GOINGS ON : Wide Variety of Festive Events Fills Out the Holiday Calendar : Stage presentations of Dickens’ ‘Christmas Carol,’ an exhibit of table settings fit for the season, and a museum gift sale are planned.
For those of you who can take time out from your hectic holiday schedule, there are some festive and fun events going on up the coast this coming week:
If you want to see 30 elaborate table settings created by local designers, you have two options--tonight’s gala opening of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s “The Art of the Table” exhibit, or the regular showing over the weekend, both at the museum’s Ridley-Tree Education Center.
Tonight’s affair will include a light buffet and a silent auction. Tickets are $50. Call 968-1911, Ext. 171 or 687-1702. As for the regular showing, it will run Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is $10. Call 963-4364 for more information. The center is located at 1600 Santa Barbara St.
The Santa Barbara Shakespeare Festival will present “A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley,” Israel Horovitz’s adaptation of the Charles Dickens holiday story, Friday through Dec. 23 at the Center Stage Theater. Show times are 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. There will be no shows Tuesday and Dec. 12, and the Dec. 5 performance will be held at Peabody Charter School. General admission is $12 (Sunday through Thursday), $14 (Friday and Saturday), with $2 discounts for seniors and students. Center Stage is located on the second level of the Paseo Nuevo shopping center, at Chapala and De La Guerra streets. Call 963-0408.
Santa Barbara will get into the holiday spirit full-swing, Saturday, with the Annual Holiday Parade down State Street. This year’s theme: “The Magic of Christmas.” There will be marching bands, antique cars, majorettes and of course the big jolly gift-giver himself, Santa. The procession will begin at 10 a.m. at State and Micheltorena streets, and finish about noon at De La Guerra Plaza. Spectators are asked to bring canned goods and unwrapped Christmas gifts for the Council of Christmas Cheer. For more information call 962-2098.
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Brent Jasmer of “The Bold and The Beautiful,” Patrick Muldoon of “Days of Our Lives,” Gemini of “American Gladiators” and other television celebrities will hit the Santa Barbara City College basketball court Saturday for a benefit contest between The Hollywood Knights and the Santa Barbara All Stars. Proceeds will go toward The Endowment for Youth Committee. Tickets are $8 (adults) and $6 (students) for the game itself, and $10 (adults only) for the game followed by a reception with music by Night Crew 805. Call 965-0581, Ext. 2277. City College is located at 721 Cliff Drive.
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UC Santa Barbara’s Middle East Ensemble will perform “A Variety of Arab, Armenian, Persian, and Turkish Music and Dance,” Saturday at the university’s Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. Show time is 8 p.m. General admission is $10. Call 893-3535.
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The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History will become a Christmas shoppers dream, Saturday and Sunday, with its annual Folk and Tribal Arts Marketplace. Thousands of items--textiles, rugs, pottery, jewelry, and baskets, from Africa, Indonesia, India, Japan and other regions will be on display and available to purchase. The museum is located at 2559 Puesta del Sol Road. Call 682-4711 for more information.
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Pianist David Golub will join the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra in concert Tuesday at the Lobero Theatre. The ensemble, under the direction of Heiichiro Ohyama, will perform works by Milhaud, Mozart and Schumann. Tickets are $14 to $27. Call 963-0761. The Lobero is located at 33 E. Canon Perdido St.
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Conductor Phillip McLendon and the Santa Barbara Oratorio Chorale will present “WinterMusic” Tuesday at the Center Stage Theater. The program will include seasonal music and carols and a presentation by the Santa Barbara Children’s Chorus. Tickets are $30, which will include a preconcert reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the neighboring Contemporary Arts Forum. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. Both the theater and the forum are located on the second level of the Paseo Nuevo shopping center. Call 967-8287.
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Do you miss disco? Don’t admit it. But do check out the 1970s retro-party for the Santa Barbara County United Way 1994 Annual Campaign on Wednesday at the Cabrillo Pavilion Arts Center. This “Wednesday Night Fever” party will run from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $12, which includes hors d’oeuvres and a no-host bar. For reservations call 965-8591 by Monday.
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If you’re looking for a different take on the traditional Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” and if you have a slightly offbeat sense of humor, you may want to see the Ensemble Theatre Company’s production of “The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ ” It opens Wednesday and runs through Dec. 31 at the Alhecama Theatre.
The play centers around the goofy, but valiant attempts of four members of a small British community theater group, as they try to stage the Dickens classic. Show times are Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Sundays (except Dec. 25) at 2 p.m. The Dec. 25 show will be at 7 p.m. and there will be no show Christmas Eve. Tickets are $15 to $20. Call 962-8606. The theater is located at 914 Santa Barbara St.
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It’ll be Bach, Brahms, and scallops, when the The Bach Camerata holds a dinner recital Wednesday, at the Four Seasons Biltmore Resort. The musical menu will include Brahms’ G minor Piano Quartet. The dinner menu will feature scallops, veal medallions, and warm chocolate and caramel cake. It all gets under way with wine and hors d’oeuvres at 6:30 p.m., followed by the recital and then dinner. Tickets are $80. Call 966-3492 for reservations. The Biltmore is located at 1260 Channel Islands Drive.