” NEWS photo Neti Lucente Seymour! James Hibbard poses with the infamous carnivo- plant which siars-in the Arts Club's Little Shop of Horrors, now ‘Strong start in their ar- * pursuits, armed with a $750 scholarship’ ve -2 Candice Naytor from West Van- couver Secondary School and An- drea- Mueller. from Sentinel were the chosen.two to receive the awards frora the West Vancouver Community Arts Council. + This is the third year the arts council has presented scholarships to graduating ‘students. . To selected, students ‘must. demen- ‘strate accomplishment and com- mitment to the arts in their school and the community and must be continuing on. to post-secondary ‘education. © eS OPEN TUESDAY CLOSED MONDAY | TAKE-OUT and | SUSHI ORIGINALS AM OCERH OF ORCINAL AND CLASSIC SUSHIS LOVINGLY PREPARED Iry ow sritbon. rel — a deliciously colourful rol of ., seb-eel, cuconabes, salmon, snagper and egg "sad soksack; or meshreom sushi with CATERING AVAILABLE 980-1510 180 East 2nd, North Van. - playing at the Granville (sland Theatre. Naylor has won over ‘12 arts awards while at high school. She has held honors with distinction in her studies for aver. six years and has achieved a 95 per cent ‘average in arts. Naylor has also won the Rotary and Soroptomist scholarships as well as a four-year entrance schol- ‘arship at a Canadian University. She plans a career in advertising and communications after com- pleting a degree. Mueller has worked on the ad- vanced placement program for the “past year. She enjoys working with chalk, water colors and pastels. This fall she plans to attend the Emily Carr College of Art and . Design. JAMES HIBBARD has an appetite for the bizarre. An accomplished choreographer who got his start as a Hollywood hoofer, Hibbard brings his magical talents to the Arts Club’s Granville island Theatre, where he is cur- rently director and choreographer of Howard Ashman’s Little Shop of Horrors. It is Hibbard’s second produc- tion of the brash little musical, featuring a blood-thirsty giant plant, the nerdy Seymour who works in Mr. Mushnik’s Skid Row Flower Shop, and the beautiful airhead Audrey, played by North Vancouver's Lelani Marrell. With improvements in casting and lighting, Hibbard predicts this edition will be even better than last summer's production at Malkin Bowl, which earned Theatre Under The Stars its first Jessie Richardson award. “There's a lot of pressure for it to be as good or better than last year,”’ says Hibbard, clutching a miniature version of the infamous meat-eating plant. Although it is too early to say whether the Arts Club production will measure up in terms of awards, the upbeat reviews which followed last month’s opening have ensured that the musical has at least found its summer home. Twenty-five years ago, Hibbard could never imagine that he would one day be directing a plant as his star performer. Back in his 23 - Wednesday, July 12, 1989 - North Shore News Hollywood heyday, he was danc- ing and singing with all of his idols: Elvis Presley, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Jack Benny and Lucille Ball. Of all of these giants, his favorite was the late dizzy redhead, Lucille Ball. “She was very humble, kind, and was very much the boss. She EVELYN JACOB spotlight feature did everything on the show — the director just sat there." Gene Kelly was another favorite. “Gene loved my dancing ~ | was physically like him. We used to tap dance in between shots." Hibbard’s grandfather built him a wooden dance stage to practice on when he was nine. “I used to practice every day — in our © garage,’ the Boise, Idaho native recalls, When he was 14 he signed up for dance lessons at Louis Da Pron’s (Donald O'Connor's choreographer} Los Angeles dance school, but was side-tracked by a window-front poster. ‘1 saw this sign that said Gene Nelson was teaching dance. He was one of my idols. My mother and § went in “Health Week" is CNN's weekend news program. REAL TY and | auditioned for choreographer Nico Charise. Almost immediately he gave mea ballet scholarship. | turned to my mother and said ‘Ma, let’s forget the other place.’” Hibbard continued te study under Neison and Ray Bolger, eventually making his professional dancing debut in Las Vegas in High Button Shoes. At 21, he choreographed his first show, a TV series called Where the Action Is, for American Band- stand legend Dick Clark. Other credits include assistant choreographer of Kissin’ Cousins, starring Elvis; and Hello Dolly, featuring Barbra Streisand. “1 did lots of B-movies, lots of theatre and iots of film,” said Hibbard, whose last L.A. perfor- mance was in 1973, when he played the doctor in the world premiere of the rock opera Tom- my. Now a permanent fixture in Vancouver's entertainment com- munity, Hibbard and his wife of 25 years, Charlene Brandalini have formed their own production company called Garbo (named after the family dog). And he says he doesn’t miss Hellywood. “4 don’t miss Hollywood, but ! do miss the action. In the U.S., if you have an idea someone wil! buy it. It’s different here — people are more conservative.” For the time being at feast, the Arts Club has bought Hibbard’s talents — lock, stock and barrel. wrap-up of medical news and updates in tie mast recent devolopments in the health & sciences. Also on CNN don't miss “Larry King Live” and “Moneyline", cable's premier business and financial IBEMIEINTERTAINE DEE DUCATIEDBINFOR MED)