STAGE

Thursday’s 6.1 earthquake and its aftershocks sent box-office grosses at Los Angeles theaters plummeting. Gross revenues totalled $138,580, $340,881 less than the already low total for the previous week, Daily Variety reported. Least affected was the Mark Taper Forum’s “Babbitt: a Marriage,” which reported $61,353 last week, compared to $67,289 the previous week. But temblor-caused damage to the Pantages Theatre’s sound system forced “Flamenco Puro” to cancel Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances, reducing its box-office receipts last week to $49,600.

A triumvirate of leading Broadway producers have announced that they plan to develop five Broadway shows a season, featuring major stage stars in a series of nine-week limited engagements. Masterminds Emmanuel Azenberg, Robert Whitehead and Roger Berlind said the shows are scheduled to start in January, 1989, at New York’s Ethel Barrymore Theater. Daily Variety reported the Shubert Organization has pledged initial funding for the project, expected to cost $10 million. The producers want to sell tickets at prices below the going Broadway rate but said they will first need concessions from theatrical unions and other creative personnel.