The Crowd

B.W. Cook

The summer is winding down and the social season is off to a busy

start. This weekend, the 14th annual Big Splash benefiting AIDS Services

Foundation Orange County expects to raise in excess of $400,000 to

support local AIDS programs.

The Big Splash is named for the show produced and performed literally

in the backyard pool at the Laguna Beach home of Ken Jillson and Al

Roberts. It’s been called campy, outrageous, bizarre and off the wall,

and for the past 13 years this little bit of Orange County culture has

raised millions for people with AIDS.

This year, Jillson and Roberts are calling the production “Splashin’

On Safari, The Ultimate Musical Adventure.” The totally volunteer show,

with every penny of cost underwritten, premieres Friday and runs through

Sunday.

Locals involved include John Benecke, Pearl Jemison-Smith, Barbara

Glabman, Janice and Roger Johnson, Judith O’Dea Morr, Anita May

Rosenstein, Kathryn Thompson, Billur Wallerich and Kevin Wendle. For more

information, call (949) 580-2092.

Opera Pacific celebrates the close of summer with Festa Italiana

Sunday evening at the Irvine Bowl. It is the opening of the season for

the opera in Orange County, and the first time Opera Pacific has had a

concert at the bowl.

A pre-concert dinner begins at 5:30 at Tivoli Too, with the concert

set for 8 p.m. The Tivoli Terrace on the grounds of the Irvine Bowl will

be the site for the post-concert artists and underwriters reception.

Opera Pacific, under the executive direction of Martin G. Hubbard, and

the artistic direction of John DeMain, heads into a new and highly

anticipated year of opera on the Orange Coast.

For last-minute reservations and/or information on Festa Italiana,

call Sabrina Torres at (949) 474-4488.

In other music news with a social twist, the respected William Hall

Master Chorale kicks off its forthcoming season with a gala organizers

are calling a visit to the “Newport Riviera.”

On Sept. 26, conductor William Hall will lead his patrons on a water

cruise of the Newport Harbor with anchorage at the estates of Joan and

Tom Riach on Lido Isle and Belle and Jack Lindquist on Linda Isle. The

generous Penny and Ralph Rodheim of Balboa Boat Rentals will provide the

vessels of transport, while hosts prepare a sumptuous spread for the

travelers. The first stop will be the handsome contemporary Riach home.

One look will take your breath away.

Joan Riach is busy organizing a first-class spread of champagne, wine

and overflowing hors d’oeuvres prepared and served by Cafe Francais of

Orange. Then it’s off to the lovelytraditional waterfront residence of

the former president of Disneyland, Jack Lindquist, and his charming

wife, Belle.

“Our home is not decorated, but collected,” offers Belle, as she opens

the doors to the Newport-Mesa crowd in support of William Hall. While

dessert is being served, Robin Buck, a featured soloist with the chorale,

will entertain.

Buck, who lives in Europe and travels the world on the concert

circuit, recently completed a run in the title role of “Phantom of the

Opera.” The festivities will include a bit of the “music of the night.”

To book your cruise space, call (714) 556-6262. Dress code is what else

but riviera casual.

The Sounds of Hope is the name of an evening being planned by Prevent

Child Abuse Orange County. On Oct. 8, the Pacific Club, Newport Beach,

will become the venue of hope for some 30,000 children in this region who

are victims of child abuse. Orange County Sheriff Michael Corona will

serve as honorary chair of the evening with support from chair Todd

Spitzer, Orange County board of supervisor, District. 3.

Judith Ware, president of Ware Disposal Inc., will serve as hostess

for the evening with other support coming from a broad cross-section of

community. For more information, call Barbara Oliver, executive director

of Prevent Child Abuse, Orange County at (714) 258-2272.

* B.W. COOK’s column appears every Thursday and Saturday.