Book Review of
ART Travel Guide
My sister, Connie Terwilliger, just published ART Travel Guide, a guidebook to art sites throughout the U.S. This excerpt is about the Pageant of the Masters.
This amazing event began over 77 years ago, the week after the Los Angeles Olympic games in 1932. Laguna Beach was attempting to attract tourists to its then-faltering town. Living Pictures Show was created by artist and vaudevillian Lolita Perine and was a small success. Three years later, Roy Ropp, another artist and construction worker, expanded the concept and renamed the event The Spirit of the Masters. Now called Pageant of the Masters, this one-of-a-kind spectacle lasts two months—July and August—and sells out early.
When the live music begins from the orchestra pit, the performers on stage freeze and become part of a “live painting.” The entire presentation, lasting over two hours, is accented with unusual acoustics, live music and showmanship. About 30-40 familiar paintings are “enacted” during the evening. “How did they do that?” is a common question. Most of the actors (volunteers) within the “live painting” manage to not even twitch! The lighting and scenery production is so good that the “painting enactment” appears three-dimensional. On occasion, the actors intentionally move out of position, allowing the audience to see how the living painting is composed, which creates total amazement for the audience.
From bronze sculptures to Meissen china, Boticelli to Warhol, all are depicted with utmost refinement. Each year a different theme is played out. The traditional piece at the end is Leonardo’s Last Supper.
Binoculars are helpful for seeing the details of each painting performance and can be rented outside the theatre. Arrive early for the pre-production entertainment: food, music and art at the Laguna Beach Festival of Artists, with some 145 artists selling two- and three-dimensional artwork on the grounds. Today, the Festival of Arts Permanent Collection, expanded annually through purchases made from the exhibiting artists’ work, contains more than 300 pieces.
A most unique event!
650 Laguna Canyon Rd, Laguna Beach, CA. 800.487.3378.
Image: Recreation of Arthur Rackman’s 1908 illustration Meeting of Oberon & Titania. ©2011 Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters. photo by Rick Lang
More things to do in Laguna Beach.
This amazing event began over 77 years ago, the week after the Los Angeles Olympic games in 1932. Laguna Beach was attempting to attract tourists to its then-faltering town. Living Pictures Show was created by artist and vaudevillian Lolita Perine and was a small success. Three years later, Roy Ropp, another artist and construction worker, expanded the concept and renamed the event The Spirit of the Masters. Now called Pageant of the Masters, this one-of-a-kind spectacle lasts two months—July and August—and sells out early.
When the live music begins from the orchestra pit, the performers on stage freeze and become part of a “live painting.” The entire presentation, lasting over two hours, is accented with unusual acoustics, live music and showmanship. About 30-40 familiar paintings are “enacted” during the evening. “How did they do that?” is a common question. Most of the actors (volunteers) within the “live painting” manage to not even twitch! The lighting and scenery production is so good that the “painting enactment” appears three-dimensional. On occasion, the actors intentionally move out of position, allowing the audience to see how the living painting is composed, which creates total amazement for the audience.
From bronze sculptures to Meissen china, Boticelli to Warhol, all are depicted with utmost refinement. Each year a different theme is played out. The traditional piece at the end is Leonardo’s Last Supper.
Binoculars are helpful for seeing the details of each painting performance and can be rented outside the theatre. Arrive early for the pre-production entertainment: food, music and art at the Laguna Beach Festival of Artists, with some 145 artists selling two- and three-dimensional artwork on the grounds. Today, the Festival of Arts Permanent Collection, expanded annually through purchases made from the exhibiting artists’ work, contains more than 300 pieces.
A most unique event!650 Laguna Canyon Rd, Laguna Beach, CA. 800.487.3378.
Image: Recreation of Arthur Rackman’s 1908 illustration Meeting of Oberon & Titania. ©2011 Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters. photo by Rick Lang
More things to do in Laguna Beach.
More ideas for exploring the U.S.
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