The Pageant of the Masters

If you have, oh 22 minutes or so to watch the above episode I highly recommend it! I absolutely love this show, Arrested Development. This one has some gems, like, "Excuse me, Do these effectively hide my thunder?" ha ha haaaa ha! I need to watch the entire series again because now that I live in Orange County, where the show takes place, it's a lot funnier. :)

The reason I post this random episode is to give a little background into my evening last night. Christa with her OC Register connections got 2 free tickets to "VIP" night at the Pageant of the Masters and invited me to go with her. Since my only experience with the pageant is seeing the parody of it on Arrested Development, I totally thought it would be like that, just people dressed up like paintings, no big deal. Well, I found out last night that it IS a big deal...it's in fact AMAZING! The show is over 2 hours long with a 20 minute intermission, and the players and artists create amazing works of art that look almost EXACTLY like the original paintings! I doubt I can comprehend the work that goes into the painstakingly accurate reproductions using humans for the artist's subjects. It was the experience of a lifetime for me!


The first few that they showed were really cool, but I whispered to Christa that I wish that they would move or something so we could appreciate it even more. Well, I got my wish. In the middle they showed how they put the scene together. Two stagehands brought out the frame, and then they wheeled the "picture" with a few people out. Then they placed the last few people into the frame, just right. You could tell that all of the players were moving constantly, just to help create contrast for when they went still. This whole time there is just normal light on them, so you can tell that it is completely fake. Once everyone is placed, the lights shut off, it goes black, and then the stage lights up with the professional lighting techniques they use and there is only the painting. No more people, just a painting. I can't even explain properly in words how amazing it is. It's exquisite! Christa tells me that it is a huge secret how they do the lighting, and I believe it because it changes everything! I can't explain how magical it is to see a little boy hop up to a painting, step into it, and turn into part of the portrait! He just disappeared! It was so cool. Pictures are expressly forbidden, but even if I could they would not do it justice. You have to see it to believe it! One of the pageant technicians make sure everything is just right in this picture that I got online.





There is an art walk that you can browse before and after the pageant

I ran into some Marriott folk! Maggy, Linda, and Robert! Miss you!



Christa's birthday is Aug. 3oth :)

If you ever have an opportunity to go see the pageant, do it!

Here's are a few things I wish I would have known beforehand...

1. It's at night in an outdoor arena. Bring a sweater and a blanket or two! You can rent a blanket for $5
2. Even if you have great seats, you want to be able to see the detail. Bring binoculars! You can rent some there for $9.
3. The chairs are hard and it's over 2 hours long...bring a seat cushion! You can rent one there for $3.
4. Cheap seats are $20, but the seats we had were worth about $70. And if we had paid for them they would have been worth every penny!

Long live the Arts!

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3 validations:

  1. Sjauna July 11, 2008 at 12:34 PM

    I'm so jealous! I've always wanted to go to that!

     
  2. Sjauna July 11, 2008 at 12:34 PM
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  3. Sjauna July 11, 2008 at 12:35 PM

    Don't click "publish your comment" twice.

     

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