If Music Be the Food of Love, Says Grove, Play On

Roll over Will Shakespeare: The Grove Theater Center, known mainly for its theatrical productions, is jumping into rock-concert promotion at its 550-seat outdoor Festival Amphitheater.

A series of ska music performances, beginning with an afternoon Cinco De Mayo concert, will be GTC’s first pop venture.

The bands Jump With Joey, Save Ferris, My Superhero, Unsteady and Pocket Lent make up the bill for the show, which starts at 2 p.m. at the theater, 12852 Main St. Tickets: $10. Information: (714) 741-9550.

“It’s a total change for the venue. It’s been nothing but theater for 13 years,” said Charles Johanson, GTC’s executive director. “We’re [still] primarily presenters of theater, but our whole programming philosophy is much broader than in the past.” Johanson has headed the theater since a management shake-up in 1993.

Johanson said that concert noise “is not an issue” at the theater, which is leased from the city. “When we did ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ it was fully orchestrated and loud, it was all electronic” and there were no problems. “This [ska festival] is in the middle of the afternoon.”

Plans call for a series of four ska concerts, one every six weeks or so. The shows are being co-produced by the Grove Theater Center and Dizzy Entertainment, a local ska music promoter.

Contemporary ska bands typical mix traditional sprightly Jamaican rhythms with more aggressive rock beats. The style has a strong following among Southland youth.

“We’re open to talking to other promoters about other styles,” said Johanson, who hooked up with the ska specialists because a son of the Grove’s theater designer plays in a local ska band, Reel Big Fish.