The Crowd

B.W. Cook

The most rewarding personal freedom in life is the freedom of expression.

Most people are bound by either convention or perhaps the fear of

searching for their inner voice and letting it soar.

This past week, one of our most colorful citizens did just that.

Judie Argyros, wife, mother, philanthropist and fly-fisher, joined opera

singer Frederica von Stade and entertainer Carol Burnett on stage at the

Orange County Performing Arts Center as the William Hall Master Chorale

presented “Broadway Meets the Met.”

Wearing a Nolan Miller gown of crimson fabric accented by diamonds,

diamonds and more diamonds, Argyros strutted the boards of Segerstrom

Hall doing a rendition of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

The petite blond was swooshed onto the stage in the arms of male chorus

boys and deposited front and center. She moved with confidence and

delivered her number. Most importantly, Judie loved the moment and the

audience shared the experience with her.

It takes guts to perform, and even more to perform in a venue the size of

Segerstrom Hall. Moreover, how about sharing the stage with one of the

most-loved female performers of the time, Burnett, and one of the major

voices of the operatic world, von Stade.

Never mind all that. Argyros claimed her territory with her kicks and

turns and her rendition of the classic film and stage ballad made most

famous by Marilyn Monroe. Argyros relished in the music, finding her own

voice, her own style, borrowing from the Monroe image and yes,

experiencing a shaky moment or two, and then rising to the occasion.

It’s all about striving to be the best, reaching inside and taking risks.

If folks didn’t challenge themselves and the status quo, there would be

no Segerstrom Hall. There would be no William Hall Master Chorale, an

organization that has graced the community for decades, growing and

changing and trying new music and new ideas, attracting new faces in

their ranks and in their audience.

Its success is owed to the vision of one man, Bill Hall, who found his

road of expression that has touched many lives including rewarding,

enriching and fulfilling his own.

And, as this community embarks on new projects for the

millennium--including an ambitious concert hall expansion of The

Performing Arts Center, an arts center being proposed as a structure to

be raised on the property behind the main library in Newport Beach, the

growth of the Orange County Museum of Art, and others--remember that all

of these grand schemes begin with sometimes only one person who has the

drive to reach inside and find that vehicle or manner of personal

expression that turns dust into diamonds.

I applaud Argyros, not just for her talent and her desire to express

herself, but for her role as a community leader who steps up to plate

with money--yes, that helps--and with her own personal touch. You can be

sure there were plenty of folks buying tickets to the concert in support

of Judie as well as the Chorale, Burnett and von Stade. Why? Because this

community hangs together and supports the vision of a better land for

all.

People like Judie make a difference. So, keep singing and dancing, Mrs A.

You love it, and if Flo Zigfield were alive --well, there would be a

follies in your honor.

B.W. COOK’S column appears every Thursday and Saturday.