Local Quartet to Realize Dream at Freeway Series

It’s every singer’s fantasy to stand before a fan-packed baseball stadium and belt out “The Star-Spangled Banner” to floor-shaking applause.

That dream will become a reality today at Dodger Stadium for a Ventura County barbershop quartet named Double Attraction, whose members live in Ventura, Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park.

Clad in old-time baseball uniforms, the group--accompanied by former soap opera and Broadway star Dale Kristien--is scheduled to sing the national anthem at 12:05 p.m. before the final Freeway Series game between the Dodgers and Angels to promote the current production of “Damn Yankees” at the Civic Arts Plaza.

The classic musical about a Washington Senators’ fan who barters with the devil to bat against the rival New York Yankees opened Friday night and will run until next Sunday. It is being put on by the Cabrillo Music Theatre and the Gold Coast Performing Arts Assn., a nonprofit group based in Thousand Oaks.

“I’m a big baseball fan,” said 40-year-old Brent Graham of Ventura, one of the quartet’s members. “I’m loving going down there, seeing the game and doing this. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

It is not Graham’s first time. Twenty years ago he sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before a ballgame at Dodger Stadium with several dozen barbershop quartet members.

But this time, Graham, an attorney by day, will be more vulnerable, with only four other singers to back him up. One false note could send a shower of peanuts in his direction.

“You don’t want to mess up when it’s just a quartet,” he said. “That could be ugly.”

Graham, however, is not too nervous about today’s big performance. He has been singing with Jim Serdahely and twins Brian and Blair Dowd for years, including a performance before Hollywood celebrities Wednesday at the opening of the comedy “Sgt. Bilko” in Universal City.

Double Attraction became involved with the Cabrillo Music Theatre about a year and a half ago, when the quartet took part in a production of “The Music Man” at the Civic Arts Plaza.

That production also included Kristien, who spent two years on television’s “Days of Our Lives.” Although neither she nor the quartet are part of the “Damn Yankees” cast, they have volunteered to help promote the musical. In addition to performing before the Dodgers’ game and throwing out the first pitch, Kristien and Double Attraction sang the national anthem Friday night before the opening of “Damn Yankees.”

“It’s a chance to help out some talented people--and a free game for me, the wife and the kids,” Graham said. “What more could you want?”

Tickets for “Damn Yankees” cost $17 to $27. Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. today, Saturday and next Sunday. For information, call 497-8616.