Broadway Hits the Plaza

Being keenly aware of the fragility--and the cultural significance--of their world, theater people tend to rise to the cause of self-preservation. That may be the underlying story of this Sunday’s concert with acclaimed singer-actress Polly Bergen. Fresh off a lauded run in the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” last year, Bergen will demonstrate her way with a song, in a show in which David Lander and Michael McKean, of “Laverne & Shirley” fame, are the hosts.

Before shuddering at the ticket price, note that it’s a benefit for a cause, the Cabrillo Music Theatre. Now eight seasons old, the musical theater company proudly boasts the tag of official “resident musical theatre company of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.” Co-chairing the event is Ryan O’Neal, and there will be a post-show celebrity auction.

* Polly Bergen, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Sunday, 7 p.m. $125. (805) 583-8700.

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Musical Royalty: Speaking of show tunes at the plaza, this weekend also marks the opening of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, “The King and I,” presented by the Theater League. This production stars no less a celebrity than Debbie Boone in the starring role, as Anna.

Once upon a time, Pat Boone’s progeny had a tight relationship with the pop charts, including the chart-topper “You Light Up My Life” in the late ‘70s. Though she’s off the charts and beyond the bubblegum pop scene, she’s been seen on television lately and has also used her musical skills to hit the boards in “Sound of Music,” “Grease” and “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

This musical, which opened on Broadway in 1951, was later adapted into two films. It contributed standard tunes to the American songbook, such as “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Shall We Dance” and “Getting to Know You.” Fifty years later, they qualify as timeless.

* Theater League presents “The King and I,” March 2-10, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.; No matinee March 2. $25.50 to 39.50. (805) 583-8700.

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Musical Chairs: Within the last month, the three prominent music organizations in Ventura County made announcements from their various headquarters regarding shifts in the directorial foundation.

At the New West Symphony, the news is that things will be business as usual. The orchestra’s founding conductor, Boris Brott, received a contract extension through the completion of the young ensemble’s 10th-anniversary season in 2005. The itinerant Brott, based in Hamilton, Ontario, has proven a valuable figure in the region’s orchestral life.

Another high point of Ventura’s classical music calendar is the fairly young but solid institution, the Ventura Chamber Music Festival, bringing chamber music to town every May for the last eight years. After a nationwide search, the festival has hired Patricia Mastic Young to fill the full-time executive director job. This year’s festival, May 2-12, will feature the celebrated pianist Alicia de Larrocha.

Directorial musical chairs is also in store for the Ojai Festival, Ventura County’s most important musical event of the year. Ernest Fleischmann, the former long-standing artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has been at the helm of the Ojai Fest since 1998. He will end his tenure there after the 2003 festival (in which the great Pierre Boulez returns to Ojai).

Following Fleischmann will be Thomas W. Morris, executive director of the Cleveland Orchestra. Morris will be the first non-Californian director in the history of the festival, which started in 1947.

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Rock of a Different Age: Decibels will rage, hair will flail and history will repeat itself when the Ventura Theatre plays host to a triple bill of old-fashioned Hollywood metal Sunday. The Glam Metal Fest 2002 ushers us into the musty historical byways of the ‘80s--the days before Guns N’ Roses gave the genre its heftiest commercial push.

Back then, the field was lorded over by big-haired, high-voiced bands like Ratt and Faster Pussycat (named after a Russ Meyer film, continuing the ironic Hollywood sleaze factor) and Gilby Clarke, who was in Guns N’ Roses for a spell. Despite the live-fast/die-young mythology they aspire to, they’re all alive and pretty well.

* “Glam Metal Fest 2002,” with Faster Pussycat, Gilby Clarke and Ratt, Sunday, Ventura Theatre, 26 S. Chestnut St., Ventura. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 to $30; 653-0118, www.venturatheater.net.