The View From the Seats

The Orange County Performing Arts Center gets top marks on its 10th birthday from several county residents who praise it as a convenient, attractive purveyor of consistently high-quality attractions--and who remember the relative dearth of arts programming here before 1986.

While theater and music lovers still drive to Los Angeles for work that remains unavailable here, many said they believe that the center has put Orange County on the map as an entertainment destination.

One center enthusiast suggested that even Edwards South Coast Village in Santa Ana, a nearby cinema whose offerings lean toward “art house” fare, could be considered part of a cultural ripple effect.

On the negative side, even regular patrons complain that center ticket prices are too high, although it is possible to attend a Broadway show for $19, a chamber music concert for $20 and certain other events (Pilobolus, American Indian Dance Theatre, Shari Lewis) for as little as $6.

Some people say they would visit the center more often if it would book more quality blues and jazz. “I’d get tickets to see the Dos Equis Blues Festival if it were at the center,” said an Etta James fan, referring to the September event at a Newport Beach hotel; she has visited the center only twice.

To get an idea of the range of opinions out there, we asked a number of arts lovers in the county for their thoughts on the venue that sprouted in a bean field and drastically changed the local performing arts terrain.

Leslie Drozd

Personal: Age 47, two teenage children in college.

Home: Irvine.

How long in O.C.?: Since she was 4.

Occupation: Clinical psychologist, professor at UCI extension and author of “The Missing Piece: Solving the Puzzle of Self” (Random House/Ballantine, 1995).

Any arts background? “No, the artist part of me is the therapist part of me, a combination artist and scientist.”

Recent film seen: “Stealing Beauty.”

Last book read: Judith Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way.”

Last CD purchased: Judy Collins’ “Shameless.”

Type of performance preferred: Musicals.

A favorite performance: “For ‘Starlight Express,’ I took a group of my daughter’s friends--she was in junior high school then--and that was a lot of fun. It’s such an exciting performance anyhow, and to have [the stage] literally jutting out into the middle of the orchestra area--it was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen there.”

Preferred seating: First two rows of the orchestra section (“it’s like being onstage”).

Best thing about the center: “The volunteers who did all the work to get it here deserve a tremendous amount of credit for bringing the arts to Orange County and changing the tone of the county significantly.”

Worst thing about the center: “In general, [high ticket prices mean] it doesn’t reach a wide variety of the population, and that philosophically bothers me. They do provide free tickets for low-income people and minorities, and I’d like to see more credit given to them for doing that. But there’s still a middle sociological level [that doesn’t] get served because they don’t have that kind of discretionary income.”

Wish list: “I’d love to see a popular series that appeals to people in their 20s and 30s. It would be nice if [pop music] were not relegated to Irvine Meadows or the Pacific Amphitheater. The range needs to be broader.”

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Virginia and Karl Kawai (quotes from Virginia)

Personal: She’s 56; he’s 57. They have two grown children.

Home: Fountain Valley.

How long in O.C.? Since 1967.

Occupation: Virginia is a part-time English as a second language resource specialist for the Rancho Santiago College District, Santa Ana; Karl is a design engineer with Northrop Corp. in Palmdale.

Any musical background? No.

Last CD purchased: Complete Beethoven Symphonies, London Festival Orchestra.

Other leisure-time pursuits: Karl’s a wine buff; Virginia loves to cook.

Recent film seen: “Phenomenon.”

Type of performance preferred: Orchestral; they are subscribers to Pacific Symphony. “I don’t really know classical music that well--my husband is the expert. [But] what we don’t like are the new pieces they bring every so often. Sometimes we feel they’re shoving it down our throats. What I don’t like either are the choral groups, the pieces they sing. But there’s not that many [performances] we don’t enjoy, maybe two out of the whole season that we say, ‘We should have stayed home.’ We look forward to our monthly evening out at the symphony. It’s a joy.”

Preferred seating: Orchestra, center (“keyboard side”).

Best thing about the center: “It’s very convenient. It takes us 15 minutes to get there. We were just thrilled when they built it, because we used to drive all the way into Los Angeles before [to see the L.A. Philharmonic]. It’s a beautiful complex.”

Worst thing about the center: “Prices are the only thing that comes to mind. Every year it goes up a little bit more. We don’t attend other [classical music concerts at the center], mostly because of the cost.”

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Patricia and John Shelton Clarke (quotes from Patricia)

Personal: She’s 57; he’s 65. They have two grown children.

Home: Dana Point.

How long in O.C.? Since 1973.

Occupations: Patricia is a former ballet dancer with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Company and Ballet Concierto de Mexico; John plays Mickey Horton on “Days of Our Lives.”

Films seen recently: “Priest”; “Heat.”

Last book read: Irvine Stone’s “The Agony and the Ecstasy” (“because we’re going to Italy in October”).

Other leisure-time pursuits: Theater (at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa and the Ahmanson in Los Angeles), bilingual volunteer work at their church.

Type of performance preferred: Ballet (they’re subscribers), some musicals.

A favorite performance: “Nederlands Dans Theater was the most thrilling thing I’ve seen in ages--wondrous choreography, stage settings, lighting, design. And the dancers themselves are so gorgeous. I hope they bring more companies like that.”

Preferred seating: “I need to sit in the orchestra section. I haven’t been really pleased sitting in the tiers. I think there are dead places for sound. I just really prefer to be on the [same] level with the dancers.”

Best thing about the center: “It’s so centrally located and relatively easy to get to.”

Worst thing about the center: “The high price of parking! [But] there isn’t anything I dislike about it. It’s a beautiful building. I love ‘Fire Bird’ [Richard Lippold’s sculpture that adorns the center facade].”

Wish list: “It would be wonderful to have a resident ballet company like Ballet Pacifica.”

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Clint Dickerson

Personal: 27

Home: Balboa Peninsula.

Occupation: Benefits specialist for a business consulting firm in Irvine.

Any arts background? No.

Film seen recently: “Heat.”

Last book read: “Cause of Death” by Patricia Cornwell.

Last CDs purchased: “Bringing Down the Horse” by the Wallflowers and Tchaikovsky’s fantasia, “The Tempest.”

Type of performance preferred: Symphony.

A favorite performance: James Taylor with the Pacific Symphony. “I’m a big fan of James Taylor, and the symphony added a completely new feel to his music. It was like another facet of his talent--it expanded what he had done in previous [Taylor] shows I’d seen.”

Preferred seating: Orchestra, middle.

Best thing about the center: “It gives us a place to go for the performing arts in Orange County, in a central location. It’s one of the few places you can go without having to travel to Los Angeles, to get another option [besides] a movie or a rock concert.”

Worst thing about the center: “Something that does need to change is their marketing to other age groups--people in college or just out of college. I really think they need to [take out ads with] a calendar of events, like the Greek [Theatre in Los Angeles] and the Hollywood Bowl. When I was in college [at USC], the Bowl [would advertise], ‘Bring your [student] IDs and we’ll get you decent seats, and we won’t charge you a lot of money.’ The center tends to have tickets that are probably at the higher end of the price scale.”

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Esther and Mike Shaw

Personal: Esther is 52; Mike is 53. They have 26-year-old twins.

Home: Costa Mesa.

Occupations: Esther is an artist, architectural illustrator and teacher; Mike is a pharmacist.

Film seen recently: “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

Recent book read (by Mike): John Grisham’s “Runaway Jury.”

Last CD purchased: An Everly Brothers CD reissue.

Type of performance preferred: Broadway musicals, jazz, blues. Their daughter’s interest in dance prompted family outings to ballet programs at the center when she was younger; she just received her master’s degree in choreography from Ohio State University.

A favorite performance: Can’t think of one.

Preferred seating: Orchestra, front.

Best thing about the center: Esther: “Architecturally, it’s interesting--flamboyant, if nothing else.”

Mike: “We’ve had all kinds of different seats, and I got a really good view from every one.”

Worst thing about the center: The cost and the programming. Esther: “You can go to a ballgame for $6. [Most center shows] start at $25, and then you’re way at the [back]. . . . We could really afford to go out to the center whenever we felt like it, but there just hasn’t been anything to entice us. My husband likes rhythm and blues, and they don’t usually have that music there. . . . I was in Fort Lauderdale recently, and [the Broward Center for the Performing Arts is] almost identical to ours. . . . I saw Johnny Cash and Family. It was great.” (Cash played OCPAC in 1988, but it was sponsored by an outside promoter.)