A funny thing happened at the fundraiser

COSTA MESA — Local residents will lace up their dancing shoes and put their singing voices to the test as they join more than 100 Orange County residents in support of Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

The residents will play the part of Greek gods and goddesses in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Follies,” for the 14th annual CHOC Follies March 31 to April 2.

“It’s always a hilariously funny show with singing and dancing,” said show founder Gloria Zigner, of Newport Beach.

The show is an Orange County adaptation of the Broadway classic, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” said performer Rebecca Hall, president and CEO of Costa Mesa-based Idea Hall, a marketing agency.

It will feature locals singing everything from Broadway tunes to pop hits as the actors travel from the 1920s to the 1980s to the present, the Newport Beach resident said.

The show pulls in uniquely Orange County elements and inside jokes, said performer Julie Leigh, of Newport Beach.

“People will just be laughing a lot,” she said. “You definitely go there to be entertained.”

Part of the show’s appeal is seeing friends and community members up onstage singing and dancing, Hall said.

She will be joined on stage by fellow Newport Beach residents Tim Bercovitz, Leslie Cancellieri, Kathleen Duffy, Victoria Groskreutz, Gerry Hardin, Kristina Kleczko, Mia Maffei, Diane Mondini, Eric Nicoll, Pascal Olhats, Joanne Pittman, Dale Skiles, Kay Sparks, Carol Strauss and Jeanne Walker,

Costa Mesa locals Janice Horn, Kirsten Mangers, Fred Pellicciotti and Juliet Fischer-Schulein will also join the cast.

Corona del Mar residents Sue Ann Cross and Christi Mottola-Bettingen, and Newport Coast resident Sandy Segerstrom Daniels will be performing.

To be in the show, each actor pledged to donate $1,000, or raise as much, for CHOC, Zigner said.

All of the money raised will go toward a more than 1,000-square-foot radiology waiting room on the first floor of the hospital’s new patient care tower, she said.

Zigner said she hopes to raise $1 million this year.

The show has raised more than $5 million for CHOC since it started in 1998, Zigner said.

They money helped support the hospital, which cares for children regardless of their ability to pay, she said.

“There’s no child that’s ever turned away from [CHOC], whether their parents can pay or not,” she said.

If you go

What: 14th annual CHOC Follies

When: 8 p.m. March 31 and April 1 and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. April 2

Where: Robert B. Moore Theatre at Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road in Costa Mesa.

Cost: Tickets are $35 to $125.

Info: https://www.chocfollies.org or call (714) 532-8690