Promoter, Center See More Pop in OCPAC’s Future

For the first time in its 13-year history, the Orange County Performing Arts Center is teaming with a major pop and rock concert promoter to bring a star to the lavishly appointed, 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall.

The show, by mellow-pop saxophonist Kenny G on Nov. 28, is being jointly produced by the center, Orange County’s most upscale performing space, and SFX Entertainment, the nation’s biggest concert promoter. The Performing Arts Center and Avalon Attractions, SFX’s Southern California subsidiary, will split evenly any profit or loss on the show, center President Jerry E. Mandel and Avalon Vice President Nick Masters said this week.

Both sides hope this will be the start of a beautiful friendship between a Costa Mesa hall, built primarily for highbrow performing arts and Broadway road shows, and a company that brings high-decibel rock to Irvine Meadows--and every other stripe of pop music to various facilities in the region.

However, unless the center builds a planned 2,000-seat concert hall adjacent to the current facility, such partnering figures to be a rarity. Until a second hall, estimated to cost $200 million, is built, the center must contend with its oft-lamented scheduling squeeze.

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Mandel said shows and rehearsals now occupy the main hall 260 to 270 days a year, leaving few desirable nights for pop acts, and then mainly in the summer, when name pop attractions typically tour in bigger arenas and amphitheaters. Bookings like this weekend’s three-night stand by Julio Iglesias--promoted by the center alone--are a rarity.

“That’s one of the reasons we want to expand the center, so we can do more [pop concerts],” Mandel said.

Masters said he has tried to book shows by Crosby, Stills & Nash, Chicago, Luther Vandross and others into the center over the past few years but until now was unable to match an artist’s touring schedule with an open date.

“It takes a lot of stars in alignment to pull this off,” Mandel said. “I think we can shoehorn some in each year, but for a considerable number we will have to wait for a new building.”

Availability aside, partnering with SFX/Avalon should allow the center to dip into a large reservoir of possible attractions.

“[The center] is capable of buying the shows on their own, but we get more of the everyday calls on these kinds of things,” Masters said. “They’ll see more opportunities than they would on their own. My job is to ferret out shows every day.”

The center offers seating for what Masters called “nice, upscale” shows. “It’s not snooty or stuffy, just a nice place to see a show, with access from three different freeways.”

Masters thinks the Costa Mesa center could be appropriate for classic rock acts, too. Past pop headliners at the center include Iglesias, Ray Charles, Bread and Art Garfunkel, all promoted by the center alone. A show by pop-rock-country star k.d. lang in 1996 has been the center’s most adventurous pop booking to date. Occasionally, pop artists such as James Taylor have sung at the center as guest performers with the Pacific Symphony, a center tenant.

“I would kill to have the Moody Blues there,” Masters said. Elvis Costello, R.E.M. and performers who typically play Lilith Fair also could play the Costa Mesa center; a hard-rocking classic-rock act such as the German pop-metal band Scorpions would not fit the building.

What’s required, he said, is an act with a large fan base willing to pay a premium to see favorites in a fine setting (tickets for Kenny G cost $45 to $75), and a performer willing to downsize, at least occasionally, from arenas and amphitheaters seating at least 15,000 for a more intimate performing experience.

High-profile artists including a solo Bruce Springsteen or Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers have played special engagements in California theaters in recent years as a break from their usual big-venue routines.

“Every time we’ve gotten an artist to play that kind of setting they’ve come away loving it,” Masters said.

SFX/Avalon has exclusive booking rights for pop shows at the 2,200-seat Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles and the 1,800-seat Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, where Kenny G plays the night before his Orange County engagement.

The Orange County area’s most active spot for soft-pop and country music since 1993 has been the 1,850-seat Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. The new, 1,200-seat Sun Theatre in Anaheim also has been competing for name pop attractions that typically play in bigger venues.

The center and SFX have existing business ties in another area: The center gets touring Broadway musicals from Pace Theatrical, a New York City company among the many live-entertainment holdings SFX has acquired during a billion-dollar buying binge over the past three years.

‘ “We would do [pop concerts] with other promoters, sure, if they have a good act and deal,” Mandel said. But familiarity with SFX “helps,” he added. “And Nick Masters is one of the most respected promoters in the country.”