Pageant of the Masters


Bob and I went to the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters last night. If you haven’t been, you really should try to attend. It’s an amazing celebration of art and music. Art comes alive as “living pictures” in this annual event with 75 years of history.

The setting is an outdoor amphitheater with a professional orchestra, original score, and live narration. Classical and contemporary works of art are recreated with real people who pose and look exactly like their counterparts in the original pieces of art.

One contemporary piece of artwork, “Olympic Spirit,” is on display at the Festival of Arts and we were able to take a close-up look at it before the Pageant. The bronze sculpture was created by Edward Eyth (www.edwardeyth.com) who was one of only eight Americans selected to exhibit in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Landscape Sculpture Design Exhibition.

This year’s theme was “All the World’s a Stage” and celebrates theater from its primitive origins to its many modern variations and includes work by Wedgwood, Toulouse-Lautrec, Leonardo da Vinci, and Edgar Degas.

The program had some wonderful quotes I’d like to share:

”Spend time every day listening to what your muse is trying to tell you.” —Saint Bartholomew

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” —Edgar Degas

“Laughter is an instant vacation.” —Milton Berle