Brian McKnight sang "America the Beautiful," while Victor Vener led the California Philharmonic in McKnight's arrangement. -Photo by Bill Peters

A good-sized audience turned out for the opening concert of the California Philharmonic Orchestra’s 15th year to hear “America the Beautiful” as a pre-July 4 tribute in a highly entertaining program chocked full of a variety of musical forms. Everything on the program had an American platform, including, as Cal Phil’s conductor, Victor Vener explained, Tchaikovsky’s “1812″ Overture, a war that America was deeply involved with.
Vener led a disciplined orchestra through mostly repeated music that had been heard one or more times throughout the 15 year history of the Festival on the Green held at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Gardens in Arcadia. New to the Cal Phil stage was singer/actor/composer Brian McKnight and a playing of William Schuman’s “New England Triptych”. A returning guest artist was Bryan Pezzone who soloed in George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”.
After a sluggish opening with a rather plodding version of Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” (that left the conductor with the duty of, as he remarked, waking up the audience from their after-picnic stupor) Vener raised the bar with a snappy take on Sousa’s “Hands Across the Sea”.
McKnight appeared three times on the program: to sing his arrangement of “America the Beautiful”, narrate the “Lincoln Portrait” and a solo spot with him singing at the piano. McKnight is a distinguished, dapper fellow whose arresting charm melted the audience with his warmth. He possesses a pleasant voice but his self-accompaniment at the piano during a three-song set demonstrated his unusual keyboard talent. He is as close to Art Tatum’s playing that I believe I have ever heard.
With a completely different style, Bryan Pezzone soloed in George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. Pezzone presented the piece in a distinctive jazz nuanced interpretation. He has done this before—in 1999 at Pasadena Pops under Jorge Mester and in 2005 with California Philharmonic, but those turned out to be quirky. This time, with firmness, Pezzone lovingly addressed the jazz-tinged chords and added a new twist, a cadenza, that refreshened the well-known music and updated it. Opening clarinet by principal clarinetist Michael Arnold set the mood well. Vener’s slower tempo seemed right for Pezzone’s style.
The orchestra was on target with “New England Triptych”. A playing of a small portion of Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and the finale piece, “1812″ Overture, fell to a seeming mix-up of signals between conductor and orchestra leading to some less than pristine sections. The evening finished with bright fireworks sending a happy audience homeward. Vener invited everyone to return to the Festival on the Green or to Walt Disney Concert Hall for their next program, “Andrew Lloyd Webber Goes to Italy” on Saturday, July 10 and Sunday, July 11. Guest artists Angel Blue, Mathew Edwardsen, Ralph Cato, Emily Dyer and the Cal Phil Chorale will perform the music of Webber, Puccini and Verdi.

A new production of
MISS SAIGON
Saturday, May 1st, 2pm and 8pm

Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg
Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil
Adapted from the original French lyrics by Alain Boublil
Additional Material by Richard Maltby Jr.
Orchestrations by William D. Brohn

SGVMT Creative Team

Bobby Hundley Ray A. Rochelle Rikki Lugo Richard Allen
Producer Director Choreographer Music Director

Originally produced on the stage by CAMERON MACKINTOSH

* This production licensed by Josef Weinberger Ltd on behalf of Music Theatre International and CAMERON MACKINTOSH LTD.*

Miss Saigon, the epic “award winning” Broadway hit musical tells of the tragic romance between a strong-willed Vietnamese girl and an American G.I. during the last days of the Vietnam War. This special benefit production will be performed in its entirety featuring a 24 piece orchestra onstage.

Directed by award winning director/actor/choreographer Ray A. Rochelle (Miss Saigon First National Company, Choreographer/Associate Director: F.C.L.O. – 2005 LA Ovation Award-Best Musical, nomination Best Choreography.) Music Director Richard Allen, Choreographer Rikki Lugo. Produced by Bobby Hundley (2004 A.D.A Award – Best play revival comedy Moonchildren)

Onstage at the historic San Gabriel Mission Playhouse for two performances only! Call 626-282-1440 or email: sgvmtboxoffice@earthlink.net

In April 1975 at “Dreamland”, a sleazy Vietnamese club, shortly before the Fall of Saigon, it is Kim’s first day as a bargirl. The seventeen-year-old orphan is greeted by the Engineer, a French-Vietnamese man who owns the club. Backstage, the girls get ready for the night’s show, jeering at Kim’s naïveté (“Overture”).American Marines, aware that they will be leaving Vietnam soon, party with the Vietnamese prostitutes at the club (“The Heat Is On In Saigon”). Chris, a Sergeant disenchanted by the club scene, is encouraged by his friend John to go with a girl. The girls compete for the title of “Miss Saigon”, and the winner is raffled to a Marine. Kim’s innocence strikes Chris. Gigi Van Trahn wins the crown for the evening and begs the marine who won the raffle to take her back to America, annoying him. The showgirls reflect on their dreams of a better life (“Movie In My Mind”). John buys a room from the Engineer for the virgin Kim and Chris (“The Transaction”). Kim is reluctant and shy, being a prostitute for the first time, but dances with Chris. Chris tries to pay her off to leave the nightclub. When the Engineer interferes, thinking that Chris doesn’t like Kim, Chris allows himself to be led to her room (“The Dance”).
Chris, watching Kim sleep, asks God why he met her just as he was about to leave Vietnam (“Why God Why?”). When Kim wakes up, Chris tries to give her money, but she refuses, saying that it is her first time sleeping with a man (“This Money’s Yours”). Touched to learn that Kim is an orphan, Chris tells her that she need not sell herself at the club, because he wants her to stay with him. The two pledge their love for each other (“Sun and Moon”). Chris tells John that he is taking leave to spend time with Kim. John warns him that the Viet Cong will soon assume control of Saigon, but John reluctantly agrees to cover for Chris (“The Telephone Song”). Chris meets up with the Engineer to trade for Kim, but the Engineer tries to weasel an America visa into the deal. Chris forces the Engineer at gunpoint to honor the original arrangement for Kim (“The Deal”).
The bargirls hold a “wedding ceremony” for Chris and Kim (“Dju Vui Vai”), with Gigi toasting Kim as the “real” Miss Saigon.

Thuy, Kim’s cousin to whom she was betrothed at thirteen, arrives to take her home. He has become an officer in the North Vietnamese Army and is angered to find her with Chris (“Thuy’s Arrival”). The two men confront each other, drawing their guns. Kim tells Thuy that their arranged marriage is now null because her parents are dead, and she no longer harbors any feelings for him because of his betrayal. Thuy curses them all and storms out. Chris promises to take Kim with him when he leaves Vietnam. Chris and Kim dance to the same song as on their first night (“Last Night of The World”).
Three years pass, and in Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City), a street festival is taking place to celebrate the third anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam and the defeat of the Americans (“Morning of The Dragon,” also called “The Fall of Saigon”). Thuy, a commissar in the new government, has ordered his soldiers to find the still-corrupt Engineer. Thuy orders the Engineer to find Kim and bring her to him. Kim is still in love with Chris and has been hiding in an impoverished area believing that Chris will come back to Vietnam to rescue her. Meanwhile, Chris is in bed with his new American wife, Ellen, when he awakens from a dream shouting Kim’s name. Ellen and Kim both swear their devotion to Chris from opposite ends of the world (“I Still Believe”).

The Engineer finds Kim and brings Thuy to her. Kim refuses Thuy’s renewed offer of marriage and introduces him to Tam, her three-year-old son fathered by Chris. Thuy calls Kim a traitor and Tam an enemy, and moves to kill Tam with a knife. Kim pulls out Chris’s gun and shoots Thuy (“You Will Not Touch Him”). Thuy dies, with Kim weeping and cradling his body. She flees with Tam (“This Is The Hour”) and tells the Engineer what she has done (“If You Want to Die in Bed”). The Engineer refuses to help her until he learns that Tam’s father is American (“Let Me See His Western Nose”) – perhaps this is his passport to the United States. He tells Kim that now he is the boy’s uncle, and he will lead them to Bangkok. The three set out on a ship with other refugees (“I’d Give My Life for You”).
Act 2
In Atlanta, Georgia, John now works for an aid organization whose mission is to connect Bui-Doi (children conceived during the war) with their American fathers (“Bui Doi”). John tells Chris that Kim is still alive, which Chris is relieved to hear after years of having nightmares of her dying. He also tells Chris about Tam and urges Chris to go to Bangkok with Ellen. Chris finally tells Ellen about Kim and Tam (“The Revelation”). In Bangkok, the Engineer is hawking a sleazy club where Kim works as a dancer (“What A Waste”). Chris, Ellen and John arrive in search of Kim. John finds them, and Kim is thrilled to hear that Chris is in Bangkok. John tries to tell her that Chris is remarried, but Kim interrupts, believing that she is to go to America with Chris. John cannot break the news to her, but promises to bring Chris to her (“Please”).
The Engineer tells Kim to find Chris herself, because he doubts that Chris will come (“Chris Is Here”). Kim is haunted by the ghost of Thuy, who taunts Kim, claiming that Chris will betray her as he did the night Saigon fell. Kim suffers a horrible flashback to that night (“Kim’s Nightmare”): As the Viet Cong approach and Saigon becomes increasingly chaotic, Chris is called to the embassy and leaves his gun with Kim, telling her to pack. When Chris enters the embassy, the gates close, as orders arrive from Washington for an immediate evacuation of the remaining Americans. The Ambassador orders that no more Vietnamese are allowed into the Embassy. Kim reaches the gates of the Embassy, one of a mob of terrified Vietnamese trying to get in. Chris calls to Kim and is about to go into the crowd to look for her, but John is eventually forced to punch Chris in the face to stop him from leaving. Chris is put into the last helicopter leaving Saigon as Kim watches from outside, still pledging her love to him (“The fall of Saigon”).
Back in 1978 Bangkok, Kim joyfully dresses in her wedding clothes (“Sun and Moon: Reprise”) and goes to Chris’s hotel room, where she finds Ellen, who reveals that she is Chris’s wife. Kim is heartbroken and refuses to believe Ellen. Ellen also refuses to take Tam to the U.S., saying that Tam needs his real mother, and Ellen wants her own children with Chris. Kim demands that Chris tell her these things in person (“Room 317″). Ellen feels bad for Kim, but is determined to keep Chris (“It’s Her or Me”). Chris returns, having failed to find Kim, and Ellen issues an ultimatum: Kim or her. Chris reassures Ellen, and they pledge their love for each other. Chris will leave Tam and Kim in Bangkok but offer them monetary support from America. John warns that Kim will not find it acceptable to have Tam stay in Thailand (“The Confrontation”). Kim lies to the Engineer that they are still going to America (“Paper Dragons”). The Engineer imagines the extravagant new life he will lead in America (“The American Dream”).
Kim tells Tam that he should be happy because he now has a father. She tells him that she will be watching over him (“The Sacred Bird”/”Little God Of My Heart”). She steps behind a curtain and shoots herself. Chris, Ellen, the Engineer and John all rush into the room at the sound of the gunshot and find Kim mortally wounded. Chris holds Kim in his arms as she explains that the gods have guided him to his son. Chris begs her not to die, as she asks him to hold her one last time, and she dies in his arms (“Finale”).
On October 21, 2009, a film version of the musical was reported to be in “early stages of development”. Producer Paula Wagner was reported to be teaming with the original musical producer Cameron Mackintosh to create a film version of the musical. Director Lee Daniels has mentioned directing the film version as a possible future project. A screenwriter is currently being sought, with the hope of a 2011 release.[15] Filming locations are said to be Cambodia and quite possibly Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon). No casting has been mentioned but speculation states that the producers will be seeking an unknown for the lead role of Kim.

The San Gabriel Valley Music Theatre is a newly formed Theatrical Company, dedicated to bringing you The Best of Broadway. SGVMT is committed to preserving and presenting the unique American art form called Musical Theatre. Located in the historic Mission District, the beautiful and stunningly elegant San Gabriel Mission Playhouse is just the right setting to showcase the world’s greatest musicals. The sightlines for the audience are flawless, especially the exclusive, terrace box seats, which cater to the most discriminating patron. Audiences can always expect to see the magic of the theatre come alive on the Playhouse’s legendary stage.
SGVMT is 25% of the Way towards meeting our Fundraising Goals. Help Us make it the rest of the way by joining our exclusive donor club and receive exclusive benefits.
For details call 626-282-1440

By Natalie Avakian

There is something awe-inspiring about dance and art – the undeniable fascination of people creating an ethereal world through imagination for the sake of feeling good and producing beauty. This ethereal world of dance and art is housed by institutions who want to preserve the arts in our communities that seem to be dwindling due to the budget crisis. The Los Angeles Unified School District plans to eliminate nearly 50% of the Art Teachers (dance, music-general/vocal, instrumental, theatre, visual arts), for the 2010-2011 school year; not to mention the art and dance clubs that are closing down because of the crisis. However, there are still those who wish to preserve the arts and create a safe place to watch it grow. The Arts Studio, founded by Milly and Frank in Arcadia, CA, is the type of establishment that plans to do just that.

Milly and Frank Yang, new studio owners, have combined their passion for art and dance to form the Arts studio where they hope to create a warm, friendly environment for the community to explore their talents. The Studio offers the Japanese Floral Arrangement Art of Ikenobo, Ballroom, Latin, Salsa, Hip Hop, Ballet, Break Dance, Painting, Glass Blowing, Zumba Fitness, Latin Fitness, Ballroom Blast, Belly Dance, Ballet/Tap for kids, Yoga and more. Group classes and private lessons are offered for adults and children. “We want to create a safe and lively place for all the people who live in this community, and who have a passion to pursue their dreams. We want to contribute to the beauty of this area and keep the neighborhood healthy and happy,” Milly says.
April 18th marks the day of their much anticipated Art Showcase, a debut event of all the talented artists that will be teaching and demonstrating their craft. Roy Gould, Chris Hogan, Ruth Read, Frank Yang are a few of the artists that will attend this night.
Roderick Smith, one of the art instructors will be offering a two day course on the art of “travel sketching in watercolor”. This will be a two part program with a slide presentation of his five week watercolor journey to Alaska. The class includes an introduction to painting materials followed by a watercolor sketching day trip to the Arboretum. The workshop is designed to help individuals learn the techniques and means to enjoy watercolor sketching on their next travel adventure.
Christine Hogan, renowned artist and instructor, will be demonstrating floral paintings. In addition to her national claim, Chris has received recognition from foreign galleries. She has also exhibited at the Sen Memorial Gallery in Taiwan, and at the Shanghai Art Museum in Shanghai, China.

Roy Gould will be demonstrating how to use Max Oil paints for landscape painting. Roy began making beautiful landscape paintings from his slides and photographs taken while backpacking and mountain climbing in the High Sierras. Roy belongs to the Southern California Plein Air Painters Association (SOCALPAPA), in San Gabriel Fine Arts Assn., T.E.A.M., a national group of art instructors, and is a certified Master Instructor by Alexander Art. Roy is a teaching partner with Chartpak, makers of the environmentally friendly Grumbacher Max Oil (Water Mixable Oil Color) paints and brushes.
For those that have heard this brand for the first time, Grumbacher Max Oil (Water Mixable Oil Color) is a new type of paint that has no hazardous solvents, no harmful vapors or odors, and can be cleaned up with plain old water. Chris Hogan will demonstrate floral painting and will introduce her new class where she teaches students how to paint with only three colors plus white using Max Oil (WMOC). Roy Gould will be demonstrating and teaching landscape painting using Max Oil (WMOC).
Ruth Read, winner of numerous awards as well as self-taught painter and photographer, is one of the artists that will display her work for the showcase. Ruth is a dear friend of the studio owners and wants people to stop in and see this unique space. “I want people to take this opportunity to get together in this beautiful studio and talk one-on-one with the teachers. People may even want to sign up for these exciting workshops. Arcadia is now the artists place to be.”
So whether you are an artist, a dancer, or an enthusiast, come by and enjoy this free art show and festival showcasing a wide variety of creative expression, including an art gallery, artist demonstrations, children’s art workshops, entertainment, refreshments, hors d’oeuvres, and more. Milly and Frank invite the whole community to come and take part in this free and exciting night. “This gives the community a chance to ask questions, know the teachers, socialize, and best of all it is free to the public!” Frank says.
Call for registration. Free Art Showcase April 18 from 1pm-4pm. Milly/Frank Arts Studio 120 E. Live Oak Ave Arcadia, Ca 91006 Tel: (626) 348-2008 Cell: (626) 673-0697 millyfrankstudio@yahoo.com www.ruthsartgallery.com/milly_frank_studio.htm

An exhibit in the Business Wing at Central Pasadena Library will feature paintings inspired by the people and cultures of Ghana, West Africa. Landscapes and still lifes by local artist Isaac Kobla Gavor feature vivid colors inspired by the traditions, beliefs, and daily ways of life in his home country.

Gavor was born in 1984 in the village of Vakpo, located in Ghana’s Volta Region. Starting at age six, Isaac helped support himself and his family by farming and harvesting maize, cassava, yam and beets. The local primary school offered a drawing period and exposed Isaac to illustrations in storybooks and newspapers. Isaac’s love for drawing began and if he was not drawing at school, he was sketching at home.

Art materials were not readily available in Vakpo, so Isaac collected charcoal from burned firewood and his mother brought cardboard from the local market on which her son could draw. At age sixteen, Isaac saw a painting of an African woman holding a baby on her back and balancing a pot on top of her head. Village life in Ghana’s Volta region inspired sketching of clay houses, trees, fishes, figures, festivals, chieftaincy rituals, farming and childrearing.
Acrylic and oil paintings on canvas on view April 1-30, 2010 in the Business Wing at Central Library and May 1-31, 2010 in the Humanities and Business Wings at Central Library. The Pasadena Public Library is located at 285 E. Walnut St. For more information, call the library at (626) 744-4062 or visit www.igavorart.com/

Cruz, Francesca, Kristen and Humas were just four of the small group of Anarchists who helped organize the picnic Saturday afternoon.
Photo by Terry Miller

As thousands of people began to descend on Sierra Madre this past weekend to pay homage to an old Wistaria Vine on Hermosa, a handful of young people gathered in Memorial park for what they consider a great deal more important – awareness of history and the power of the people.
With May Day approaching fast, these people who call themselves Anarchists use the holiday as a remembrance. The group recalls when the State put anarchism itself on trial. In 1886 the line was drawn and the US radicals lost their innocence.
These young individuals from all over the state of California believe Mayday is a celebration of anarchism, the history of defiance and feel that the Labor Day holiday was used as a distraction to deter citizens from the radical history of labor.
Several individuals were condemned and hanged for being anarchists in the nineteenth century: George Engle, Louis Lingg and Adolph Fisher ( according to the New York Times 11/11/1886) wrote an open letter to then Governor Oglesby refusing “any commutation of sentence short of liberty and declaring unabated faith in the principles of Anarchy.”

Cruz, Francesca, Kristen and Humas were just four of the small group that handed out literature and held informal discussions and workshops on Saturday afternoon. Cruz thanked the Sierra Madre Weekly for accurately covering the event and its goals when another paper The Pasadena Weekly, in fact, “made a mockery” of the group’s hopes and aspirations in a recent edition.
Concerned that the police were watching this small, harmless group…it was pointed out that the Police Dept. is right next to the park so the constant appearance of police vehicles was probably due to this simple fact and not surveillance.
Anarchists make revolutions, not war: This is a proclamation on one of the handouts we received on Saturday in Memorial Park from the group that held poetry readings, music reminiscent of the 1960′s.
Ben Franklin said: ” A scoundrel’s worst fear is a society without money: for in such a society he would only get the respect he deserves.” This quote is often used in anarchist literature as anarchists use democracy – but they don’t let democracy use them.
For more information on this particular group contact their facebook page: Windchime House.
“Windchime is a collective group that hosts, supports, and creates radical events for the sake of spreading anarchism and destroying all systems of oppression.”
The group plans on meeting once a month.

The Pasadena Independent toured the new broadcast headquarters of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), The Mohn Broadcast Center & Crawford Family Forum Thursday morning .
The Public Radio facilities which used to call PCC home are now a far cry from their humble beginnings.

The 35,000 square-foot building includes new studios, a generous sized news roomcomplete with latest technologies, and the Forum, designed for town hall-type meetings Bill Davis, President and CEO of SCPR, and radio personalities Larry Mantle and Patt Morrison are part of the SCPR family.

SCPR broadcasts from 89.3 KPCC-FM (Los Angeles and Orange County); 89.1 KUOR-FM (Riverside); and 90.3 KPCV-PM (Coachella Valley).
The $26 million dollar project was made possible in part by $8.5 million in gifts

Photos by Terry Miller

Three Vivaldi numbers will be performed with soloists in each: violinists Melissa Phelps, Yi-Huan Zhao, Adnrew McIntosh and Andrew Tholl in Concerto for four violins; flutist Salpy Kerkonian in his Flute Concerto; and lutenist Michel Kudirka in the Lute Concerto. Two by Bach to be played will be an orchestral version of Preline in B-minor from the “Well Tempered Clavier” and the “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 3. The relatively modern Villa-Lobos pieces will be Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 and No. 9.

Tickets are $26, $20 and $7 for youth, age 17 and under. Occidental College, Thorne Hall is at 1600 Campus Rd., Los Angeles. For information, please call (323) 259-3011.

Pasadena may have the Tournament of Roses, Arcadia may boast of being the home of the Rose Queens and Sierra Madre may have a prize winning float, but what’s a parade without a band? That’s were Monrovia comes into the picture.  Well, maybe not this year, but the first band ever entered in the Rose Parade was from Monrovia, way back in 1891.

Monrovia’s City Band was founded just 18 months before the parade, in June of 1889.  At that time the band was a bit heavy on horns featuring five Cornets, three Alto, two Tenor, one Baritone and two Bass Horns (in different keys) and light on reeds, having only one Piccolo and one Clarinet.  The band was kept in tempo with one snare drum, one bass drum and a cymbalist.

By the time of this formal portrait, the group had grown to include two clarinets and a couple of trombones.
There may more glamour in what other cities provide, but Monrovia can take pride in its historic addition to the January 1st tradition.

The oldest-living Rose Queen, 88-year-old Margaret Main, the 1940 Rose Queen, and Sally Rabsaman, the 1941 Rose Queen, were just two of the former Queens giving their advice to the freshman Queen Natalie at the annual event. 100 people attended the luncheon, including 35 former Rose Queens.

Collages of pictures of former queens were spread throughout the Tournament House, including photos of Hallie Woods, the first Rose Queen in 1905.

The ladies posed for photographs before lunch. We asked Margaret Main what was the biggest different between her Reign and the present day parade.  She replied “There are a lot more people and cameras now.”  Of Course, during 1940, television coverage of the parade was non-existent; the technology having just begun to take hold with the broadcast of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.