From a dime store to big time

“Wait till you see behind this stage,” Johnny Mathis told guests at the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s 30th anniversary Candlelight Concert. “Ho, ho, ho.”

Before his elegant performance in Segerstrom Hall, Mathis had gotten a peek at the behind-the-curtain scene that awaited the hundreds who’d paid $2,500 each to attend the “Winter Wonderland” soiree: a sea of dining tables spread with silk, and topped with white hydrangea topiaries and silver candelabra strung with crystals and frosted snowflakes. And, dangling overhead, another sparkling snowfall.

In a twist on traditional theater gala-going, guests, after enjoying the concert in their auditorium seats, become “performers” as they take their places onstage for a gourmet meal. “After the curtain goes up, and you go onstage, look out at the theater,” Center President Jerry Mandel said as he welcomed the crowd to the Dec. 5 event, chaired by Elizabeth Tierney. “Nothing makes you want to get up and dance and sing more than that. And it’s OK! You can dance and sing if you want to.”

What began as a gathering of center visionaries in a vacant 10-cent store -- the first Candlelight Concert was staged in 1974, 12 years before the Costa Mesa hall opened -- has become one of Orange County’s most sought-after social tickets, annually raising more than $1 million. “I remember the 10-cent store, and it was not the high-fashion elite who attended, it was just a family party,” said John Rau, past center chairman. “When we moved the event to the Disneyland Hotel, we upped the ticket price range from $25 to $100. And when, in the ‘80s, we raised it to $100 across the board, people were saying, ‘My! You’re going pretty steep!’ ”

This year’s gala-goers, many of them snuggled in fur wraps, posed for keepsake photos in the lobby -- transformed into a wintry forest with faux firs and snowbanks -- before tippling bubbly at a cocktail reception and enjoying the private concert. Opening with an upbeat “Winter Wonderland,” Mathis had guests applauding on their feet after he’d sung his ‘50s blockbusters such as “Misty,” “Chances Are” and “It’s Not for Me to Say,” along with holiday chestnuts including “Silver Bells” and “Toyland.”