Over the years, the Moonlight Cultural Foundation has hosted annual fundraising galas for its Moonlight Amphitheatre, featuring homegrown actors who got their start at the Vista theater and went on to national success.
But this year -- with a new stage house to show off -- organizers aimed for the moon and succeeded. Moonlight's gala on June 27 will star one of the biggest stars to ever emerge from the local musical theater scene -- Tony-winning Broadway veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell.
Mitchell, who goes by the nickname "Stokes," grew up in San Diego and began performing as a young boy at San Diego Junior Theatre under the tutelage of Cardiff residents Don and Bonnie Ward, who are regular director/choreographers at Moonlight Amphitheatre. Stokes went on to a successful television and Broadway career. His credits include starring roles on Broadway in "Man of La Mancha," "Ragtime" and "Kiss Me, Kate," for which he won a Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award. Over the past few years he has been touring as a concert artist, including two scheduled for next month at the Hollywood Bowl. He also spent seven years on the TV series "Trapper John M.D."
The gala -- which will raise money for new lighting and sound equipment for the new theater -- will feature musical theater performances by past Moonlight performers Sarah Bermudez, Steve Glaudini, Danny Gurwin and Bets Malone. There will also be an "opening fanfare" coordinated by orchestral conductor Kenneth Gammie and a video montage of Moonlight's history. The event will also include hors d'oeuvres and dessert.
Tickets to the gala are $50. Ticket sales are being limited to 1,000, with no lawn seat sales this year. During Stokes' last concert visit to San Diego, a fundraiser for San Diego Junior Theatre in 2006, tickets went for $100 to $500, so Moonlight's $50 ticket price is a major bargain.
To order, call 760-724-2110.
Carlsbad Village has a new art gallery.
Ivanffy-Uhler Gallery, which operated for the past 12 years in Dallas, relocated to Carlsbad a few months ago with its owners, married art dealers Paul Uhler and Agnes Ivanffy.
The modern art gallery carries contemporary paintings, sculpture, drawings and original prints by local artists as well as international artists. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to dusk Fridays through Sundays and from around noon to dusk Tuesdays and Thursdays. Uhler said the gallery is also open by appointment at 565 Grand Ave. Call 760-730-9166.
Frankie Valli, the original Jersey boy at the heart of the La Jolla Playhouse-born musical "Jersey Boys," will host a special meet-and-greet with Playhouse patrons after a concert this weekend at Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay in San Diego.
To show his gratitude to the Playhouse -- whose former artistic director Des McAnuff, helped turn the story of his '60s supergroup, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, into a Tony- and Olivier-award winning musical -- Valli is hosting a backstage opportunity with fans at Saturday's concert. For $225, superfans can get a ticket to the concert, the post-show meeting with Valli, dessert and cocktails. And one lucky ticket-buyer will win the chance to introduce Valli to the Humphrey's audience beforehand. To order tickets, call Mary Reitz at 858-550-1070.
Escondido's Patio Playhouse will host a season preview gala at 4 p.m. Saturday to introduce local patrons to the shows that will make up its 2009-10 season.
The free event, which includes free drinks and snacks, will feature performances of scenes and songs from the coming season's shows.
The lineup includes Jack Sharkey's farce "I Take This Man," July 10-Aug. 2; the musical "City of Angels," Aug. 7-29; Larry Shue's comedy "The Foreigner," Sept. 11-Oct. 4; the musical "The Secret Garden," Feb. 19-March 14, 2010; and closing the season May 29-June 20, 2010, is Del Shores' "Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will?" The company's youth theater troupe is also planning "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," Dec. 4-20; and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," April 16-May 2, 2010.
Patio is at 201 E. Grand Ave., Suite 1D, in Escondido. Call 760-7436-6669.
Oceanside's JC Gallery and Studio will launch a Sunday-afternoon arts event this weekend called Sunday's Art in the Alley. The event, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, will take place in Oceanside's Artists Alley and will feature gallery receptions and an art booth fair with live painting demonstrations. Artists' Alley is at 212 N. Coast Highway. Future events are planned for July 26, Aug. 30 and Sept. 27.
Call 760-757-5524.
Ted Neeley's farewell tour has just gotten a little longer. The national touring production of the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar," featuring the actor who originated the role on film 36 years ago, will return to San Diego for a three-day engagement next year.
"Jesus Christ Superstar" will be performed at 8 p.m. Jan. 15, 2 and 8 p.m. Jan. 16 and 1 and 6 p.m. Jan 17 at the San Diego Civic Theatre. Tickets are now on sale only through subscriptions with Broadway/San Diego. Single tickets will go on sale later this year. Call 888-937-8995.
As part of the San Diego Natural History Museum's "Body Worlds" and "The Brain" exhibits, a group of Tibetan Buddhist lamas from Drepung Loseling Monastery in Tibet are constructing an ephemeral mandala sand painting in the museum's atrium this week.
An opening ceremony was held Wednesday, with live music and ornate costumes, followed by the drawing of the mandala pattern. Work on the sand painting will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, the monks will host a closing ceremony from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday where they will perform music and then dismantle the mandala. The public can watch the monks at work with paid admission to the Balboa Park museum ($7 to $13). Call 619-232-3821 or sdnhm.org.
The San Diego Museum of Art is in the hunt for a new executive director. Derrick Cartwright, who ran the museum for the past five years, has taken a position as executive director of the much-larger Seattle Art Museum. Cartwright agreed to stay for an unspecified amount of time during the museum's transition to new leadership.
Pam Kragen is the entertainment editor of the North County Times.
