Big Wish, Not-So-Small Pond : The O.C. Performing Arts Center Hopes to Fill 13,000 Seats at the Arena for a Benefit Concert

Betting it can fill The Pond of Anaheim, the Orange County Performing Arts Center will play host to the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra there Dec. 7.

The fund-raiser, part of the center’s 10th anniversary celebration, will mark the Orange County debut of the orchestra, under its new director-conductor, Keith Lockhart.

With 13,000 seats to fill--1,000 on the main floor and the rest in the stands--is the center skating on thin ice?

Not at all, says center spokesman Greg Patterson. “The Pops thrives on large venues.”

The Pops Esplanade Orchestra--which consists of free-lance musicians--ended up in the “Guinness Book of Records” after its Independence Day, 1976, performance drew an estimated 400,000 people to the Boston Esplanade. At the time, it was the largest audience ever to attend an orchestral concert. The Pops attracted close to that number at this year’s July 4 performance.

It was the Pops that introduced Americans to the cafe-style concert, in which members of the audience sit at tables and dine on light refreshments while they listen to music. Founded in 1885, the Pops emulated the summer concerts staged in the gardens of Vienna.

Using the cafe format Dec. 7, the center will stage its 22nd annual Candlelight Concert at The Pond. Traditionally, the black-tie gala is held at the Hyatt Regency Irvine and is attended by about 600 guests.

On the floor of The Pond--an area normally reserved for tons of ice--the center will be able to host 1,000 guests at $250 per ticket. Those in the stands will pay from $19.50 to $65.

Before taking their seats on the floor of the arena, guests at the Candlelight Gala will dine on filet of beef in a parking lot tent. Afterward, they will be seated at tables draped in tablecloths and decorated with centerpieces, enjoying dessert and coffee as they listen to the Pops’ holiday concert.

Picture it: thousands of Pops fans dressed in everything from Levi’s to Santa sweaters gulping munchies as they look down upon 1,000 formally clad guests nibbling on “white and dark chocolate obsession.”

It isn’t every day that guests at a black-tie gala have 12,000 onlookers.

“It will be a nice mix,” Patterson promises. “People will realize it’s a gala benefit for the center that is open to everybody.”

Formal events on the Pond floor are not new, says Brad Mayne, the facility’s general manager. Private dinners, usually corporate in nature, are often staged there.

When you rent The Pond, “you have to rent the whole building,” Mayne says, “because we can’t do anything else when somebody is using the floor.”

The base rental is $15,000. But out-of-pocket expenses can add up to a whopping $100,000. (“There are stagehands, security guards, ushers, ticket-takers to be paid,” Mayne explains.)

This is the first formal public benefit staged on the Pond floor. “And we are happy to have it, and the Pops,” Mayne says.

Major donors will be invited to a private reception with the popular Lockhart, 35, who is creating excitement in staid Boston with his free-spirited approach to music.

Not to mention his sex appeal. Referring to his suggested resemblance to Hugh Grant, Lockhart said in a recent Times report: “Aaaaaaggghhh. The other day someone said they saw me on the street . . . in a parked car.”

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Revering the Virgin of Guadalupe: No sooner had Fernando Niebla entered the “Visions of Guadalupe” exhibit than he had tears in his eyes.

“I think a lot of people are going to choke up when they see this,” said Niebla on Saturday night as he joined supporters of the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art for their first look at art from the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City.

“My mother took me to the basilica when I was just a few months old,” said museum donor Niebla, studying a portrait of a young Madonna wearing a blue cloak studded with gold stars. “I have a print of Our Lady of Guadalupe that I keep at my bedside. Our whole family prays to her.”

The exhibit kickoff was held in conjunction with the Santa Ana museum’s annual La Fiesta benefit, a black-tie gala that drew nearly 700 people.

Arriving to a mariachi serenade, guests feasted on appetizers in a chiffon-swagged tent before dining in the museum courtyard on Yucatan-style sea bass wrapped in banana leaves.

During the cocktail and wine reception, dignitaries from the cathedral joined museum executives and gala committee members for their pre-dinner peek at the collection.

“The message of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of brotherhood,” said Msgr. Guillermo Schulenberg, abbot of the basilica monastery, through an interpreter. “She is the mother of us all. It is very emotional to come to a place such as this, where so much interest has been shown in a figure of such tradition.”

As tradition has it, in 1531, Juan Diego, an Indian convert to Christianity, saw a vision of the Virgin Mary on the hill of Tepeyac.

When Diego told people of the apparition, they did not believe him until, one day, he opened his cloak and found an image of Mary painted there.

In 1754 the apparition gained papal recognition and the Virgin of Guadalupe became the patroness of Mexico. In 1945, another papal decree pronounced her Empress of America.

“There is a special good feeling here tonight,” said Patricia House, the museum’s vice president of programs and development, “because Catholicism is such an important religion in our country and the Americas. There is a special home feeling about this, like we’ve all come home.”

Said museum President Peter Keller: “This is the most strikingly beautiful and significant exhibit we have ever done.”

Actor Ricardo Montalban--who was ill and unable to attend but who recorded a video presentation for the event--was honorary event chairman. Electa Anderson and Olga Niebla were La Fiesta co-chairwomen.

“Visions of Guadalupe” will be on exhibit at the Bowers through Dec. 31.

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Tidbits: Fortune 500 businessman John Crean was among guests at Spanish Serenade, an Opera Pacific luncheon and fashion show staged last week by Neiman Marcus at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach.

From the stage, Opera Pacific director David DiChiera told guests that Crean was going to play the Barber of Seville, a cameo non-speaking role, when “Carmen” opens at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Saturday.

“It’s great fun,” Crean said. “The hard part is I’m supposed to appear snobbish. It’s very difficult for me to be a snob.” Deadpanned his wife, Donna: “It’s lucky that he doesn’t have to sing.”

With Tita Loza, Barbara Venezia co-chaired the opera luncheon that featured evening wear by designer Michael Casey of San Francisco. Casey’s tip for gala dressing: “Don’t overdo it,” he warned. “After you’ve put on all of that jewelry, take one or two pieces off.” . . .

Arts philanthropists George and Arlene Cheng of Newport Beach treated several opera buffs to a mountain of fresh lobster at Newport Seafood in Santa Ana last week. The supper was staged as a part of Opera Pacific’s Gourmet Diners Guild’s “Festival of Fine Dining.” “This is the best lobster in the world,” said George Cheng. Guests included Carolyn Kline, co-chairwoman with Barbara Roberts of the culinary series. . . .

South Coast Repertory celebrated the opening of its new season Friday night with a reception in the theater courtyard before the world premiere of “She Stoops to Folly” by Thomas Murphy. Reception guests raised Champagne toasts to Kaiser Permanente, the play’s honorary producer. After the performance, guests and actors visited South Coast Plaza for a dessert reception sponsored by Fendi, Bulgari and the Wolford Boutique. . . .

UCI Chancellor Laurel Wilkening and Joan Irvine Smith were among guests at the reception held at the Ralph Lauren store in South Coast Plaza last week on behalf of the committee of the Oaks Fall Classic. The classic’s $50,000 Grand Prix will be held Sunday at Smith’s ranch, The Oaks, in San Juan Capistrano. Proceeds from the event will benefit UCI’s Center for Health Sciences, where research for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy and schizophrenia will be conducted. For reservations, call (714) 661-2561.