USIU Theater Company Decides to Pass on ‘Dolly’

Goodby, Dolly!--at least for now. The International Musical Theatre Company of USIU is canceling its February production of “Hello, Dolly!” at the Lyceum Stage, and rescheduling it for the opening of next season at the Theatre in Old Town. Despite rumors to the contrary, the financially troubled university is not canceling for financial reasons, according to a USIU spokeswoman , but because “We’ve just concluded with regret that it’s too big a bone for these kids to chew at this time.”

Instead, United States International University subscribers will get “Talking with . . . “ at the Theatre in Old Town March 15-25. And, at the Lyceum, San Francisco producer and theater owner Charles H. Duggan, who already had a slot reserved at the Lyceum Stage, will use the extra time to present “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” the Tony-award winning tribute to the music of Fats Waller, with the original New York cast Feb. 13-March 4, and “Jeeves Takes Charge” with its original London star, Edward Duke, March 13-April 1.

“Ain’t Misbehavin’,” which closed Sunday in Dallas, will leave San Diego for an April 3-29 Tokyo run in a 1,000-seat theater, with a possible one-week stopover in Osaka, before returning to San Francisco.

Duggan had been negotiating until the eleventh hour for the San Diego rights to “Nunsense,” which he had produced in San

Francisco with Phyllis Diller. But the rights were not to be released for this city until the end of April, too close to the beginning of the San Diego Repertory Theatre season, he said from his office in San Francisco. Still, “Nunsense,” starring Diller, is a good bet for next year, he said.

“Jeeves Takes Charge” was licensed by Duggan for an Old Globe Theatre production in 1988, but with San Diego actor Don Sparks in the one-man show under Duke’s direction. Duggan doesn’t think that will hurt sales for a “Jeeves Takes Charge,” with the original London star--Duke, directed by Gillian Lynne, the choreographer for “Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats.”

After all, he points out, the audiences came out strongly for Duggan’s production of “Greater Tuna” with the original cast at the Lyceum Stage last year, which was four years after the Old Globe had produced their own version of “Greater Tuna” with their own cast (which included Larry Drake, now an Emmy-winning regular on “L.A. Law”).

USIU, coincidentally, also had a successful run with a student cast for “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” in 1988.

And, for “Greater Tuna” groupies, Duggan reports that the sequel to “Greater Tuna,” called “Tuna Christmas,” is alive and well and playing at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The Texas-inspired show, still running in San Francisco after six years, was evidently a big hit with President Bush, who took his wife, Barbara, to see the show on their 45th wedding anniversary, and followed up the show with a breakfast for the Bushes and “Greater Tuna” stars Jaston Williams and Joe Sears.

The show is due to close at the Kennedy Center on Feb. 4, which is “about the longest you push a Christmas show,” Duggan said. But there will be a final performance at the White House on Feb. 28 for the Governor’s Conference in the East Room.

Duggan has already proposed producing “Tuna Christmas” at the Lyceum in time for the holiday season, but said if he is turned down (because of the show’s possible conflict with the San Diego Rep’s annual “A Christmas Carol”), he will pitch it elsewhere--possibly to the Old Globe, which books rather than produces in December.

“That would work out very nicely,” Duggan said.

PROGRAM NOTES: Doug Jacobs, artistic director of the San Diego Repertory Theatre, returned to San Diego from a trip to England, Ireland and Scotland on Saturday night, but his wife, actress Darla Cash, was sidetracked on the New York stopover. Her friend, playwright Allan Havis (a professor at UC San Diego) wanted her to perform in the premiere of his play, “The Bartered Bride” at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn. Cash, who had done the play in a staged reading at the South Coast Repertory Theatre, took the role and will open in three weeks. . . .

Lillian Garrett-Groag, who directed “The Granny,” still running at the Old Globe’s Cassius Carter Centre Stage through Feb. 18, is one of 12 finalists in the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a prize given to women playwrights. Garrett-Groag was honored for her play, “Ladies of the Camellias,” a story about legendary actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse that was produced in the Old Globe’s Play Discovery program. The winner and a runner-up will be announced in February. Past finalists have included Marsha Norman, Beth Henley and Caryl Churchill. . . .

The Performing Arts Theatre for the Handicapped (PATH) just received $2,500 from the City of Carlsbad Arts Commission to hire additional teachers and acting coaches. The theater, which mainstreams disabled performers, is presenting “The Curious Savage” in La Costa through Feb. 18. Other theaters among the eight arts organizations to receive grants from a $15,000 total are the Carlsbad Youth Theatre, which received $1,000 for a February production of “The Hobbit” and the Patrons of the Arts Foundation, which received $4,000 to produce a 1990 summer musical at the Carlsbad Community Cultural Center. . . .

In honor of Black History Month, KPBS Radio will present a 30-minute documentary called “August Wilson’s Sacred Book,” about playwright August Wilson, author of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” and “The Piano Lesson,” both of which played at the Old Globe Theatre, and “Fences.” The show airs Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. . . .

Charlene Baldridge, better known locally as a public-relations officer at the Old Globe Theatre, is the writer of “Winter Roses,” playing at the Itchey Foot Ristorante in Los Angeles today and Saturday.