A First Effort for an Alliance Supporting American Musicals; Some More Options in the Search for Cheap Theater Tickets

Wanted: new American musicals. But they’re wanted alive. We’ve seen enough of them die already, shot down after one or two very expensive nights on Broadway. There must be a better way.

The National Alliance of Musical Theatre Producers, a confederation of 60 theater and opera companies, has pledged its considerable resources to finding a better way. The first product of that effort is “Grover’s Corners,” a musical based on Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.” It was scheduled to open Wednesday night at Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre, near Chicago.

Southern Californians will see a Long Beach Civic Light Opera production of “Grover’s Corners” in the fall of 1988--if all goes according to plan.

That plan is in three phases.

The first is a 12-week workshop production at Marriott’s Lincolnshire, an 870-seat arena stage. Step two is a series of individual productions next year at a dozen or more alliance theaters, including Long Beach. These productions would share sets, costumes and a star, but most of the roles would be cast from local ranks. Finally, in the third phase, Columbia Artists Theatricals and Music Theatre Group, both members of the alliance, would co-produce a national bus-and-truck tour.

Each alliance theater will be able to present “Grover’s Corners” for “not much more than an ordinary production (of a revival),” said Long Beach producer Martin Wiviott. In Long Beach, that’s “a little more than $400,000.” The only difference is the timetable of payments: Each theater would pay its share of the mounting costs earlier than it would for a regular production. Five alliance members, including Long Beach, have already contributed to the legal fees incurred in obtaining rights to “Grover’s Corners.”

Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (“The Fantasticks,” “I Do! I Do!”) wrote “Grover’s Corners.” In the current workshop, Jones plays the Stage Manager and Schmidt is the onstage pianist. A star will play the Stage Manager in later versions.

New York producers Peter Neufeld and Tyler Gatchell held an option on the show for four years, but couldn’t raise the $2.5 million necessary for a Broadway outing. They were told it wasn’t “a big enough show,” Neufeld said.

Jones and Schmidt staged a New York backer’s audition of “Grover’s Corners” for members of the alliance, including Wiviott, in September, 1985. “It’s a wonderful, charming musical,” Wiviott said. “We all said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ ”

The alliance hopes this is the first of many such projects, including some alliance-commissioned shows. In a recent survey, about three-fourths of alliance members reported a combined budget of $125 million and a combined audience numbering nearly 10 million--figures that make the alliance potentially “bigger than Broadway,” in the words of its president Frank Young.

Meanwhile, the problem of lack of product that the alliance seeks to resolve is evident here as well as on Broadway. Not until this week, as the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera’s second musical of the season (“Cabaret”) ends its run, did the LACLO announce its third and final “musical” of the season.

It’s “Flamenco Puro,” a program of Spanish dance and music from the same creators and producers who did “Tango Argentino.” It will play the Pantages for seven weeks beginning Sept. 22.

Regardless of the merits of “Flamenco Puro,” “Tango Argentino” or the Bolshoi Ballet (an LACLO “bonus attraction” this season), they aren’t musicals or “light operas” by most definitions of those words--and most LACLO subscribers signed up to see musicals.

CHEAP TICKETS: “Theater audiences are continually graying,” said Back Alley producer Laura Zucker. So how do you attract younger audiences? “Give them a viable choice between live performances and film.” Translation: offer students $6 theater tickets.

Enter the L.A. Student Pass. It’s an offshoot of the 3-year-old L.A. Theatre Pass--a joint project of five of the city’s most prominent Equity-Waiver theaters. While the Theatre Pass will buy five tickets (one at each theater) for $55, the new student pass will buy five tickets for $30--the same price as five admissions to the most expensive movie theaters.

The student passes will be valid from October through September. The program received the green light Tuesday, upon approval of a $2,500 national/state/county grant, administered by the county Music and Performing Arts Commission. Full-time college students with ID may call 213-465-1010 for more information.

MORE CHEAP TICKETS: In my recent review of Occidental College Summer Drama Festival’s “Camelot,” I overstated the amount of the increase in the festival’s ticket prices. They went up 50% (not 100%) from last year, but remain a bargain compared to those at most theaters: reserved seats $12; general admission $9; students/seniors $7; children between 5 and 12, $5. Shows in the outdoor amphitheater start at 8:30 p.m.

UNDERSTUDY OF THE YEAR: Zoaunne LeRoy will replace Barbara Bryne as Kath in the Mark Taper Forum’s “Entertaining Mr. Sloane” during the final two weeks of the run, Aug. 12-23. In May, LeRoy took over Tyne Daly’s role in the final week of Los Angeles Theatre Center’s “Come Back, Little Sheba.”

Bryne joins the Broadway cast of the Sondheim/Lapine musical, “Into the Woods,” previewing Sept. 22.

Jan Pessano also gets a break this week; she’ll fill in for Pam Dawber at the Thursday matinee and Friday evening performances of the Ahmanson’s “She Loves Me.” Dawber will be busy with her TV series, “My Sister Sam.”