‘25 Alive!’: Making a Village Out of a Megalopolis

It was foot-tapping, finger-snapping Dixieland jazz time at the Music Center as Conrad Janis and the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band played a free noontime concert on a recent Friday. The pickup band, which got its start after the filming of the 1976 movie “The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox,” seems to have become a regular at the Music Center.

Trombonist Janis and his band will play yet another Music Center engagement, this time for “25 Alive!” a free two-day festival this weekend on the plaza featuring 13 acts as diverse as African drummers and a Scottish folk dance group.

Planned as part of the Music Center’s yearlong 25th anniversary festivities, “25 Alive!” will feature the music, dance, cuisine, folk tales and crafts of the city’s diverse ethnic community, along with an original production saluting Music Center musicals of the last 25 years.

“I love the idea of ’25 Alive!’ It is like an outdoor fair and makes a village out of the city. The festival turns L.A. into a small town with everybody playing a part in the community, and I like being a part of that,” Janis said.

The Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band will be the final act on Sunday. Continuous free entertainment will be provided by the eight-piece jazz band Big Daddy, the USC Jazz Band and the fusion rockers Uncle Festive. The Platters will appear with Francesca Robi, the daughter of founder Paul Robi. The fusion jazz group Free Flight featuring flutist Jim Walker, who spent 15 years as principal flutist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, are also scheduled.

Ethnic artists Danza Floricanto/ USA, Karpatok Hungarian Folk Ensemble, Ballet Espanol de Los Angeles, the Japanese-American drum group Kinnara Taiko, Djimbe West African Dancers and Drummers and the Scottish folk dance group Heather Highlights, will also perform.

“We want ’25 Alive!’ to be a community outreach festival. It is a celebration for the community commemorating the Music Center anniversary,” said festival chairwoman Carol Mancino.

Saturday and Sunday’s 11 a.m.-to-6 p.m. events will feature workshops in ethnic crafts, ranging from Mexican paper cutting and bread-dough sculpture to origami and pottery making. Food will be provided by local restaurants such as El Cholo and Mandarin Cove.

Last year’s “LA Alive!” drew 20,000 people, and organizers expect 30,000 visitors at this year’s festival, which is being sponsored by the Ford Motor Co. Fund. Free parking is available at the Department of Water and Power, opposite the Music Center on Hope Street between 1st and Temple streets.

In keeping with the birthday spirit, highlights from musicals at all of the Music Center’s theaters from the past 25 years will be performed in “The Music Center Salute to the 25th Anniversary.” The hourlong salute, written and directed by Paul Gleason, artistic director of the American Center for Music Theater in Pasadena, will be performed both days.

“The salute for ’25 Alive!’ is to take the best of the best, to perform the most-recognized, most-loved numbers,” Gleason said. “It is also a tribute to Edwin Lester, who founded the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera and brought the best of American musical theater to the West Coast.”

The performers in the salute are members of the American Music Theater Training Program, a mentor program for young artists created by Lester. According to Gleason, it will include numbers from “Annie Get Your Gun,” “West Side Story” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”

The complete “25 Alive!” schedule:

Saturday

11 a.m.: USC Jazz Band

12:15 p.m.: Heather Highlights

1 p.m.: “The Music Center Salute to the 25th Anniversary”

2:15 p.m.: Karpatok Hungarian Folk Ensemble

3 p.m.: The Platters

4:15 p.m.: Ballet Espanol de Los Angeles

5 p.m.: Uncle Festive

Sunday

11 a.m.: Free Flight

12:15 p.m.: Danza Floricanto/USA

1 p.m.: The Music Center Salute to the 25th Anniversary

2:15 p.m.: Kinnara Taiko

3 p.m.: Big Daddy

4:15 p.m.: Djimbe West African Drummers and Dancers

5 p.m.: Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band