Tales of life in the theater

Stars converged on the Geffen Playhouse on St. Patrick's Day to sing songs and tell tales of the theater, all in the name of L.A.'s disadvantaged children. The theater's annual "Backstage at the Geffen" fundraiser honored actress Annette Bening and Walt Disney president Robert Iger for their support of the arts and raised close to $600,000 for the Geffen's support of school arts programs. Head honcho Gil Cates assembled a stellar group to "tell tall tales of the theater, stories of their life in the theater that are - hopefully - legal, forgiven or past the statute of limitations," including honorary hosts Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. Andrews told a raucous tale of "windy" Rex Harrison, her co-star on Broadway in "My Fair Lady"; the combination of the seemingly proper actress telling a hilarious flatulence story brought down the house, as Warren Beatty, Anjelica Huston, Dana Delany, James Cromwell, Eli Broad, Alan Horn and Jane Lynch laughed so hard they cried. "Now this story stays within these four walls!" Andrews chortled, causing more laughter as all on hand are sure to be repeating it to their theater-loving friends. Roma Downey, Bruce Vilanch and Sharon Lawrence told equally funny tales, and Broadway ingenues Sierra Boggess and Ashley Brown belted out a couple of familiar Disney songs. As Bening reminded the audience, "The arts needs to have a life." For certain, it was alive and well on Monday night backstage at the Geffen.

>Jenny Peters/Spywitness