Center Post-Concert Bashes: Uninviting to Some Stars

Partying at the Center Club was a snap for singer Melissa Manchester on Friday following her performance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (review, F2).

She mugged for paparazzi , schmoozed with Pacific Symphony Orchestra buffs, then bowed out.

Easy come, easy go? Not for all of the artists who have attended the post-performance bashes staged by the Pacific Symphony.

Bernadette Peters, for one, seemed terrified when she arrived at last year’s party in her honor. Andy Williams was standoffish during his social stint in 1990. And Vikki Carr was downright cool when she swept into her symphony bash a while back.

“It depends on the artist,” says an orchestra insider. “Some find it easy to come to our receptions, others find it very difficult.”

Why the push to party with the stars? Donor satisfaction. “It’s important for people who give at a certain level to meet performers,” says a symphony staff member. “They like to know what’s going on--to be in . We spend a lot of time working to make that happen.”

It’s not in the artists’ contracts to attend the parties, notes another member of the symphony staff. “It’s a negotiable thing. But we ask them, tell them how important it is to us and they usually say yes.”

But only with certain assurances. “The performers want to make sure the party will be well-attended,” says a source. “And they want us to escort them in and stay with them--they don’t want to be dumped in a room full of strangers or get trapped in any long-winded conversations.

“After their performances, we get them to the party as quickly as possible without making them uncomfortable--we want them to be in a pleasant mood when they arrive--and as soon as they hit the door, we applaud. That signals the rest of our staff to applaud and then everybody else responds.”

Peters found it difficult to attend the party because she is a reclusive type, says a symphony source. “For example, before her performance she spent hours in the empty Center building, just walking around. Later, at the party, she was cordial in a restrained way. She absolutely cringed when people gushed over her.”

Carr was cool to the party idea because of a misunderstanding, says an insider. Innocently, members of the orchestra’s Hispanic Society had trumpeted Carr’s post-performance appearance as part of a benefit. Carr balked. She didn’t like her name being used to promote something without her permission.

“But when she got to the party, she lightened up, enjoyed herself and stayed a long time,” says a staff member. “The same with Andy Williams. He was a little standoffish at first, and then he loosened up and was very pleasant.”

The artists who have difficulty socializing are the exceptions, says a symphony spokesman. There have been several--Jack Jones, Toni Tennille, Marvin Hamlisch, Doc Severinsen, among them--who have relished the idea of attending a post-concert bash.

Johnny Mathis is the only artist who has refused to attend a symphony party. “In the five years of our pop series, Mathis is the only one who said no,” says Louis Spisto, the symphony’s executive director.

And this after the staff stocked the singer’s dressing room with champagne, a VCR and a stack of movie classics.

It wasn’t enough. “He’s extraordinarily shy,” Spisto says. “Very quiet and reclusive. And he has an assistant. They can be tough. It’s their job to be protective.”

It was too bad, Spisto says. “Most of the stars end up having a wonderful time.”

Wayne Institute in Orange County?: Aissa Wayne of Newport Beach will be among the children of John Wayne who attend a reunion on April 4 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

The seven children of the late actor will receive the Duke Award from the John Wayne Cancer Institute, which last year moved from UCLA to St. John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica.

“It’s my dream to establish an Orange County chapter of the cancer institute,” says Aissa Wayne, who has written a book entitled “John Wayne, My Father.”

“The cancer institute is growing--getting such a great response that I would love to see it come here. Where? I’m not sure. UC Irvine? We’ll have to check it all out. I’m going to be working on that during the next year.”

Frankie Avalon, who is Michael Wayne’s brother-in-law, will sing at the benefit.

Among those serving on the ball’s honorary dinner committee are Ronald and Nancy Reagan, John Candy, Phyllis Diller, Loretta Young, Lew and Edie Wasserman, and Hal Linden.

Barbara Bush in Orange County: Barbara Bush will attend a reception for Sen. John Seymour on March 24 at Fluor Corp. in Irvine. Dinner co-chairmen include Deeann and Al Baldwin, Donald Bren, Bob Fluor, William and Willa Dean Lyon, Les McCraw (chairman of Fluor Corp.) and Renee and Henry Segerstrom.