Joe Spano to Star in SCR’s Comic Opener

Joe Spano, best known as Lt. Henry Goldblum of “Hill Street Blues,” will lead the cast of Alan Ayckbourn’s “A Chorus of Disapproval,” the opening production of South Coast Repertory’s 1989-90 season.

The British comedy, to be directed by SCR’s Producing Artistic Director David Emmes, will run on the SCR Mainstage from Sept. 8 to Oct. 12, with discount-priced preview performances beginning Sept. 1. The play tracks the progress of a shy widower, played by Spano, who joins an amateur theater troupe as a walk-on and advances to the lead role in “The Beggar’s Opera.”

Co-starring will be David Schramm, a Broadway and Off-Broadway actor who appears in the film “Let It Ride,” which opened Friday.

Spano, a veteran of the L.A. theater scene and an Emmy nominee for his role in “Hill Street Blues,” will be returning to SCR where he made his company debut last year in “School for Scandal.” The performance earned him an L.A. Drama Critics Circle nomination.

Tickets to the Ayckbourn play range from $16 to $28 and are available only as part of subscription packages until Aug. 21, when single tickets will go on sale.