Soviets Are Now Willing to Take ‘A Walk in Woods’

When Des McAnuff, artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse, suggested directing “A Walk in the Woods” last year at Moscow’s Sovremennik Theatre, the answer was nyet .

McAnuff still attributes the rejection of the Yale Repertory Theatre smash that went on to the La Jolla Playhouse, Broadway and London to the politically sensitive nature of Lee Blessing’s play. “A Walk in the Woods” is a fictional re-creation of the real story of Soviet and American arms negotiators Yuli A. Kvitsinsky and Paul Nitze, whose attempts to reach an agreement were foiled by their own intransigent governments.

Blessing’s thesis is that the governments have a stake in the arms race; if the United States and the Soviet Union didn’t have nuclear arms with which to frighten other countries, his Russian negotiator points out, what would America be but a rich Canada, and the Soviet Union, but a fat Poland?

But the show is now a go for the Vachtangov Theatre in Moscow in May--complete with the Broadway cast. Bob Edelman, a professor of Russian history at UC San Diego, suggests that one reason for the change of heart may be that the original “walk in the woods” was taken during the Brezhnev administration and it is now “officially quite all right” to criticize the Brezhnev years.

“They call it the Era of Stagnation--that’s the official line on it,” he said.

McAnuff recalled three reasons for the play’s rejection last year: the Russians never recognized the “walk in the woods;” the peace proposal in the play came from the American, and the one most often stressed--which McAnuff said he heard unofficially--the Soviets “are not used to seeing Soviet officials portrayed as human beings. There is no White House in Russia. No one knows where Gorbachev lives. The whole concept of a Soviet official wanting to be frivolous with his American counterpart is not part of the vocabulary. But clearly that’s changing.”

Another key factor in selling the play to the Russians was the interest in the role of the Russian negotiator shown by Mikhail Ulanov, who is famous in Russia both for his acting and his friendship with Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

Ulanov and another Russian actor will rehearse the play with McAnuff at the Playhouse this summer and take over the parts at the Vachtangov in the fall.

There’s a possibility that one of those San Diego rehearsals may be opened to the public, McAnuff said. And there’s a chance that McAnuff may meet Gorbachev himself if the premier shows up to see his friend perform in the play in Moscow.

“I’d have a lot of questions I’d like to ask him. But probably all I’ll be able to do is shake his hand and toast him with a glass of white Georgia wine,” McAnuff said.

Meanwhile, McAnuff is gearing up for more Soviet reversals.

As of now, the Sovremennik is planning to have him direct his own play, a rock musical called “The Death of Von Richtofen as Witnessed From Earth” with Russian actors in the fall. But, if the Russians--who rarely do musicals--find the form too complicated, he is ready to replace “Von Richtofen” with “Mary Stuart.”

PROGRAM NOTES: Will San Diego’s Soviet Arts Festival get the new Stanislavski exhibit that will start touring the United States in the fall? Bruce Joseph, artistic director of Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s Soviet Arts Festival, called Edith Markson, president of the Theater International Exchange Service in New York, to make inquiries. The exhibit would include costumes, memorabilia, photographs and possibly master classes in the famous acting method. . . . Markson said she also has had inquiries from the Soviets about “The Grapes of Wrath,” the London-bound Steppenwolf Theatre Company production-in-progress that will kick off the La Jolla Playhouse season May 14-June 17.

The National Theatre for Children will present “The Wizard of Oz,” at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art May 1-4. The West Coast office of this touring group, located in San Diego, was founded by Andrea Christian five years ago. Christian handles everything west of Texas while Laurie Wagman, who founded the national organization in Philadelphia, tours in the east. Christian doesn’t feel any competition with Wagman, with whom she shares more than children’s theater. “We love each other,” Christian says. “She’s my mom!”

The good news for those who won’t travel to Disneyland is that Disneyland is minutes away via Walt Disney’s “Magic Kingdom on Ice,” a charming retelling of the “Pinocchio” tale with appealing acting, virtuoso skating and imaginative costumes--from dancing dolls at the toy shop to fish floating in the glowingly lit sea scenes. Adults may prefer the elegant dancing; the kids will be rewarded for their patience at the slow numbers with guest appearances by Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy throughout the show, playing through Sunday at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Actress Judy Milstein, who boasts one line in “Working Girl,” is definitely on the comedic fast track in San Diego. The coordinator of the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Underground at the Lyceum, a late-night sketch cafe, has just been promoted from understudy to full-time cast member of the Rep’s long-running “Six Women with Brain Death or Expiring Minds Want to Know.”

San Diego Civic Light Opera Association (Starlight) just got the rights to “My One and Only,” a work better known for its classic George and Ira Gershwin songs (“ ‘S Wonderful,” “Funny Face,” “Strike Up the Band”) than for its plot--an aviator who wants to impress a girl who swam across the English channel by recreating Lindbergh’s flight path. “My One and Only” will replace “Pal Joey,” July 26-Aug. 13 at the Starlight Bowl.