John Katsilometes chats with Mari Landers, a longtime supporter of arts, who will be honored

Thursday, March 30, 2006 | 6:35 a.m.

To Mari Landers, the pairing of Saks Fifth Avenue and the Las Vegas Philharmonic makes for sweet music. Symphonic, even.

Landers will be honored Friday night at "An Evening of Elegance and Style," the annual fundraising gala to benefit the LV Philharmonic. During the program at the Venetian, Saks and Missoni Women's Collection Creative Director Angela Missoni will unveil the Missoni fall 2006 collection and the new Missoni fragrance for women (so rare is it that Vegas is a site for such an unveiling that Landers, for one, doesn't recall it ever happening before).

As vice president and general manager of Saks, Landers is a longtime supporter of the LV Phil. In fact, she's been a longtime supporter of Las Vegas in general - aside from a brief period when she left town to attend USC, Landers has been a Las Vegan since 1969.

"Having lived here for so long my values mirror what the arts community does," Landers said in a phone interview Wednesday. "When you have big businesses, new businesses coming here and people coming form Chicago, New York or L.A., they are looking for some culture."

In 1999 LV Phil founder Susan Tompkins sought out Landers for assistance in notifying the city (and its visitors) that Las Vegas was indeed home to a philharmonic. Landers partnered with Fashion Show and the Rouse Co. (the mall's owner) to display banners throughout the mall to inform shoppers of the LV Phil's performances.

"We put on our thinking caps to get word out there about the Philharmonic," Landers said. "We had a real desire to mesh commerce and culture."

NoteMart

Love me Blue: In an inspired bit of cross-promotion, the Blue Man Group will appear in Los Angeles Dodgers commercials on the Dodgers' new television partner, KCAL Channel 9. The blue crew performed a special show Wednesday that was attended by members of the Dodgers, who play a spring training game against the Seattle Mariners at 7 tonight at Cashman Field ...

Phantom fandom: Tickets for previews for "Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular," to be staged at a $40 million theater at the Venetian, go on sale April 9. The premiere period for the 95-minute production begins in June; for information, call 414-7469 or go to www.Venetian.com or www.phantomlasvegas.com (no prices listed) ...

The roles of the Phantom, Christine and Carlotta will be double-cast (that means, two people for one role, but not during the same performance) because of the strenuous vocals required to sing those parts. Playing the lead role of Phantom will be Brent Barrett (of "Chicago" and "Annie Get Your Gun" on Broadway) and Tony Award-winner Anthony Crivello ("Les Miserables"; "West Side Story") ...

The good fight: The Orleans Arena will present a World Extreme Fighting Championship fight card Friday night. The WEF is the centerpiece of Spike TV's "Ultimate Fighter" mixed martial arts series. Friday marks the first of a series of WEF events at the Orleans, home to the Las Vegas Wranglers, who practice their own brand of mixed martial arts while on skates ...

Let's dance, the last dance: Announced this week is the "Last Dance" at the soon-to-be-razed Rancho High School. The facility opened in 1954 and will come down soon to make room for a new facility.

The dance is scheduled for May 13; tickets are $20 per person or $35 per couple. Go to www.ranchoalumni.org for information ...

In the swing: Mastery of a par-3 evident on the plate HOLN1.