IRVINE CO. TELLS REASONS FOR ENDING CONCERTS : COST, DUPLICATION DOOM SERIES

For 17 years, the Concerts Under the Stars was a hugely popular Orange County attraction--first at Newport Center in Newport Beach, then at UC Irvine for the past three summers.

The outdoor concerts boasted such big band-era stalwarts as band leaders Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Tex Beneke and Les Brown. In recent years, the audience has been treated to such vocal stylists as Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme and Tony Bennett.

For all the talent and picnic-like ambiance that lured thousands to the Fashion Island mall plaza in Newport Center, then to UCI’s Aldrich Park, the concerts also were one of the best bargains around. They were free.

But the Irvine Co., the concerts’ chief sponsor, beset by financial woes, recently announced the cancellation of the popular series that last summer drew an average of 17,000 for each of six concerts at UCI.

The cutback comes at a time when the Irvine Co. is undergoing sweeping change. Last year the company laid off 240 employees, 18% of its work force. But company officials say that other factors besides the company’s fiscal problems are behind the move. One reason, they said, is the series’ escalating costs, which rose from $60,000 in 1980 to $250,000 last year due to an expanded schedule and booking of big-name vocalists, as well as inflation.

That money, they said, can be put to “more effective and significant use” in supporting other cultural and social service programs.

Another factor, say company officials, is duplication. For years, Concerts Under the Stars was one of the few regular programs that drew big band-era entertainers to Orange County.

But that has changed markedly in recent years with the opening of two major outdoor arenas and the $70.7-million Performing Arts Center. This summer Tony Bennett is in the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre lineup, Frank Sinatra will play the Pacific Amphitheatre, and the Orange County Performing Arts Center has announced a 1987 classic-pop series that includes Mel Torme and the Les Brown band.

“When we started (in 1969), the county didn’t have the kind of venues you do now in the field,” said Thomas H. Nielsen, an Irvine Co. vice chairman. “Our program then helped fill an entertainment gap that today no longer exists.

“Now we see no sense in offering a Mel Torme or a Ray Charles under that (free) format when the Performing Arts Center and the amphitheaters are in the same business.”

Also, Disneyland’s summer big band series, which began in 1962 with the likes of Benny Goodman and Harry James, is still a major crowd pleaser.

But another musical institution, the annual Orange Coast College Jazz Festival, also folded this year after 17 years in existence because of a lack of operating underwriters willing to help offset the costs of putting on the shows and keeping ticket prices low. The festival in the past had featured such jazz luminaries as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald.

Since its inception, the Concerts Under the Stars has always been an unabashed effort by the Irvine Co. to woo shoppers to the company’s Fashion Island shopping center.

Originally coordinated by the late Henry Brandon, the series featured some of the best-known performers of the 1930s and ‘40s. These included band leader Bob Crosby, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and singers Helen O’Connell and Helen Forrest. Also featured were brass and string ensembles led by Brandon, who had presented similar concerts in Chicago-area malls.

As many as 8,000 people would turn out for a single show in the mall series, which was partially underwritten by the Orange County Musicians’ Assn. trust fund and Fashion Island merchants.

When the Fashion Island series moved to UCI in 1984 (due to reconstruction of the mall courtyard and surrounding stores), the program became more ambitious, featuring more contemporary pop acts such as singer Judy Collins and Ray Charles. Charles’ appearance last year drew the single largest crowd--estimated at more than 25,000--in the series’ history.

By 1985, when the Irvine Co. became the series’ sole underwriter, the program had simply become too big, Nielsen said. “It had become too regional in audiences, far beyond what we consider our (Fashion Island) market. There were concert-goers from as far as Riverside and even farther,” he said.

Besides, Nielsen said, the Concerts Under the Stars cancellation is freeing more funds for other company-supported causes, including community programs in substance abuse prevention, senior care centers and assistance for the homeless.

It also means, said Nielsen, more funds for “higher priority” cultural efforts. The Irvine Co. is already a major donor to the Newport Harbor Art Museum, Irvine City Theatre project at UC Irvine, South Coast Repertory Theatre and the Performing Arts Center, as well as to numerous smaller arts projects.

“We know a lot of fans will be disappointed the outdoor concerts are not continuing,” said Nielsen. “It was a tough call for us to make, but we feel it’s the right one.”

Nielsen added: “But when you think about it, 17 years is a pretty good run for any show.”