles of Newport, accompanied by

another Newporter, Diane Mondini, as Vicki Lawrence.

The fantasy plot -- stitched loosely together by a family of

would-be TV stars searching for “charisma” -- mingled rival casts

from formerly competing shows such as “The Partridge Family” and “The

Brady Bunch.” Newport’s Lauren Jolliffe briefly sent up Alexis

Carrington from “Dynasty,” but there was no answering J.R. Ewing from

“Dallas.”

Veteran Follies performer and CHOC volunteer Leslie Cancelleieri

of Newport Beach became a sultry Morticia from “The Addams Family.”

Newport’s Terry Jones, another longtime volunteer, donned bushy

whiskers to impersonate Gene Shalit. Another Newporter, Deborah Tanen

Johnson, became a sultry Dolly Parton, and Newport’s Judy Rosener

took a turn as Bea Arthur’s caustic Maude Findlay.

The “Spud Family” of TV star wannabes was headed by two Newport

performers, Tim White and Sandy Segerstrom Daniels. Kathleen Duffy of

Newport was a “bewitching” Samantha Stevens, while Newport’s Jack

Egan played another Newport legend, Buddy Ebsen, in his best-known

role of Jed Clampett from “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

Newport’s Rick Reiff -- who’s also performed in all seven Follies

-- stitched the plot together at the close of the show, making a deal

as Monty Hall. Tim Bercovitz, also from Newport, kept busy in three

roles, including a brief turn in a monkey suit.

Other locals doing their bit for charity in the Follies were Costa

Mesa’s Ashleigh Aitken-Penn, Wendy Clark and Sallee Smith, along with

Newport’s Todd Johnson, John Joliffe, Bret Kamerman, Jennifer

Koffler, Cindy Linden, Sheri Sheridan, Kristine Shimazu, Ann Van

Ausdein and Susan Vince-Einwaechter.

Presiding over the event -- which she created seven years ago --

was executive producer Gloria Zigner, a Newport resident. Zigner has

been the driving force behind the popular Follies, which will return

to the same Anaheim venue next March.

* TOM TITUS’ reviews run Thursdays and Saturdays.