Юбилейный фестиваль и проблемы с трафиком: культурная жизнь Ирвайна и Сегерстрема

The recently concluded production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera ended the latest Broadway season for the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, but the curtain is about to be raised for other notable events at the Costa Mesa arts campus. The center, founded in 1986 as the Orange County Performing Arts Center, will mark its 40th anniversary Sept. 13 with a free, campus-wide celebration. The day-long Ruby Jubilee will feature participation from the center’s resident companies and campus partners, including Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Pacific Chorale, South Coast Repertory and the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art. A 1980s-inspired evening event for the center, which was renamed in 2011, will be hosted by ABC Eyewitness News anchor David Ono. Another Ruby Jubilee takes place this month at South Coast Repertory, as the Stephen Sondheim-scored Into the Woods celebrates its 40th anniversary with a new production. The 2026-27 Broadway season for the Segerstrom Center kicks off Sept. 27 with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Pop star Olivia Rodrigo ended her performance at the debut Daisy Chain Fields festival on Aug. 29 with a promise to “see you next year” to the crowd of nearly 50,000 at Irvine’s Great Park. If the women-focused music event – which garnered national attention and raised $20 million for nonprofits – returns to Irvine next year, as is being discussed, hopefully the city will do more to ease issues getting in and out of the $1.1 billion Great Park, which will span more than 1,300 acres when complete. Traffic flow problems remain unsolved at the venue, a year after a disastrous 4th of July event enraged locals. Daisy Chain concertgoers reported delays of nearly two hours getting out of the Great Park after the show ended at 10 p.m., with many resorting to walking to Sand Canyon Boulevard to find rides. Residents at the adjacent Great Park Neighborhoods also reported difficulties getting in and out of the 1,300-acre Great Park. Smaller-sized crowds still cause confusion at the Great Park, too; a recent Pacific Symphony performance was delayed due to traffic congestion getting into the area. City filings indicate Irvine received $5 per concert ticket, and $30 per parking ticket, as part of its deal for hosting the Daisy Chain event. The Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University has seen a series of notable exhibits this year, as part of its 10th anniversary. In two months, it’ll show off its most cromulent collection. ‘The Art of the Simpsons’ is the first-ever exhibition to feature original illustrations, sketches and production cels from the long-running animated series created by Matt Groening, which now has more than 800 episodes to its name. It opens on Nov. 18. Real estate reporter Joseph Pimentel has covered the on-again, off-again development plans for Angel Stadium for over a decade; that experience shows in this week’s edition. See the front page for more on the sale of the baseball team and its real estate implications.