Lauren Bacall to the Rescue at Big Theater on the Hill; And a New Guide to What’s Booking in Greater L.A.

Lauren Bacall is opening at the Ahmanson Theatre Friday in “Sweet Bird of Youth,” but it hasn’t been the easiest year for the big theater on the hill.

Big shows that will fill the 2,071-seat house are scarce, and name actors who’ll agree to play there even scarcer, according to artistic director Robert Fryer.

“The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” scheduled to open in March as the third show of the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson season, was canceled when the funding for “Drood’s” national tour fell through. (It was to have been shared by the Ahmanson with the Kennedy Center and Center Attractions at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.) No show at all had been announced for the final slot. That left the 1986-87 four-show Ahmanson season two shows short, and finding bookings was no easy scramble.

It now appears that the March time slot most likely will be filled with a revival of Moss Hart’s “Light Up the Sky” starring Peter Falk and produced by Christopher Hart (son of Moss), though dotted lines still need to be signed.

The fourth and final show, due in May, will be the Andrew Bergman comedy, “Social Security,” now on Broadway. As of this writing, Mike Nichols was all but contracted to direct Lucie Arnaz and Laurence Luckinbill in the touring company that will originate in Florida.

So a crisis has been averted, but it is only part of the solution to a bigger problem. Associate artistic director James Hansen has left the Ahmanson to become one of the principal writers on the daytime serial, “Capitol.” (“He’s making three times the money,” said Fryer, who has yet to find a replacement.)

Subscriptions have shrunk from 51,000 to about 46,000, according to Center Theatre Group executive managing director William Wingate. And while the costs of running an institutional theater are at an all-time high (and based on a 52-week year while the CTG season lasts only 36 weeks), the number of shows one can book into them is at an all-time low.

“We have to take care of ourselves,” said Fryer. “Since we don’t get subsidies, it means choosing the right shows.”

Producing their own shows could also be part of it and has not been ruled out. Fryer likes the idea and Wingate endorses it, but it presents other problems: costs, again, and too many name actors who, if they are not daunted by the size of the house, won’t risk getting an unfavorable stage review in the movie capital, where they believe it might affect their film careers.

For the moment, a new marketing director has been hired and aggressive strategies are being planned. In addition, Wingate and Fryer are counting on Bacall’s “Sweet Bird” to be a draw.

“If not,” Wingate said, “we could be in real economic trouble.”

THEATRE GUIDE: Knowing what’s playing where and when in this megalopolis can be problematic, and the problem was brought home to Muriel Kauffmann when her sister visited from Canada.

“My sister,” Kauffmann said, “thought nothing was going on in Los Angeles. I love theater and I decided I had to do something to show her there was a lot going on.”

What she did is start Kauffmann’s Greater Los Angeles Theatre Guide, now three months old and growing. It is also portable, easy to read and often free. The guide is being distributed in more than 500 locations, Kauffmann said, mostly “car rental agencies, visitors bureaus, hotels and motels.

One can subscribe to it, but the price is a steep $12, “mainly,” Kauffmann explained, “to cover costs because I’m not set up for it.

“Except for the list of Equity Waiver theaters, it’s (made up of) paid advertising. Waiver is unique to our city and I think it’s important to support it. But I’m tickled by the number of other theaters that want to be in it and will pay.

“My own list has been growing each month,” she said. “It is going in its own direction and I am following it. Recreational directors, schools and universities have requested it--even the editor of an in-flight magazine published in New Jersey and the U.S. Naval Station in China Lake!”

For information: (213) 398-1620.

TO LIST OR NOT TO LIST: Another speedy way to gather information on some of what’s playing in Los Angeles theaters (and what numbers to call to order tickets) is Stage Line, the 24-hour telephone information service provided by the League of Producers and Theatres of Greater Los Angeles (which also advertises in the Kauffmann Theatre Guide).

That’s how it should work, but Stage Line is far from complete.

For starters, it’s open only to member theaters and updating is not as prompt as it should be (the theaters themselves are entrusted with that responsibility and aren’t always diligent about it).

If you’re going to do it at all, why not do it right? At the moment, it’ll only be useful if you know what you want to see and if it happens to be on Stage Line’s list. The number to call: (213) 653-4594.

PIECES AND BITS: Women in Theatre will be giving their Outstanding Contribution to American Theatre Award to Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner at a holiday party to be held at Stages Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. L.A.’s own Barbara Perry will entertain, doing excerpts from her award-winning one-woman show, “Passionate Ladies.”

The Back Alley Theatre will hold an extended garage/bake sale Dec. 13, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., behind the theater at 15231 Burbank Blvd. in Van Nuys. Anyone wishing to contribute items should do so no later than Saturday. Call (818) 780-2240.