Stoppard, ‘Hapgood’ Expected at Ahmanson; ‘Getting Out’ to Move From Burbage to LATC

Playwright Tom Stoppard will be on hand if his latest play, the spy thriller “Hapgood,” becomes the Center Theatre Group-Ahmanson’s third show of the 1988-89 season, the last to be announced.

The deal is all but signed, according to Ahmanson artistic co-director Robert Fryer.

This latest development makes 1988-89 a potential Ahmanson season to remember--partly because it is crowned by “The Phantom of the Opera” (coming in May), but also because it includes Christopher Hampton’s much-admired “Les Liaisons Dangeureuses” (October) and (in January) the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine Grimm fairy-tale pastiche (pun intended) “Into the Woods.”

“Tom (Stoppard) plans to be here for rehearsals. He’ll be working on the play,” Fryer said, speaking of “Hapgood,” though one shouldn’t infer from this that it’s a play-in-progress. It was produced in London by Michael Codron (“Noises Off,” “The Real Thing”) who will also be associated with this Center Theatre Group production.

Peter Wood will direct and Carl Toms will re-create designs he did for the original London production.

As for the play, it has some situational surprises that won’t be divulged here. Rehearsals begin March 6 with an opening projected for early April. Since this timing coincides with preparations for the “Phantom of the Opera’s” haunting of the Ahmanson, “Hapgood” will open at the Doolittle Theatre in Hollywood, the first Ahmanson production to do so.

“We don’t have a cast yet,” Fryer said, promising a few surprises there too. Felicity Kendall and Roger Rees headlined the show in London and Rees, who may be remembered as the engaging Nicholas in “Nicholas Nickleby,” wouldn’t mind doing it here, if he can clear his schedule, Fryer said.

Wood will be in town this week-end, casting “Liaisons,” which he’s also directing and which features Lynn Redgrave and Frank Langella. We may find out more about “Hapgood” after this visit.

“It’s a real brain twister,” Fryer said, attempting to characterize the play, adding that if it’s successful, it may go on to other cities.

Ironically, “Hapgood” would not have worked at the Ahmanson because of the theater’s size, according to Fryer, who saw the play in London. This reinforces the theory that the move to the Doolittle will most probably broaden the range of CTG-Ahmanson productions. Might “Hapgood” extend at the Doolittle?

“It could,” Fryer said. “It also will take longer to play off the subscription there since we’ll have 1,000 seats instead of 2,000.”

Stay tuned.

ON THE MOVE: Wednesday uncovered the news that “Lies and Legends,” that shimmering revue based on the songs of Harry Chapin, will be moving to the Beverly Canon when its current Pasadena Playhouse run ends Sept. 11 (it re-opens in Beverly Hills Oct. 9).

Now comes the news that Neon Art Productions’ “Getting Out” will be moving from the Burbage Theatre to the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s Theatre 4.

This powerful production of Marsha Norman’s uncompromising play about life after prison will close at the Burbage Sept. 11 and re-open at LATC Sept. 22.

When it does, however, singer/songwriter Carole King, who plays the role of Ruby, won’t be going with it. King will be busy making a new album for Capitol.

NO GETTING IN: Speaking of “Getting Out,” it proved easier last week than getting in. Permission to stage a performance of the play last Sunday at the California Institution for Women at Frontera (where the cast had visited before the play opened) was denied.

Ross Dykes, associate superintendent of administration and public information officer for the institution, said Wednesday, “This play was never processed in terms of getting approval here and our preliminary review is that it’s not acceptable. It has very negative connotations about correctional officers in relation to inmates.”

Isn’t this a form of censorship?

“You may call it whatever you like,” Dykes said, “but there are definite director rules about material that comes into the prison.”

In response to this turndown, Sisters Outside, a group of ex-offenders, will read some original inmate writings after Friday’s performance of “Getting Out.”

THE TEFLON THEATER: Is there theater west of the Rockies?

A Jeffrey Richards press release out of New York about the Cleveland Playhouse’s coming season mentions a revival of Garson Kanin’s “Born Yesterday” and a staging of John Patrick Shanley’s “Italian-American Reconciliation.”

So far, so good. But the “Born Yesterday” (with Ed Asner and Madeline Kahn) is touted as “the first major revival” of this play. And “Italian-American Reconciliation” is even more baldly characterized as “a new play.”

Are they “Moonstruck” or what? The recent large success of the Pasadena Playhouse revival of “Born Yesterday” apparently doesn’t count in this revisionist hype. And Shanley’s own staging last year of “Italian-American Reconciliation” at the Gnu Theatre in North Hollywood must have been noted in disappearing ink.

Is this the Teflon Theater. . . .? And where is Cleveland, anyway?

PIECES & BITS: Actors’ Equity will be conducting a free workshop on its new Actors’ 99-Seat Theatre Plan, Friday 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West. The Actors’ plan, a modification of the Equity Waiver Plan, goes into effect Oct. 3. . . .

The Mark Taper’s ninth season of “Sundays at the Itchey Foot” will be launched Sept. 18 with “Larkin,” a celebration of British poet Philip Larkin’s life and work written and directed by Irish playwright Ron Hutchinson (“Says I, Says He”). . . .

And “Nothing Sacred,” now in previews at the Mark Taper, is offering two tickets for the price of one to fathers and sons who attend the show together. How come? The play is an adaptation of Ivan Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons.” The policy holds for all performances except Sept. 8, but how you prove the relationship is up to you.