Pageant of the Masters

Mark your calendar for next July and August. It makes such a nice outing to go to The Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach. It's true. You can't find a more beautiful place to be on a summer day. The Festival of Arts is an outdoor gallery in Orange County, nestled in the canyon and only a few blocks from the ocean in Laguna Beach, one of the most picturesque places in the world.

Feeling the effects of the Great Depression and hoping to attract the attention of visitors attending the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, a group of Laguna Beach artists came together to host the first Festival of Arts. They turned Laguna into one enormous art gallery, selling their artwork along the main street. The inaugural Festival was a huge success.

Over 75 years later, the Festival of Arts has grown into a world-renowned cultural institution famous for its fine art show and the Pageant of the Masters, which draws visitors from around the world. It had been years since I had seen the "living pictures," the Pageant of the Masters, where works of art are portrayed on a large stage with painted backdrops, live music and narration. It takes many wonderful volunteers to maintain that stillness in recreating these remarkable works of art. It's a tradition that they end the program with The Last Supper. Tickets to the Pageant should be purchased about a year in advance. It's always a sellout.

This year's theme, All the World's a Stage, paid homage to the works of William Shakespheare. The artwork of Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Joshua Reynolds were presented, as well as Everett Shinn's painting, "Footlight Flirtation." Also incorporated into the evening was the Italian commedia dell'arte troupe .

Since I had recently attended a two-day workshop with Patsy Rodenburg, one of the world's leading voice and acting coaches, who was voice coach at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London for a number of years, I found the chosen masterpieces particularly interesting. More on Patsy in my next post.

The Irvine Bowl on the Festival grounds holds 2,600, and it was sold-out as usual the evening I attended. The Festival runs through the end of August. If you get there early, you can walk the shops on Pacific Coast Highway and the surrounding streets. There are lots of great restaurants along the way to enjoy as well.