One for the Money, Tudor for the Show

Looking as if they stepped out of portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger, UC Irvine students on Monday re-created a yuletide feast celebrated by King Henry VIII.

They sang, danced and served Renaissance-style fare at the annual Madrigal Dinner on campus at the Claire Trevor Bren Theatre.

The benefit performance--one of eight scheduled through Sunday--raised funds for a planned trip in June to Hungary, where students of voice will compete in the Bela Bartok International Choral Competition.

“We came in second four years ago--missed winning the competition by one point,” said Joseph Huszti, UCI choral and vocal director. “To go, we need to raise $125,000.”

The Madrigal Dinner was founded 22 years ago to teach students about music’s place in history, explained Melinda Huszti, who originated the production with her husband, Joseph. “They understand how rap fits into today, but this helps them understand how music fit in to the costumes, dances and food of the Tudor era.”

Graduate student Eveline Eng, assistant to Joseph Huszti, called the experience a “wonderful time of music and food.”

Melinda Huszti worked with the students to create the authentic 17th century costumes and ornate accessories worn in the show. “It’s very difficult trying to make Renaissance pieces out of modern costume jewelry,” Melinda observed.

To solve the problem, she uses everything from soup-can lids to metal belts to make the medallions and heavy neck chains that were characteristic of the era. The wildly enthusiastic crowd appreciated the effort.

“People return to this show year after year,” Joseph Huszti said. “They say it helps them get in the holiday spirit.”

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Making a Million

Supporters of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa took center stage at its 26th Candlelight Concert.

About 450 guests--many of them swathed in fur to ward off the winter chill--sipped cocktails and sampled appetizers on the second floor lobby before going onstage to enjoy osso buco prepared by the Four Seasons hotel in Newport Beach.

Entertainment included performances by Broadway singer Linda Eder and the William Hall Master Chorale.

Net proceeds from Friday’s black-tie gala, where tables of 10 went for $25,000 to $50,000 each: $1 million. “This has become the social event of the year,” said gala chairwoman Dotti Stillwell, who wore a silver satin ball gown topped with a lace jacket. “People really want to come. We moved most of our tables before April.”

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The buzz: the recent donation of six acres of former farmland--valued at $16 million--by the Segerstrom family to expand the Costa Mesa cultural complex that includes the center.

“Tonight is not only a celebration of this hall, but of its great future,” center President Jerry Mandel said. “Next, we start on our campaign to build a 2,000-seat concert hall and 500-seat musical hall and make this the greatest performing arts center in America.”

Center Chairman Roger Kirwan told guests that the land was an early holiday gift for arts lovers. “Thanks to the Segerstrom family, we can now go forward and build the concert and music hall we’ve talked about. . . . Join me in thanking the Segerstroms for the wonderful gift they have given us.”

Guests applauded members of the Segerstrom family, who included Jeanette Segerstrom, and Henry and Renee Segerstrom.

Pat Rypinski was gala co-chairwoman. Committee members included Ronnie Allumbaugh, Marsha Anderson, Judie Argyros, Barbara Glabman, Joyce Tucker, Mary Jean Simpkins, Stacey Nicholas and Susan Strader.

Gala underwriters were Henry and Renee Segerstrom, Kirwan and his wife, Gail, John and Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, Kristina and Larry Dodge, Barbara and Mark Johnson, and Stillwell.

Casino Night

Celebrating a decade of improving the quality of life for the mentally ill, the John Henry Foundation staged a benefit casino night at Village Crean in Santa Ana Heights on Saturday that netted $50,000.

The proceeds will be used for the foundation’s programs in the areas of affordable housing, medical care, vocational training, job placement and support for adults with serious and chronic mental illness.

Among guests was psychiatrist Rick Massimino, who said he founded the Garden Grove-based organization 10 years ago to “offer comprehensive, integrated, rehabilitative services for the chronically mentally ill.

“We are a nonprofit, entrepreneurial enterprise that is doing for the mentally ill what the public health care sector does not.”

The response from the public health care system and the private community toward the medical and social challenges of the mentally ill has “been abysmal,” Massimino added. “And that is the greatest social, political and economic failure in this country.”

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Ann Conway can be reached at (714) 966-5952 or by e-mail at Ann.Conway@LATimes.com.