‘Byron,’ Bash Launch New CTG Season

The Center Theatre Group launched its 1989-90 season Wednesday night at the James A. Doolittle Theater in Hollywood with the American premiere of “Byron: Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know”--a two-person show about the life of poet George Gordon, Lord Byron.

Afterward, a crowd of 1,000 split into two groups: One attended a reception upstairs at the Doolittle, the other trekked to Ivar Street for a party in the Goldwyn Library.

An Excuse to Party

The August Dog Days have brought their usual social drought, and guests of the CTG seemed happy to have an excuse to break out the power ties and pearls. Forty-five minutes before the show started, a crowd already had clogged the forecourt of the Doolittle. Unlike the usual scene at the Music Center, CTG power brokers slipped in virtually unnoticed, while TV stars were strobed by Instamatics and strafed with autograph books.

The crowd seemed more diverse than usual, too, though many of the usual downtown suspects showed up, as well. Ahmanson producing director Gordon Davidson and his wife, Judi, were there; so were Music Center stalwarts like Esther and Tom Wachtell; Nancy and Alan Livingston; Robert Fryer; and Nancy and Tim Vreeland, who accepted condolences for the death of his mother the day before.

Also appearing were: playwright Edward Albee, who will be directing the Ahmanson’s next production, his “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”; “Woolf” star John Lithgow; “Byron” writer-director Jane McCulloch, and stars Derek Jacobi and Isla Blair; Jayne Meadows and Steve Allen; Barbara Bain; Barry Bostwick; Lloyd Bridges; Maxwell Caulfield and Juliet Mills; Lois Chiles; Carole Cook; Doug Cramer and Shirlee Fonda; Jimmy Doolittle and Ann Miller; Sam Goldwyn Jr.; Fawn Hall; Katherine Helmond; Charlton Heston; Ross Hunter; Ken Kercheval; “Phantom of the Opera” star Dale Kristien with husband Peter Reckell.

Also: City Council members Marvin Braude and Michael Woo; Roddy McDowall; Dorothy McGuire; Donna Mills; Robert Morse; Louis Nye; director Jose Quintero; performance artist Rachel Rosenthal; Doris Roberts; Cesar Romero and Ann Jeffries; Barbara Rush; Jean Stapleton; Peter Strauss; Daniel J. Travanti; and Nancy Walker.

It is, of course, the smash hit “Phantom of the Opera” that has forced the Ahmanson into temporary quarters at the Doolittle. Considering that the Ahmanson has 2,100 seats to the Doolittle’s 1,000, has the shift affected the box office? “We’re not sure yet,” said Lawrence J. Ramer, CTG board president. “Our subscription season started fast, but we’ve still got another month before our first production moves in here.”