Taking a Dive in O.C.’s Fight Against AIDS

Radiant and drenched, stars of the 13th annual Big Splash--a benefit for the AIDS Services Foundation Orange County--flashed giddy smiles as they took bows last week following a dress rehearsal of “Splashin’ Out to Sea: The All Salt Water Musical.”

They’d sailed through without a hitch.

Performing in and around the pool at the hilltop home of Ken Jillson and Al Roberts of Laguna Beach, the cast--some of whom lip-synced to voice-overs by Cher, Walter Matthau, Phyllis Diller and Merv Griffin--spoofed the film “Titanic” and otherwise got soaked during the campy musical that had three performances over the past weekend.

With the facade of a ship as a backdrop, the volunteer actors and actresses performed everything from wacky water ballet numbers to sophisticated dance routines.

A few highlights:

* A sequence in which “Rose” and “Jack” of “Titanic” fame--swayed atop a box instead of a ship’s bow, his hands over her eyes--re-create the famous “flying” scene from the Academy Award-winning flick.

* A scene in which Titanic survivors--wearing life vests as they bobbed helplessly in the “ocean”--use the opportunity to perform a water ballet routine.

* A sequence in which a lazy shipboard aerobics instructor--with Cher’s voice--gave passengers the once-over then tells them she hadn’t “seen that much beef laid out since the midnight buffet.”

“When we started this show 12 years ago, it was nine minutes long and we made $33,000,” said Jillson, the show’s writer and director. “It was just a little routine by the pool.”

The new production, which was viewed by about 1,000 supporters, lasted 80 minutes and netted more than $400,000. “Our total contribution to the foundation is over $3.5 million,” said Jillson, a member of the foundation board.

Is the show ready to expand?

“Not in terms of venue,” Jillson said. “There’s something special about an ordinary backyard that creates a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland, summer-stock kind of thing. But someday we may increase the prices.”

Tickets for Friday and Saturday’s performances sold for $50 and up. Tickets to Sunday’s show--which included a gourmet dinner--went for $250 and up.

Performers included Kay Hunter, 82, of Huntington Beach, a silver-haired beauty who played one of the smartly dressed first-class passengers boarding the Titanic.

Hunter lost her only son, Bill Hunter, 44--a former foundation board member--to AIDS four years ago.

“When he left, I thought my life was over because I don’t have any other family,” Hunter said. “But then Ken [Jillson] called and asked me if I’d like to be in ‘Splash.’ I told him I’d rather be in the cast than out in the audience, crying.

“Doing this has given me a lifeline,” she said. “It’s wonderful to know that I can help those who are living with AIDS to have a better life.”

The foundation provides about 900 AIDS patients with counseling, legal and medical referrals, transportation, food delivery, home and hospital visits, and support when they seek employment.

“Each year, we gain a larger client load,” said Priscilla Munro, executive director of the foundation. “They stay on our caseload because they don’t necessarily get well enough to get off.”

Patients whose treatment regimen fails walso are served by the foundation. “We have a huge number of patients right now in our hospice program,” Munro said. “When they crash, they crash quickly.”

*

Celebrating 20 years: The property across from the Orange County Performing Arts Center that will someday be the site of its new concert hall has been chosen as the location for the Pacific Symphony’s gala ball May 15. Speaking at a luncheon for the ball committee at Pinot Provence restaurant in Costa Mesa, Sharon Lesk--ball co-chairwoman with Jo Ellen Qualls of Tiffany & Co.--told the crowd that the gala will be tented and have a black-and-white theme. “We’re calling it ‘Celebrating 20 Years in the 20th Century,’ ” Lesk said. Ball organizers are hoping for net proceeds of about $500,000.

*

Correct date: The date of Opera Pacific’s gala tribute to founder David DiChiera at the Four Seasons hotel is Nov. 14.