Advertisement

‘Liaisons,’ ‘Into the Woods’ Sweeten Ahmanson Season

Share
Times Theater Writer

Sometimes you hope for bread and you get cake.

The Ahmanson Theatre, already in the pink for having bagged “The Phantom of the Opera” as a booking for next May, just announced the balance of its 1988-89 season.

The bread we’d hoped for was Alan Ayckbourn’s “A Small Family Business” and a revival of “A Little Night Music.” The cake we’re getting instead is Christopher Hampton’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” starring Lynne Redgrave (Oct. 26-Dec. 18) and the latest Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical “Into the Woods” (Jan. 4-Feb. 26). A third show (March 15-June 4) remains undetermined.

Contenders for that third spot are the Long Wharf Theatre’s “Ah, Wilderness!” (now a success on Broadway with Colleen Dewhurst, Jason Robards and George Hearn), a revival of William Inge’s “Bus Stop” (Marshall W. Mason to direct) or George C. Scott in Noel Coward’s “Present Laughter.”

Advertisement

Furthermore, Center Theatre Group has made a deal with UCLA to move this third play of the upcoming season to the James A. Doolittle Theatre in Hollywood, as well as subscription seasons to come--as many as necessary.

That’s in order to give “Phantom” the set-up time it will require at the Ahmanson and the chance to remain there for as long it likes. Center Theatre Group board president Lawrence J. Ramer thinks that could be more than two years.

Not only will “The Phantom” pay the Ahmanson’s bills during that time, but “at a certain point we’ll begin to share in the gross,” Ramer said. “At the end of the run we should have the wherewithal to move this theater forward. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

Significantly, “It will give us a chance to take a good look at the reconfiguration of the theater,” he said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but we’ll bring in people to see what can be done. I don’t think it will be that expensive.”

Charles E. Young, UCLA chancellor, expressed equal satisfaction with the arrangement, seeing in it “opportunities for UCLA students to gain valuable experience observing top flight professionals.”

Back to the Ahmanson season. “It’s wonderful,” Ramer said, “and I think that we’ll have an extremely strong subscription. We’re doing the two musicals that got all the Tonys.”

Advertisement

“Liaisons” will be locally mounted (in association with producer James M. Nederlander) on and in designer Bob Crowley’s Broadway sets and costumes. This Hampton adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos’ juicy and slightly sinister 18th-Century novel of sexual corruption won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle award for Best Foreign Play and received seven Tony nominations. No director has been set.

The national company of “Into the Woods,” a collage of Grimm fairy tales (pun intended) that darkly and humorously explodes the myth of living happily ever after, will be rehearsed and launched here, with Lapine again doing the staging and Sondheim on hand throughout.

“I think it’ll be a good Christmas show,” said Ahmanson artistic co-director Robert Fryer, who declared himself equally pleased with the rest of the selections. About the “Ah, Wilderness!” he said: “We’ve always wanted to do it here. It’s a leading contender.

“I’ve suggested to Arvin (Brown, artistic director of the Long Wharf) that we might consider an ongoing relationship, particularly now that we’re moving into the Doolittle. I think the move will also open up a whole new range of actors for us,” he added, explaining that many performers have been reluctant to play the Ahmanson.

Since “Ah, Wilderness!” is playing in repertory on Broadway with a powerful new Jose Quintero staging of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” why not consider bringing both to the Doolittle?

“In fairness, we only talked about ‘Ah, Wilderness!,’ but I might contact Jason (Robards) and Colleen (Dewhurst) about the other.”

Advertisement

The Ahmanson’s other knotty problem, that of finding an appropriate artistic director to succeed Fryer, remains at a standstill.

Fryer was to have retired as artistic director of the Ahmanson at the end of this season. He stayed on when his co-director/successor, Martin Manulis, surrendered the post prematurely. Fryer again stayed on when Marshall W. Mason agreed to serve with him as interim co-director to help whip the ‘88-89 season into shape.

“I’m still here,” Fryer said with a sigh. “I feel like I’m straight out of ‘Follies.’ Marshall definitely can’t do it. He’ll be here till December. I’ll be here till June. Any ideas?”

IN PRAISE OF LEE: You have to admire a guy an awful lot to take an awards luncheon to his doorstep.

That’s exactly what happened Tuesday when the William Inge Festival came all the way from Independence, Kan., to honor playwright Robert E. Lee by presenting him with the William Inge Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre.

More than 75 friends and colleagues crowded into Lee’s Encino home to hear his praises sung by Margaret Goheen, festival artistic director; Norman Cousins, Arthur Hill, Fay Kanin, John Patrick, Stella Adler, Philip Dunne and others. Lee and Jerome Lawrence, his writing partner of 46 years, created 30 plays together, including such award winners as “Inherit the Wind,” “Auntie Mame,” “The Gang’s All Here” and “First Monday in October.”

Advertisement

But that was only half of what was being recognized Tuesday. The other half was the guy himself--a witty, wry, loyal and unassuming man of few words. By the time he got to the podium, where Lawrence had done the introductions, Lee quipped: “Jerry talks; I write.”

OFF AND RUNNING: “Almost Persuaded,” written and performed by Mary Griffin to the background music of Tammy Wynette and other country & Western tunes, will be the next presentation of L.A. Theatre Works. The piece, which opens July 13 at the Tiffany, “is about the sexual abuse of women,” said producing director Susan Loewenberg. Co-producer is Tiffany owner Paula Holt.

The L.A. Theatre Works production of “The Grace of Mary Traverse,” by Timberlake Wertenbaker, has again been postponed, this time to the fall (“I just don’t have the money,” Loewenberg said) and won’t be affected by the change in the Equity Waiver Plan. “I pay my actors anyway,” she said. “The problem is getting enough bucks together to do the thing.”

In the meantime, L.A. Theatre Works is off to Yugoslavia as a participant in the July Yu Fest. It will perform “The Sacred Dump,” the sixth play in Murray Mednick’s “Coyote Cycle” (which Loewenberg produced in 1985), in the cities of Kotor, Mostar, Sarajevo, Subotica, Skopje, Belgrade and Zagreb.

It’s the result of a relationship that dates back to 1982, when Loewenberg had admired festival director Ljubisa Ristic’s “The Liberation of Skopje” in Washington. When Ristic invited L.A. Theatre Works to join in Yu Fest, Mednick’s seven-play “Cycle” seemed the perfect candidate.

“(It) takes place out-of-doors, is based on North American myths and legends and is about the stewardship of the planet,” said Sarah Maultsby, associate producing director. “It’s also nine hours long. . . . So we decided to send one segment of the play and do the entire cycle in Europe next year.”

Advertisement