Scaled-Down Music Center Plan Proposed

In a blow to backers of an ambitious expansion of the Music Center, a private consultant has recommended a scaled-down version, saying that existing entertainment facilities elsewhere render two proposed theaters in the multifaceted plan “impossible to justify at this time.”

But well-known consultant Harrison Price said that the Music Center “clearly needs a new large performance hall if the programs of the existing resident companies are to continue to grow and thrive.” He suggested either a 2,800-seat facility for musical theater and dance productions--favored by the center’s Performing Arts Council--or a 3,000-seat orchestra hall.

Price said the new theater, as well as such support facilities as a central box office, a library and a restaurant, should be built on a 3.6-acre county-owned site on 1st Street directly across from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It is now occupied by a county parking lot.

Price rejected any plan that would spread the project and its support facilities among three adjoining lots, two owned by the county and one by Times Mirror Co.--a total of about 6.5 acres. He said such a decentralized approach could harm the Music Center’s “drawing power” and drive up construction and operating costs.

Other Area Facilities

While agreeing that some expansion is needed, Price said that such facilities as the Huntington Hartford Theatre and the new 863-seat Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, as well as the Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre complex being built on Spring Street, work against two key aspects of the Music Center expansion proposal.

It is, Price said, “impossible to justify . . . at this time” either a 1,200-seat proscenium theater--designed primarily for the Mark Taper Forum’s repertory work and other Center Theatre Group (CTG) activity--or a 500-seat experimental theater for use by the CTG and Music Center educational programs.

Price said the proposal should be reassessed in a few years.

Price, a consultant on various recreational and cultural projects, was hired by the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission to analyze the ambitious expansion proposal of the Music Center’s Performing Arts Council.

Attorney Richard Sherwood, president of the Center Theatre Group and a member of the arts council board, said he disagreed “1,000%” with Price’s conclusions that the proscenium theater is not needed. The Center Theatre Group recently purchased with UCLA the Huntington Hartford, which Sherwood said is being used only as a temporary base.

“We never viewed the Huntington as an alternative to the Music Center expansion,” Sherwood said.

Michael Newton, president of the Performing Arts Council, called the Price report an “in-depth validation of the proposal for expansion.” Newton disagreed with Price’s contention that the two smaller theaters were not needed and said that despite Price’s recommendation, the council will plan for the full expansion.

“If you’re going to do the expansion, let’s do it all,” Newton said. “You can’t go out and do two capital (projects) drives. You have to have a master plan for the site. . . . You can’t do it in pieces.”

Other Uses for Lot

Bill Kreger, Los Angeles County’s assistant chief administrative officer, said that if the two theaters are deleted, “roughly half” of the county’s 3.6-acre lot on 1st Street could be used for other purposes.

“I don’t think we can ignore what Price said,” Kreger said, pointing out that the county cannot afford to operate the cultural attractions at a loss. “It would also not be in the best interests of the Music Center for theaters to be lying dark.”

Expansion of the 20-year-old Music Center has been discussed for the last 17 years but was not under serious consideration until 1982. Expansion supporters have argued that competition to use the various Music Center facilities--the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre--is so intense that such attractions as the Joffrey Ballet get less time than they want and need.