Scene & Heard: Eagerly awaiting Los Angeles Opera’s ‘Ring’ cycle

Considering that “Götterdämmerung” ends Richard Wagner’s epic “Ring,” it was no surprise that conversations after the opera’s April 3 premiere revolved around the next step in L.A. Opera’s two-season encounter with the four operas: its presentations of the entire “Ring” cycle, which will be performed three times starting May 29.

“The city should be very proud,” said actor Michael York at “Götterdämmerung’s” cast party at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. “It’s another cultural pearl in a crown that is growing in weight and beauty.”

Partygoers included the production’s underwriters, Mark Houston Dalzell, Lawrence Kern and Lenore and Bernard Greenberg, along with other major supporters of the “Ring” cycle, including Marc Stern, Marilyn Ziering, Kathy and Frank Baxter, Carol and Warner Henry, Margaret and David Barry, Barbara and Armin Sadoff, Leslie and John Dorman, and Peter and Diane Gray.

From the podium, Plácido Domingo, L.A. Opera’s general director, commended director-designer Achim Freyer; Linda Watson, the opera’s Brünnhilde; John Treleaven, who sang Siegfried; and the other cast members. He said to conductor James Conlon, “After all you have done, this is the icing on the cake.”

The opera is part of a countywide Ring Festival of films, concerts, talks, art exhibitions, theater, a light show and other events between Thursday and June 30.

“We’re taking the opera out from under the chandeliers and bringing it to the people,” said Barry Sanders, the Ring Festival’s leader, who said that 115 cultural and educational organizations have partnered in the endeavor.

O.C. children’s hospital fundraiser

At the CHOC Follies, the annual fundraiser for Children’s Hospital of Orange County, not only does the audience pay for tickets but cast members also have to donate a minimum of $1,000 to perform.

At the April 2 party following “The Wizard of OC,” this year’s production at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Sandy Segerstrom Daniels said, “Once you’ve taken a tour of the hospital, you can understand why we do this.”

A managing partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, which owns South Coast Plaza, Daniels served as one of the event co-chairs, along with Leslie Cancellieri and Dale Skiles. The three played witches, while S. Paul Musco starred as the Wizard. When offstage, Musco is chairman of Gemini Industries.

Although no stage experience is required for the Follies, some cast members had more than a passing acquaintance with the footlights. Juliet Fischer Schulein, a former Radio City Rockette, said, “There are no divas here. No fear. People are all here for the right reasons.”

Founded and produced by publicist Gloria Zigner, the event has raised more than $5 million over its 13-year run, including net proceeds of $600,000 from last weekend. This year’s proceeds will go toward a schoolroom in the hospital’s new patient care tower.

ellen.olivier@society-news.com