Dick Van Dyke headlines annual high school music benefit

Actor/singer Dick Van Dyke will star for the seventh year in the annual benefit concert for local high school choral programs at 4 p.m. Wed., May 14 at the Kavli Theatre in the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

This year's show is titled "Song and Dance Man" and will feature Van Dyke singing, dancing and serving as master of ceremonies.

Van Dyke will also perform with five area high school choral groups from Thousand Oaks, Oak Park, Newbury Park, Santa Susana in Simi Valley and El Camino in Woodland Hills.

The Conejo Valley Harmony Oaks chorus, a Thousand Oaksbased cappella men's group, is producing the show and will perform, as will several national award-winning quartets.

Harmony Oaks was also recently named "Chapter of the Year" by the Far Western District of the Barbershop Harmony Society of America, largely because of its continuing work with high school chorus programs.

The show finale will feature the nearly 400 participants in a barbershop arrangement of "It's a Grand Old Flag" accompanied by World War II veterans.

Van Dyke, a longtime supporter of music programs in local high schools, is volunteering his services for the show. He is also the honorary chairman of the National Harmony Foundation.

The event began in 1998. To date, 12 local participating high school chorus programs have received more than $100,000 from the concerts.

All net proceeds from the show will be donated to the music programs of the participating high schools.

Tickets are $35, $25 and $15 and are available at the Civic Arts Plaza box office.

For more information on the show, call show PR director Neil Pennywitt at (805) 499-6456 or e-mail pennywitt@earthlink.net or visit www.cvhoc.com.