Up--and Very Upbeat--With People : Choral Group to Stage Benefit Performance at Bren Center Saturday

Let’s play a little game of word association. I’ll say a phrase, and you say the first thing that pops into your mind.

Ready? “Up With People.”

Chances are your first response was a blank stare, followed by a faint smile as you remember your grade-school choir days. Wait, it’s all coming back now. Face scrubbed, hair slicked back, you belted out that cheery refrain:

“Up, up with people.

You meet ‘em wherever you go.

Up, up with people.

They’re the best kind of folks we know.

If more people were for people

All people everywhere.

There’d be a lot less people to worry about,

And a lot more people who cared.”

Nice tune, wasn’t it? For a little while, you forgot about the troubles at home or the pounding you were going to get from the class bully at lunch. It was the kind of song that made you feel good all the way down to your saddle shoes, and the whole world just looked a little brighter.

On Saturday night at UCI’s Bren Events Center, Up With People will do its best to bring that feeling back. This group of college-aged performers from around the world will sing upbeat and sometimes thought-provoking songs. They’ll dance with cheerful abandon and incredible energy. They’ll smile so brightly your cheeks will be sore just watching them.

And despite all the hassles at the office, the unpaid bills and your worries about world hunger or war in the Middle East, you just may find yourself smiling right along with them, if only for a little while.

Saturday’s Up With People performance is presented by the Challenge Foundation for Exceptional Children. According to foundation board member Jeff Davis, all of the show’s proceeds will be applied to construction of a hydro-therapy pool for handicapped children at Mission Viejo’s Philip J. Reilly Elementary School. Major sponsors of the show include the Mission Viejo Co., which has offered a $30,000 challenge grant toward the pool project, and Capistrano by the Sea Hospital.

“We wanted to bring something positive to the community, so when we were searching for ideas on fund raising, I suggested Up With People,” explained Davis, who first encountered the group in 1983 when a cast visited San Clemente High School, where he is assistant principal. “Up With People brings a message of good will and understanding, care for your fellow man,” added Davis. “And that’s the idea behind the Challenge Foundation.”

Up With People, founded in 1965 by J. Blanton Belk, is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Tucson, Ariz. It’s grown up a lot in nearly 25 years. The first casts featured 200 students, almost all Americans, who visited four countries on a budget of $450,000. This year, with an operating budget of more than $10 million, 650 young people representing 25 countries (including a contingent of Russian students), Up With People troupes will travel to 450 cities across 25 countries, including the Baltic Republics of the Soviet Union, Scandinavia, Europe, Mexico and the United States. They’ve performed at Carnegie Hall, at the fateful 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, and at four Super Bowl halftimes. An estimated 2 million people see their shows each year.

Yet today’s Up With People is not the same mom-and-apple-pie group it once was. Their songs are hopeful, but they’re not sugar-coated. They try to deal with real issues in lyrics that speak of gang wars, environmental problems, the arms race. The dancing is tight, sometimes even a teensy bit racy. (Don’t worry Mom and Dad, this is still a family show.)

The opening of an Up With People performance hits you like an unexpected bear hug. In an explosion of color and sound, cast members fill the stage and the aisles, exuding enough energy to light every condo in Irvine. During the course of the evening, the musical mood swings from rock to gospel, rap to rhythm and blues. Dance styles range from sizzling Latin steps to ‘60s bop to hip-grinding funk. Synthesizers hum, stage smoke billows, lights flash.

All in all, these kids hope that when you walk out of the two-hour party they throw, you’ll feel a little better about yourself and the world around.

There are contemplative moments, too. “What Color Is God’s Skin?” a staple in the show since the early days, speaks quietly about the relationship between races. “Heart’s Still Beating” and “Face to Face” promote world peace by reminding us to be more open with our neighbor. And sometimes, the lyrics show a less rosy view of the world, as in “Stop It,” a street rap about gang wars:

“One rag is blue and the other is red.

So you both kill each other, you both are dead.

You shoulda stayed home and done your chores.

Instead you fought over something that never was yours.”

The Johnny Mann Singers they ain’t.

Think of them as peace activists with a sense of rhythm. They don’t picket consulates or make speeches at the U.N., but through their music, they try to bring people closer together.

At least for an hour or two.

“Face to Face,” the 1989 - 90 Up With People Show, will be presented Saturday night at 8 in the Bren Events Center at the UC Irvine, located at Campus Drive and Bridge Street. Tickets are $12.50; UCI students will receive a 2-for-1 discount. Information: (714) 856-5000 or Ticketron at (714) 634-1300. VIP tickets, which include preferred seating and a preshow reception with celebrities Bruce Jenner, Anthony Kennedy Shriver and actress Khrystyne Haje from TV’s “Head of the Class” are available for $100 (part of which is tax-deductible). Also, for men and women between 18 and 25 interested in joining Up With People, an information and interview session will be held following the show. Information: (714) 837-1709.