The ABCs of the Theater, by UCI and OCPAC

It’s a course designed as the theater equivalent of Cliffs Notes but with a price tag that requires deep pockets.

For $335, UC Irvine Extension will offer “The Language of the Performing Arts,” beginning with a panel discussion Jan. 15, followed by four shows at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, along with pre-show dinners and lectures at the Wyndham Garden Hotel across the street from the center.

The fee amounts to double the cost of the show tickets alone. Expense notwithstanding, “It will be a great introduction to the arts for people who are intimidated by live theater,” says Nancy Warzer-Brady, director of arts, humanities and access for UCI Extension’s continuing education programs.

As a UCI Extension press release put it, the new non-credit course, also to include a backstage tour of the center, will take attendees “on a journey into the world of performing arts to make words like ‘movement,’ ‘pirouette’ and ‘repertory’ part of their vocabulary.”

“A lot of people in the business world have the money to go to the arts yet haven’t grown into going,” Warzer-Brady says.

The course, created in partnership with the center, will be hosted by Orange County Register theater critic Paul Hodgins. Panelists and lecturers, to be named, will be from local arts organizations and UCI.

“We’re going to put the performances into historical, social and cultural contexts without getting too highfalutin about it,” says Hodgins, who once taught a UCI graduate course in the dance department called “The Semiotics of Performance.”

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Attendees will be able to choose from two series of shows.

* Series A: The National Ballet of Cuba’s “Cinderella” (Jan. 22); a national touring production of “big,” the Broadway musical adapted from the 1988 movie of the same name (Feb. 11); jazz vocalist Diana Krall (Feb. 20); “The Irving Berlin Songbook,” starring Carol Lawrence (March 5).

* Series B: The Emerson String Quartet (Feb. 5); “big” (Feb. 12); cabaret singer Weslia Whitfield (Feb. 26); the Rambert Dance Company (March 13).

In a prepared statement, center president Jerry Mandel said that the partnership between the center and UCI Extension “was created to expand interest in cultural arts within the community. This is just another way that two progressive institutions can work together to make life better in Orange County.”

However high-minded the characterization, the arrangement is a marketing tool designed to fill seats at both institutions; it also would be good business for the hotel.

Center patrons who already have tickets to the shows may take the course for $200, Warzer-Brady said.

* Information and registration: (714) 824-5414.