A Gem of an Evening : ‘Marlene’ Premieres in Style at Gala--and Affordable--Garden Grove Benefit

Picture it: A crush of playgoers sipping champagne before waltzing into a 1926 Art Deco theater for a world premiere.

New York, perhaps? Chicago? Los Angeles?

Try Garden Grove. Orange County’s fourth largest city and its Gem Theatre played host recently when “An Evening With Marlene: Falling in Love Again” previewed with a gala benefit.

“This is fabulous,” gushed Sharon Jaquith, a trustee of the Leo Freedman Foundation (which donated $250,000 to Grove Shakespeare, a co-producer of the play). “I wish my Uncle Leo could be here. He would have loved this.”

What’s not to love? The intimate theater, with its plush seats and cushy upstairs lobby, evokes some of Broadway’s most prized performing houses. And the prospect of watching actress Salome Jens portray a wistful Marlene Dietrich wasn’t bad either. (Review, F2.)

“Just call us a little bit of New York in the middle of Mayberry, RFD,” said Robin Capalbo, chairwoman of the theater’s guild support group. “This is a beautiful theater on the cusp--and it’s affordable.” (Cost of the reception, play, and post-performance gala was a pocket-pleasing $50 per person.)

In a county where the cost of the social scene has become worrisome (blame it on the recession), Garden Grove made it affordable for a night.

“The theater is giving us a good cultural identity,” noted Mark Leyes, Garden Grove city councilman. “Some of our old-timers lament the fact that we missed out on Disneyland, that we didn’t get a mall--Westminster did--that we don’t have a beach, pier, or airport. We don’t have any of those sexy, glamorous things.

“But we do have a dynamic civic center that includes our theater complex--a low capital, low-maintenance kind of operation. It has literally put us on the map.”

The 170-seat Gem Theatre, part of the city’s Village Green complex (which includes the Shakespeare Festival Amphitheatre) was a movie house until 1979 when the city converted it to a performing arts venue.

Landing the premiere of “An Evening with Marlene” was a coup for the theater, says Grove Festival’s managing director, Barbara Hammerman. “The producers could have had the premiere anywhere, but they came to see us, took a tour, and fell in love.

“I’m sure it was because Grove Shakespeare has a reputation for being able to mount something like this. Plus, they knew the work of our director, Jules Aaron.”

Aaron, a friend of Jens, said the actress was born to play the part. “It’s going to be a very entertaining evening,” he said, pre-show time. “Marlene Dietrich’s magic was that she was an extremely optimistic person who believed in the transforming powers of love.” Playwright Sebastian Milito hopes that the play makes Broadway. “I loved it,” he said after the show. “Salome was marvelous. And, I couldn’t have asked for a lovelier theater.”

The Hyatt Regency Alicante in Garden Grove donated the gala’s libations and food.

Another world premiere: “Noah Johnson Had a Whore” by Jon Bastian--winner of last year’s California Playwright’s Competition--had its world premiere on Friday at South Coast Repertory (see review, F1). During the evening’s festivities, David Emmes--producing artistic director of SCR--thanked representatives of American Express for sponsoring the California Play Program, which has as one of its components the California Playwright’s Competition.

“The program is now in its fourth year, thanks to the generous support of American Express Co.,” Emmes said. (American Express also sponsored the production of the three previous winners. The company’s challenge grant during the 1987-88 season helped produce the premiere of Craig Lucas’ “Prelude to a Kiss” which is now being made into a movie.)

Emporio Armani bash: Now here’s a new concept for the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Instead of the Center picking up the tab for one of its post-performance parties, Emporio Armani at South Coast Plaza has volunteered to do the honors on Feb. 4, the night American Ballet Theatre opens at Segerstrom Hall with “Don Quixote.”

Invited guests include members of the ballet company and the Center’s major donors, board members and patrons, says a spokeswoman for Rogers & Cowan (the public relations agency that handles upscale Emporio Armani).

Festivities will unfold in the store, and a deejay will be on hand to get the dancers dancing . Dress code? “It’s bound to be funky,” says an insider. “Ballet dancers are soooo fun and creative.”