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Show 5 Pageant closes successful 15th run sir1 iiEl: Box office manager Marcia Peterson said the usual number of senior citizens, including groups, attended the Pageant this year, but she also noticed more young couples coming as dates. 'Ej The Utah Pageant of the Arts Vl'" ended its 15th season Saturday J: night, after playing 33 per-JJ per-JJ : formances for nearly 22,000 people. The audience was up about 2,000 ';l Irom what it has been the past J J, couple of years. , ' .F "We reached a lot of new patrons this year," said producing director ; '' David O. Brockbank backstage before the final show. He hopes this year's audience will produce a spinoff that will make next year's season just as successful. Brockbank baid he started asking PMe just what it was they liked about this year's "living pictures'' j production, which featured 36 brand if'j new selections out of 41. He was 0t, surprised at some of the answers. ! People enjoyed the addition of nisj slides of Van Gogh before the three ! new re creations of his work were vd?.' shown, and they liked Queen Elizabeth's Reliquary Shrine, new hst. this year. But they also named old Ftj favorites like Winslow Homer's lMIP, "BlTO-ing Up" and the Wedgwood ; t"ccp. "Choice of Hercules." Jfi; A i . ; "It's given me some ideas fcr things we need to- look for," Brockbank said. "It's not necessarily the classical art pieces that are the favorites." This year patrons were treated, for the first time, to a selection of tin toys thai were animated onstage, much to the audience's delight. The Steuben Glass Crown of Oheron and the gold and enamel Butterfly Brooch are two selection? Brockbank will repeat in future productions because of their popularity. Although the six-week run has been taxing for Brockbank's family and certain stage crew who have been there every night to put on the show, an experiment with volunteers volun-teers who work two-week shifts has proven successful. Brockbank plans to use such a method again, because it helps reduce burnout, he said. In addition to his duties as producer and director, Brockbank also staged pre-show "backstage" seminars which proved quite popular. Audiences crowded the front rows of the auditorium to witness demonstrations of costumes, headgear, makeup, and art selections from past seasons, brought to life step-by-slep before their eyes. And Brockbank did his best to answer questions at the end of each r half-hour session. Asked how he decides what selections will be in the show, Brockbank told Saturday night's seminar audience that he chooses some old pieces, some new pieces, some classical things, and "some things you maybe don't want to see, but I think you ought to." Other seminars outside on the patio included performances by the Pageant Youth Orchestra, a woodwind group, Mountain West Ballet, and singersongwriter Marvin Payne, as well as a lecturedemonstration lec-turedemonstration by sculptor Dee Jay Bawden. The professional and student art exhibits also drew much attention prior to curtain time, as did the fundraising boutique operated by the Pageant Guild. i |