Wells Fargo Center spreads its wings for Dolly

The last time Dolly Parton played Santa Rosa, she waltzed onstage from the wings. Normally she would sashay down a giant staircase, she explained to the sold-out crowd at what is now the Wells Fargo Center, but not in such a "tiny and cute" place.

Working with a relatively small stage and only 1,500 seats, the center's staff apparently took note.

When the country bombshell returns to Sonoma County on Valentine's Day 2007, the Wells Fargo Center will produce the massive stage show at the 3,000-seat Grace Pavilion at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. It marks the center's first major foray outside its Mark West Springs Road home.

"It's our way of testing the waters," said director of programming Rick Bartalini.

Aside from a pair of outdoor concerts at Kendall-Jackson Winery in 2002, the center has never produced a show outside its present venue - a former church converted to a performing arts center in 1981. Before it became the Wells Fargo Center last year, it was the Burbank Center for the Arts.

"Our goal is to expand the scope of what we do and try having events outside our comfort zone," said board Chairman Chris Costin.

Over the years, the center has experimented with several options. Outdoor concerts in the parking lot resulted in a clash with nearby neighbors over sound disturbance. Former executive director David Fischer initiated talks with the city of Santa Rosa to move the Wells Fargo Center downtown as part of a $90million arts complex. Since Fischer left in August, Costin has maintained ongoing discussions with the city on the project, estimating any groundbreaking would be at least 10 years away.

The Grace Pavilion, the largest indoor venue in Sonoma County, presents an entirely different set of production challenges. Built in 1940, it's essentially a giant Quonset hut with an asphalt floor beneath enormous steel girders. Whereas the Wells Fargo Center embodies a more communal, almost choral concert chamber aesthetic, the pavilion resembles an elongated wind tunnel or airplane hangar.

"A certain part of it for me is to prove everyone wrong, that this space can sound good," says WFC production manager Jeremy French. "The sound in here is going to be the best it's ever been."

French plans to employ directional "line array" speakers that have less of a tendency to send sound bouncing off the walls and ceiling. For people in the rear of the building - where the sound started to get muddy at the Bob Dylan show in April - he's going to hang a "delay stack" of speakers from the ceiling that will play only to fans in the bleachers farthest from the stage.

The fairgrounds has spent thousands of dollars in the past 10 years to improve acoustics and line the walls and arched ceiling with sound paneling, said events manager Hope Marshall.

Bartalini and crew also plan to give the 66-year-old venue an extreme makeover for Parton's show, with softer lighting and hundreds of yards of fabric to match the Valentine's Day theme. Also, unlike the Dylan concert, it will be an entirely seated show.

Expanding to a larger venue allows organizers to sell more tickets and offer a lower bottom end. When Parton played the WFC in October 2005, the ticket breakdown was 500 at $149, 500 at $99, 300 at $79 and 200 at $59. This time, tickets, which go on sale Dec. 5 to WFC members and Dec. 8 to the general public, will be divided into 500 at $149, 700 at $99, 1,000 at $59 and 500 at $39, with the rest going to guest seating and comps.

"It's all a roll of the dice," Bartalini said. "But if it sells out, we should make around double what we made last time."

One of only six U.S. shows on Parton's tour, the Grace Pavilion production will arrive in a pair of semi-trucks carrying a two-story stage flanked by staircases, with a hydraulic lift on which the 60-year-old singer rises out of the second floor. Her latest tour is a greatest hits package, showcasing a four-decade catalog that includes "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," "These Old Bones," "Here You Come Again," "9 to 5," "Shine," "Little Sparrow" and "I Will Always Love You."

But perhaps the piece de résistance arrives in a duet with a Kenny Rogers puppet to the tune of "Islands in the Stream."

"There are people out there who will get goose bumps when they hear that," Bartalini said.