Guild Chief Puts Socializing Front and Center

Tuesday was Fiona Petersen’s longest day.

Not only did the new chairwoman of the Guilds of the Orange County Performing Arts Center rise at 4:45 a.m. to attend a kickoff breakfast, she partied past midnight with cast members of “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway” after its local debut in Segerstrom Hall.

Her secret? “A passion for the Center and B-complex vitamins,” she said, grinning as she sipped bubbly at Birraporetti’s--site of the post-performance party.

The early-bird breakfast held poolside at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach feted the models who will parade in the guild’s Center of Fashion extravaganza in Segerstrom Hall on Sept. 20.

When the dressed-to-kill models arrived, they found a heavy mist hanging over the turquoise waters. (Their hair!) No problem. “It’s wonderful for the complexion,” Petersen said, with aplomb.

Petersen’s make-the-most-of-it attitude will hold the Mission Viejo resident in good stead during the coming year as she tries to attend all of the benefit bashes staged by the 36 guild chapters. “We don’t even want to count the parties,” joked her husband, Kirk. “It might get depressing.”

During her tenure, Petersen hopes to bring guild members “closer to the Center,” she said. “I want them to really feel like they’re part of it.”

In recent weeks, Petersen has met with the Center’s general manager, Judy Morr, and vice president of development, Dick Tripp, to develop an incentive program that will encourage guild membership and participation.

Partying too: Among cast members partying at Birraporetti’s was Scott Wise (Riff in the “West Side Story” sequence), winner of the 1989 Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.”

What does it take to play a dancing gang member? An attitude. “I’m a rather hostile person anyway,” Wise teased as he quaffed a brewski. “I’m one of those angry-men kind of people. Maybe it’s because I don’t have another job right now.”

Hard to believe, but Wise’s opening night in Orange County turned out to be his final performance in the production. His contract has expired.

“I’ve been doing this show for more than three years,” he said. So, off he goes to New Jersey to work on a project of his own.

“And it’s kind of too bad,” he said. “Orange County has turned out to be one of the nicer places to stay. Great malls. Great hotels. Great weather.”

Riff’s gang sequence--played out with switchblades--had guests holding their breaths. “Naw, the knives weren’t real,” said cast member Harrison Beal. “They were plastic.” But Beal has seen dancers use authentic switchblades when they perform in “West Side Story.”

“The edges are ground flat,” he said. “But they can still cut. I’ve seen plenty of torn T-shirts.”

Beal has been married for two years to Cynthia Onrubia, assistant to choreographer Jerome Robbins. “Cynthia hired me when I did Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Song & Dance,’ ” Beal said.

“And now she’s rehearsing everybody for this show--keeping them in a performance mode.”

As the couple queued up to a groaning board of Italian fare--pizza, lasagna, veal manicotti, and linguine with sausages and peppers--Onrubia chatted about the secret to the musical’s success.

“I’d have to say it has done well because a mature audience can visit the musicals they loved in the old days,” she said. “And young people can get a taste of what those wonderful musicals were all about.”

Cast member Pamela Khoury called Segerstrom Hall “so huge it was like living in Texas,” she said. “You’ve got all of this room!”

Also among guests: musical stars Paul Kreppel, Susann Fletcher and Leilani Jones; Center president Thomas Kendrick; Center manager Judy Morr; Susan and Tim Strader; Tony and Ginger Allen; Ann and Bob Badham, and Rick and Nancy Muth.

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Cathy Curtis reviews “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.” Page F2. Zan Dubin interviews dancer Chris Sircello, an Orange County native. OC LIVE.