STAGE : The Bowery Finds a New Home in Gaslamp Quarter

The Bowery Theatre has a new home in the Gaslamp Quarter--the Onyx Building at 860 5th Ave. The theater hopes to hold off on the move until Jan. 1, when renovations are completed on its new space, but that depends on the new owner of the New Palace Hotel, the Bowery’s present home.

The Downtown Senior Corp., run by Mavoureen O’Connor, twin sister of Mayor Maureen O’Connor, at one point sent the Bowery a letter saying the theater company would have to leave the premises by June 30, 1988. No official of Downtown Senior returned the calls of either John Howard, president of the board of the Bowery, or the managing director of the theater, Mickey Mullany. But Howard said he has a promise from Ed Whitler, the attorney of the Downtown Senior, that the theater will be allowed to stay until the Downtown Senior begins renovating the New Palace around the beginning of the year.

Downtown Senior has continued to accept rent from the Bowery--a good sign, Mullany said.

In the meantime, just as the Bowery disregarded the June 30 eviction notice when it came in the midst of its recently closed extended hit, “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” the theater is proceeding as planned with its next production, a double bill of Romulus Linney one-acts set to open July 22 for a six-week run.

The Bowery’s move will mark a transition from one pillared 5,000-square-foot basement to another but with a difference, said Mullany. The new space is being designed by architect Rob Quigley with the Bowery in mind. Ideally, said Mullany, it will be a flexible space that can be altered to a theater in the round or one with a proscenium effect depending on the production.

The new site’s proximity to Horton Plaza moves it to a safer area with more secure parking. Bowery patrons will no longer have the 11 p.m. curfew that was imposed when they shared space with tenants of the New Palace. And, for the first time in the history of the 6-year-old Bowery, the theater will have a marquee.

“We found it at just the right time,” Howard said of the space. “And we’re making the move at just the right time. We have a new artistic director (Ralph Elias), new spirit, new volunteers and now we’ve got a new theater.”

Still, Mullany said the eviction notice, served shortly after the previous owner of the New Palace sold the property to Downtown Senior in March, was an unnerving event.

“On July 1, I was expecting to walk out here and find a big bolt on the door,” Mullany said. “And we would have walked the audience to the Lyceum Space.” The Space, where Mullany would have held the show, is now being readied for the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s July 27 opening of “The Colored Museum.”

Solomon was a much-loved landlord of the Bowery who understood the financial ups and downs of a small theater. His going-away present to the Bowery was to waive the last few months’ rent. The Bowery’s going-away present to him was a tribute June 30 at Alcazar Gardens, where management presented him with a crew and cast-signed photograph of “When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?” “Red Ryder” was one of the Bowery’s greatest successes.

“It’s been interesting dealing with the new owners because they’re so distant,” Mullany said, wistfully. “With Al Solomon we were on a first-name basis. He had sympathy.”

The announcement of the September opening of “Suds” at New York’s Criterion Center marks the beginning of a long stretch of previews, according to Bryan Scott, who created the show along with fellow San Diegans Melinda Gilb and Steve Gunderson. The official opening date is Sept. 22, exactly one year to the day that “Suds” debuted as a workshop production at the San Diego Repertory Theatre.

The Rep will get its name plastered all over “Suds,” along with the Old Globe Theatre, which produced the first full-scale production. “Suds,” a musical homage to the ‘60s draped gauzily around a Cinderella story set in a Laundromat, had a seven-week record-breaking run at the Old Globe this spring.

“Suds” got its initial break at the Old Globe when Neil Simon postponed “A Foggy Day,” a musical he planned to premiere there. Now “Rumors,” a new Simon play, will premiere at the Globe on the same day “Suds” opens in New York. Not surprisingly, given the Simon name, “Rumors” is already scheduled for Broadway, where it will open Nov. 8 under the direction of Gene Saks. The rumors in the title revolve around a gunshot, mistaken affairs and a missing hostess at an anniversary party. The show will star Christine Baranski, Andre Gregory, Ken Howard, Ron Leibman, Mark Nelson, Joyce Van Patten and Jessica Walter.

The fourth annual San Diego Critics Circle Awards ceremony is slated for Oct. 23. Not joining the critics, sadly, will be Gerald Davis of the San Diego Jewish Times who died June 23 of a heart attack. Davis wrote a column on theater with his wife, Carol Davis, who will now continue the column without him. It’s the second such tragedy in two years for the Circle. Last year, Kathlyn Russell, who wrote reviews for Variety, also died of a heart attack.