Staging a Laguna Pageant of 20th Century Masters

Arrivederci, Da Vinci. Hello, Dali.

This year, the Pageant of the Masters’ director is shelving “The Last Supper,” which has closed the show for all but one of its 67 seasons, and ending with “The Sacrament of the Last Supper” (1955) by surrealist painter Salvador Dali.

After experimenting with contemporary music and special effects in recent editions of the Laguna Beach production, director Diane Challis Davy is pushing further out on her artistic limb.

She’s setting a theme for each production, and this year she chose “The 20th Century: Ten Decades of Art.” That means Renaissance and other masterpieces will make way for a salute to this century.

It’s a bold move for the decades-old Orange County institution that depicts works of art and sculpture in tableau using props and costumed models. The Pageant of the Masters, which begins Wednesday, is the centerpiece of Laguna’s summer arts celebrations that includes the just-opened Sawdust Festival and the Art-A-Fair (through Aug. 29).

For many pageant regulars, Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” is a welcome link with the past and the essence of the tableau vivant experience. For some, seeing the masterwork on stage as big as life borders on a religious experience. Is Challis Davy expecting an outcry of biblical proportions?

“I do expect to hear from our audience,” she said. “They’ve been pretty vocal in the past about what they like and what they don’t like, and I know a lot of patrons will be disappointed. But I hope they’ll have an open mind. I feel strongly that this [the Dali] is a spiritual painting.”

In the Dali work, Jesus is flanked by his disciples, but only the face of Christ is visible; the others have their heads bowed. Behind them is an outdoor scene as viewed through what appears to be a many-sided glass structure. Hovering over it all is the torso of a man, his arms outstretched. Clearly it’s less accessible than Da Vinci’s work.

The only other year the pageant didn’t end with Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” was 1973, when the finale was Titian’s interpretation of the same scene. “I can only imagine it was not successful, because they brought Da Vinci back the next year,” Challis Davy said.

The director tinkered with “The Last Supper” as recently as last year, when the traditional Da Vinci work was accompanied by a depiction of the “Christ the Redeemer” statue that rises above Rio de Janeiro.

“We sent a cast member up a fire road, so the sculpture was really overlooking the audience,” Challis Davy said. “I felt it was spectacular, but some may have felt it was too much of a religious statement. There were a few negative letters.”

Challis Davy hopes that traditionalists will be placated by her pledge to bring the Da Vinci back in 2000. “I have no burning desire to do away with “The Last Supper’; it’s our signature piece,” she said. “But if there were ever an appropriate time to use something different, this is the time.”

Doing something different was Challis Davy’s goal in 1996, when she took over the pageant’s helm. Attendance was declining, and some thought the show an anachronism.

“Some people were seeing the show only every five years or so,” Challis Davy said. “My goal is to get them to come every year so they don’t miss anything.”

She quickened the pageant’s pace and updated the music, adding live vocals. She incorporated special effects and multimedia touches. The reward has been a rise in revenue and attendance; last season was the best attended this decade.

This year, she also took the show on the road for the first time to Las Vegas. The troupe presented five tableaux during an employee party for the Bellagio Group at the Mirage hotel in February. The right location and scheduling made the one-night stand possible, Challis Davy said, but she doesn’t expect such off-season shows to become common.

“We get requests to take it on the road, but it’s not that simple,” she said. “The pageant takes a full year to produce.”

This year’s show is the first in more than 40 years to include dance. The pageant opens with a solo dancer reenacting a scarf dance made famous by American Loie Fuller in the early 1900s.

It kicks off an ambitious attempt to “tell the story of the 20th century, using the art images of the era as illustrations for that story,” Challis Davy said.

Program subjects include car hood ornaments, World War II pinup girls, rock ‘n’ roll stars and Apollo 11 astronauts. Thirty-one of the 43 works are American, but Challis Davy makes no apologies.

“When you look at the major milestones, the discoveries--light, the automobile, landing on the moon--they’re all associated with America,” she said. Artists range from John Singer Sargent and Edward Hopper to David Hockney and Pablo Picasso. Picasso? Talk about ambitious.

“We couldn’t have a show that pays tribute to the 20th century without something as abstract as this piece,” Challis Davy said, “although I think the costume department thought I was nutty. We ended up turning the costumes almost into armor.”

Frank Daniel, who will portray Christ in the Dali finale, doesn’t think he’ll need protective gear.

The Laguna Beach pharmacist, who for all but a few of the last 14 years has played Jesus in Da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” figures many in the audience will enjoy the switch to Dali.

“I like it,” Daniel said. “It’s brighter and more colorful.”

However, Daniel will be glad to return to his old setting. He misses the 17 cast members who divided roles in the Da Vinci but weren’t cast in the Dali, mainly because they weren’t the right size and the work has fewer figures. “The Da Vinci is the way I picture ‘The Last Supper,’ ” Daniel said.

“I guess I’m a traditionalist, too.”

* Pageant of the Masters, Irvine Bowl, 650 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. 8:30 nightly Wednesday-Aug. 28. $10-$50. (949) 497-6582 or (800) 487-3378.

* Sawdust Festival, 935 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Annual summer art festival features work by more than 200 artists, as well as artists’ demonstrations and workshops, continuous live music, singing, comedy, storytelling and food booths, all set amid a eucalyptus grove and gardens. Open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily to Aug. 29. $2-$6. (949) 494-3030.

* The 33rd Annual Art-A-Fair Festival, 777 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, features work by more than 130 artists, including crafts, paintings and drawings in every media, photography, sculpture, printmaking and more. Includes demonstrations and workshops in painting, ceramics, papier-ma^che, photography and other skills. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Continues every Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., and Friday-Saturday 10 a.m.-10 p.m. through Aug. 29. $3-$5. (949) 494-4514.

* Artwalk, shuttle from Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach. More than 30 galleries throughout downtown Laguna Beach will be open with fine art displays, demonstrations, lectures and refreshments. 6-9 p.m. First Thursday of each month. Free. (949) 497-0722.

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More on the Festival: * For a complete guide to the Laguna Beach art festivals, visit Calendar Live! at https://www.calendarlive.com