SYMPHONY’S USE OF FOX THREATENED

The San Diego Symphony’s conversion of the downtown Fox Theatre into Symphony Hall has been threatened by a civil lawsuit filed in Superior Court. The Nederlander Organization, a large national theater producer that has operated the San Diego Playgoers Series of touring Broadway shows in the Fox Theatre, has challenged the symphony’s conversion and planned use of the theater this fall.

The suit, filed by JMN Inc., a Nederlander firm, against the San Diego Symphony Orchestra Assn., San Diego Fox Productions Inc., and Charlton Raynd Development Co., alleges that the symphony’s control of the theater is wrongful and seeks to enjoin and restrain the orchestra’s renovation and further use of the theater. JMN maintains that a 12-year contract it signed with Fox Productions in 1981 is still in force. Specific grievances alleged against the defendants include wrongfully prohibiting JMN from using the theater, changing the name of the theater--now known as Symphony Hall--without consulting JMN and reducing by approximately 200 the theater’s seating capacity. Under the symphony’s slightly different configuration, the theater will seat approximately 2,250.

The symphony, which plans to open its 1985-86 season Nov. 2, has gutted the theater and is refurbishing the structure as part of a $5.5-million restoration project. Built in the late 1920s as a Baroque movie palace, it was sold in 1984 to Charlton Raynd Development Co., which is developing the entire block where the theater stands. The contract with Fox Productions, which operated the theater under previous owner Charles Kendall of Los Angeles, gave Nederlander virtual control of the theater with first refusal rights on all Fox dates.

Richard Bass, symphony executive director, had no comment “as long as we are in litigation.” Nor did Stan Seiden, the head of Nederlander’s West Coast operations.