ANAHEIM GETS A GIFT OF BROADWAY IN THE ROUND

Even though Anaheim has Disneyland, where fantasy rules, the story of the city’s downtown is one of harsh urban reality.

In the mid-1970s, the commercial district was crumbling and businesses were vanishing. Now, many old structures have been razed and city officials are trying to bring the area back to life. Some of their hope rests in the new Freedman Forum.

“The city didn’t have to pay a cent because Leo is paying for it all,” said Mayor Ben Bay of the $8-million, 2,300-seat theater, which opens today with a new production of the Broadway musical “42nd Street” starring Peter Marshall and Constance Towers. The theater is built on 1 1/2 acres of redevelopment land Freedman bought in 1985 from the city for about $500,000. Originally proposed by Freedman as a 2,000-seat proscenium theater, the project was switched to a less costly theater-in-the-round design.

Leo is Leo Freedman, in whose honor the theater is named. Over the years, Freedman has invested in Anaheim hotels--the Hyatt and the Grand--and a now-defunct theater called Melodyland. But Bay and other officials in Anaheim say they’ve had little personal contact with him.

He does not live or work in the county, but in Beverly Hills. He doesn’t show up on the local social circuit, as do many arts patrons. “I think he’s kind of a lone wolf,” said Bay. “But he has the money and he’s willing to risk it.”

Freedman speaks confidently about plans to offer Broadway musicals and Las Vegas-style acts in Freedman Forum, a theater-in-the-round. Despite the crumbling fortunes of Broadway theater, he insists it’s a good omen that the city of Anaheim granted his wish to rename a street outside his theater 42nd Street, which intersects with one that was already called Broadway.

Ever since selling Melodyland to a church in 1969, Freedman said, he has wanted to own and run another theater. Unable to persuade institutional lenders that the Freedman Forum was a worthy risk, he has had to use his existing properties as collateral and borrow about half of the $8 million. “I tried everybody--I tried the banks, the pension funds, the institutions--they all said the same thing: ‘You’re crazy.’ But there is a difference between being insane and being a visionary.”

He said that he never tried bringing in partners on the deal. “I don’t get involved with that. I don’t take partners or associates or contributors,” he said. “I work alone.”

Freedman switched to the less costly theater-in-the-round design partly because “All the contractors knew that around $80 million was being spent on that place over in Costa Mesa (the Performing Arts Center) and they wanted me to spend more money,” he continued. “The word we’re talking about here is greed. . . . I had to fight all the way.”

Freedman began his long climb from modest beginnings. He was born in London, to which his father, a peddler, had emigrated at the turn of the century from the Russian port city of Odessa. “He left Russia, like Tevye in ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ ” said Freedman.

The family, in which Leo was the youngest of 10 children, settled in Long Beach after moving from Canada, their first destination in North America. His father opened a grocery store and the family lived upstairs. Speaking of his brothers, with whom he said he is not close, Freedman at one point declared, “My mother had five sons . . . one genius.”

During his 20s he was a traveling salesman of men’s clothing, but his fortunes changed when he invested $1,000 in Karen Chandler’s early ‘50s recording of “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me.” It reached the Top 10 on Billboard pop charts, and Freedman says he made $10,000.

A banker friend suggested Freedman invest in some land in Orange County, predicting a big a future for it. He made a down payment on 10 acres in Anaheim at $3,000 an acre, then sold it for $4,000 an acre. He bought and sold land numerous times over, eventually acquiring a 100-acre parcel just beyond what became Disneyland’s main entrance and built two hotels--the Anaheim Hyatt and the Grand.

Freedman said he’s confident of his theater’s success. “I can afford anybody I want,” said Freedman. “I can have Neil Simon. I can have anybody.”

He made it clear that his motives for building the Freedman Forum go far beyond wistful theatrical idealism. “I’m a businessman, and I think I can make money with it,” he said. “I built it because it’s a good tax shelter and also I love show people. I’m a Californian and we have an affinity for show business. . . . I’ve been on the periphery of show business all my life, just like (Ronald) Reagan.”

Exactly how near or far from the center of show business he’s been is hard to determine. At one point during the interview, he said he could call up Gene Kelly at any time and have breakfast with him. But later, Freedman said he really didn’t know Kelly and that he had made the statement to show how relaxed he felt around show-business people.

He thinks Orange County has a thirst for entertainment that will fill Freedman Forum, and justify his having his own Broadway and 42nd Street corner as a nostalgic reminder of Broadway’s more successful era.

“We’re all in show business and we’re all on 42nd Street, baby,” he said. “New York is the Big Apple and we’re the Big Orange!”

His production of “42nd Street,” with cast members gleaned from various past productions of the show, is scheduled to run for four weeks, according to Freedman.

Anaheim officials appear to have considerable faith in the project.

“This is Leo’s monument,” Mayor Bay said. “That’s how I think of it. It’s a monument he wanted to build for himself. But it is also a cornerstone for entertainment in downtown Anaheim. We really want to bring people downtown, and we think this will make a difference.”