A Dinner Theater That Mixes Elegance With a Little Glitz : Stage: Ben Bollinger shudders at even the thought of a smorgasbord. That’s why his patrons enjoy old favorites in a rich setting at Claremont’s Candlelight Pavilion.

The audiences at the Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theater in Claremont like traditional musicals, familiar songs, Christmas shows and not much else.

And for the most part, producer Ben D. Bollinger delivers what the audience wants: such old favorites as “Oklahoma!” and “My Fair Lady” and an annual Christmas extravaganza. The formula has worked, drawing 90,000 patrons and revenue approaching $4 million annually.

But once in a while Bollinger tries something novel by dinner theater standards. He produced the witty, sophisticated “Into the Woods” by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim this year. The show fell flat at the box office, and some of those patrons who did show up, accustomed to lighthearted fare and songs they could hum, were so displeased by Sondheim’s clever but unfamiliar score that they walked out.

Bollinger’s next reckless flight of fancy may be the staging of “A Chorus Line.” He worries that it may seem bawdy to his audience, but he hopes to try it anyhow in 1993.

Clearly, the Candlelight Pavilion isn’t avant-garde. But as it celebrates its sixth anniversary next month, it is becoming a well-entrenched attraction with a loyal clientele.

Bollinger runs the Candlelight Pavilion in partnership with A.L. (Sandy) Sanford, owner of Griswold’s Claremont Center, where the theater sits beside a 274-room hotel and a group of restaurants and shops.

Before Bollinger came along, Sanford said, two theater companies produced plays at Griswold’s, and both companies were financial flops.

Then, Sanford noticed that Bollinger, chairman of the music department at Citrus College, was winning acclaim as leader of the Citrus Singers, a music group that has performed in a wide range of places from the Super Bowl to European music festivals.

Sanford invited Bollinger to lunch to talk about bringing the Citrus Singers to Griswold’s for performances. Instead, they wound up talking about starting a dinner theater.

Bollinger said he sketched his concept for the theater on a napkin, and that became the blueprint for the project. “We had architects and artists and people around us who lifted it off the napkin and built it,” he said.

The 300-seat theater was constructed in a building that had been converted from a high school gym to a banquet hall. In fact, Bollinger said, he played high school basketball in the gym in 1956. As a banquet hall, he said, “It wasn’t very attractive . . . just a big barn.” The improvements cost $1.3 million.

The theater that emerged has a touch of elegance and a bit of Las Vegas glitz. The sound system is high tech; the walls have wood paneling and the dominant feature are extravagant crystal chandeliers.

There’s a dress code that says jackets are required for gentlemen. The waiters are even more dressed up, attired in tuxedos, and the hostesses greet guests in evening gowns.

Bollinger said he insisted that the Candlelight Pavilion be a waiter-served, fine-dining operation. In fact, Bollinger said, his agreement with Sanford says that he can quit in 90 days if the food service is ever converted to a smorgasbord.

“My entire life I have despised the smorgasbord mentality,” Bollinger said. The thought of dishing up his food in line with people spilling things here and there disgusts him. “I’m not a person who likes to step on olives and beets,” he explained.

The partnership could have foundered right there. One of the major attractions at Griswold’s had been its smorgasbord restaurant. But Sanford agreed with Bollinger.

The problem with many dinner theaters, Sanford said, is that they have a well-deserved reputation for bad food as well as mediocre entertainment. “We did everything in our power not to call this a dinner theater,” Sanford said.

Bollinger said many dinner theaters neglect quality, hoping to attract customers with bargain prices. He could do that, too. “I could charge $15 a ticket if I didn’t put anything on stage and served TV dinners,” Bollinger said.

Instead, he charges about $28 to $50 for brunch or dinner, plus extra charges for those who order alcoholic drinks, appetizers and desserts.

That’s still a bargain, Bollinger said. His patrons “have gotten dressed up; they’ve had a wonderful evening and they didn’t drive to L.A.”

Bollinger plans all the shows and oversees the productions. Besides “Into the Woods,” the theater has presented “42nd Street” and “Oklahoma!” this year, and such shows as “Evita” and “Singin’ ” in the Rain” in past seasons.

A revue drawing on familiar music from such operettas as “Kismet” and “The Student Prince” will open Friday and run through Nov. 24, followed by “The Wonderful World of Christmas.”

Bollinger writes the Christmas show and other revues in collaboration with friends. The Christmas production is invariably the biggest draw.

Next year, Bollinger said, the lineup will include “Man of La Mancha,” “Showboat,” “I Do! I Do!” and “Nunsense.”

Bollinger said his selection of shows is limited by the cost of the rights. Newer shows cost more. For “Oklahoma!” for example, he paid $1,500 a week, based on the number of seats and ticket prices, while the newer “Into the Woods,” cost $2,500 a week.

Then there’s the cost of the music. Bollinger said he won’t do a show with just a few musicians, and he cannot pay a full orchestra every night. So he rents a studio, assembles an orchestra and records the orchestral score in one sitting.

Each cast member gets a tape of the music in order to practice before rehearsals begin. Bollinger said auditions draw 200 to 400 performers for the 16 or 18 parts available.

Some of the performers are trying to make a career in show business. For others, it’s an avocation. Bollinger said some dinner theaters hire fading stars for marquee value; he’d rather hire performers for their talent and energy. And, he said, he has no trouble finding them. “We’re in the greatest talent pool in the world.”

The theater spends $30,000 a month on salaries for the cast and a dozen production staff members. Sets can cost as much as $80,000, depending on the show. It costs about $10,000 to $15,000 to record the music.

If he could sell every ticket to every show, Bollinger said, the enterprise “would be very lucrative. But that’s just not realistic.”

As it is, Bollinger said, the shows don’t make enough money for him to give up his full-time job at Citrus College. “You can pay your help, but it’s really a labor of love for me,” he said.

Some of the help are family members and former students. His son, Michael, is director of operations and another son, Mark, is manager. His daughter, Melinda, works in the box office and as a waitress and hostess.

Michael Bollinger, who started working at the theater as a busboy when it opened, said the hiring of chef Kerry McCain several years ago was a key move in the theater’s success. Finding a chef who can turn out high-quality dishes for a big crowd at a quick pace isn’t easy, he said.

The Candlelight Pavilion offers a limited menu--the current entree choice is steak, breast of chicken or salmon in puff pastry--but there’s a varied assortment of appetizers and desserts.

Sanford said there is no doubt that the driving force behind the theater is Ben Bollinger. “He’s got all kinds of charisma and excitement,” Sanford said.

Bollinger puts his stamp on every show. He missed the preparations for “Oklahoma!” while on a trip to Hawaii and wasn’t pleased with what he saw when he returned, so he ordered extra rehearsals. Sanford said Bollinger greatly transformed a show that had been flat before.

Bollinger said he works hard to maintain standards, even with dinner theater considered beneath the notice of some critics.

But Bollinger himself is scornful of most dinner theater. He said the fact that the Candlelight Pavilion will host the national convention of the Assn. of Dinner Theaters for the second time in five years next month indicates how few healthy dinner theaters there are.

Bollinger said one of his goals is to educate audiences and that means occasionally trying something unexpected. Not many dinner theaters would attempt “Into the Woods,” he said. “I felt like the Sondheim piece had a great message for children and adults and it had to be done. . . . I felt by doing it, we raised dinner theater up a level.”

Many patrons have asked the Candlelight Pavilion to present “A Chorus Line,” Bollinger said. But he has hesitated to do it because it contains words and sexual references that might offend some. But times change, he said, and he would like to do the show in the 1993 season.

“Nunsense,” a show that ran off-Broadway for years, is another vehicle that is offbeat by dinner theater standards, and will be performed in 1992.

Bollinger said: “I have to do an ‘Oklahoma!’ I have to do a ‘Music Man.’ I have to give people that piece they all remember. . . . But I really strive to do new, creative work.”