Advertisement

A Lesson in How to Get a New Musical Produced

Share

What do you do when you’re young, talented, not famous and bent on writing musicals in a market in which it takes a Broadway producer several million dollars and a regional theater anywhere from $150,000 (at the Gaslamp) to $500,000 (at the La Jolla Playhouse) and often more to take a chance on anybody?

You can get your head examined or--like the New York-based team of Steven Lutvak, 30 and writer Mitchell Ivers, 33, or independent San Diego producer/writer/director Wayne Tibbetts, 35--you can examine alternatives to getting that all-important first production mounted.

Such soul-searching, along with an invitation by Robert Chapel, chairman of the musical theater department at San Diego State University, led Lutvak and Ivers to SDSU where, thanks to the perks of free academic labor, the school can bring a full production of “First Star,” a 13-person musical with 14 songs and a 20-piece orchestra, all for a budget of $15,000.

Advertisement

Tibbetts, for an undisclosed sum a source approximated as at least three times over the SDSU budget, has raised money through private investors to mount his new musical, “O’Mary’s,” a seven-person play with two musicians, running Jan. 3-21 at the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre’s Hahn Cosmpolitan.

Both Tibbetts and the Lutvak/Ivers team first examined the possibility of being produced as part of a regional theater’s regular season. When that didn’t pan out, they all pronounced themselves happy with the alternatives they found.

The advantages of the SDSU system are clear to Lutvak and Ivers, who finished their first workshop of “First Star,” a fictionalized story of American’s first theatrical troupe Tuesday. They will take their notes back to their homes in New York and will rewrite for a full production at the school in May.

“No regional theater could have afforded to develop the piece in the way the university is doing it,” said Ivers, who wrote the book and lyrics to Lutvak’s music. “If we were Stephen Sondheim, Playwrights Horizons (the New York workshop theater that had the first reading of “Into the Woods”) we might have raised the money for something of this size. But for people writing in this vein who don’t have that kind of reputation, it’s just too expensive.

Chapel sees the project as mutually rewarding for the university because not only does new theater offer students a special challenge, it gives the university something unique to offer audiences in an increasingly competitive San Diego theater market, he said.

For Tibbetts, the for-profit production presented in cooperation with the nonprofit Gaslamp Quarter Theatre, gives him the opportunity to work with Equity actors in a well-known local Equity theater where he is likely to attract attention and reviewers. The Gaslamp, in turn, benefits from rental fees at a time it would be dark and by being credited in any future productions of “O’Mary’s.”

Advertisement

Tibbetts’ effort, a story about local patrons of a bar called “O’Mary’s” who are trying to save it from being shut down (portraits of the patrons are based loosely on people who frequent the SRO Lounge on 5th and Elm), in many ways seems reminiscent of the story behind “Suds.”

“Suds,” the San Diego musical that began as an independent project by a group of friends at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, was picked up by the Old Globe Theatre as part of its regular season and ultimately played Off-Broadway.

“O’Mary’s,” like “Suds,” is a collaborative effort. Victor Zupanc wrote the music and Tibbetts co-wrote the play with Beverly Bremers, Ric Barr and Michael Thompson. Of course “Suds” eventually lost $600,000 on the Off-Broadway venture (they have since gotten the loss down to just under $500,000), which is not Tibbetts’ goal, but then he needs to make that first production before he gets the opportunity to gamble on the risky New York market.

PROGRAM NOTES: More musical news: The Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company has found a play for its August slot at the Elizabeth North: “Oil City Symphony,” a comic musical by the writers of “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” which won the 1988 Drama Desk Award at Circle in the Square in New York. The show is about a reunion of students from Oil City High School who are giving a recital for their teacher. . . .

“Snake Attack,” a three-woman, one-man rock musical with a five-person band will have its West Coast premiere at Underground at the Lyceum at 10:30 p.m. today and Saturday, and Dec. 15-16. Judy Milstein, Laura Preble, Lisa Miller and James Mooney will perform in Mark Houghtaling’s new musical about relationships in the 1980s. . . .

Got any questions about last year’s or next year’s season at the San Diego Repertory Theatre? Producing director Sam Woodhouse and artistic director Douglas Jacobs will answer subscriber questions Saturday at the Lyceum Stage. The number of positive and negative responses--in letters and calls--to the past season has been “amazing,” said Rep spokeswoman Kirsten Brandt. Now the Rep wants to see what its subscribers have to say in person. . . .

Advertisement

John Vickery, who recently gave a stellar performance as “Macbeth” at the La Jolla Playhouse, returns to the stage of the Mandell Weiss Theatre as a judge--for the fourth annual Young Performers Drama Festival Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 9 a.m. Eleven San Diego high schools will be presenting scenes to be judged by Vickery, actress Gloria Mann (from a Playhouse production of “Once in a Lifetime”) and UCSD professor Ron Ranson. One student will receive a scholarship to the Young Performers Summer Workshop and the winning ensemble will be invited to preview performances at the Playhouse. . . .

Vaclav Havel, author of “The Memorandum,” playing at the North Coast Repertory Theatre Jan. 19-Feb. 24, was awarded a $13,000 literary prize by the West German book trade in October. He donated the money to an organization that helps banned authors get their works published in the Eastern bloc. No surprise to find that a favorite cause of Havel’s. His own works have never been produced in his native Czechoslovakia because of censorship. He was even denied permission, by his government, to travel to West Germany to accept his prize (actor Maximilian Schell accepted for him). Havel also received the $15,000 Olaf Palme Prize from Sweden’s Social Democratic Party for the promotion of peace and human rights. . . .

Paxton Whitehead, named best actor by the San Diego Critics Circle this year for his work in “The School for Scandal” at the Old Globe Theatre, is now appearing in Tom Stoppard’s “Artist Descending a Staircase” at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway.

Advertisement