Harmonious Chord for Regional Theater : Theater: La Jolla Playhouse’s link with Orange County Performing Arts Center on ‘Forum’ holds promise for further cooperation.

Once upon a time, musical tours were like the sun. They rose in the East and set in the West.

But, by joining forces with the La Jolla Playhouse on “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa wants to change this law of nature.

By providing half the costs of the playhouse production, now playing at the Mandell Weiss Theatre through Aug. 12, the center will get its own run of “Forum” from Aug. 17-26, said Thomas R. Kendrick, president of the Orange County center.

Both the La Jolla Playhouse and the center have much to gain from such a partnership--if it works.

For the playhouse--which, like most regional theaters, appreciates a partner to help shoulder the financial burden of producing shows--Orange County could be a continuing source of support for playhouse musicals.

No one will give exact figures, but Kendrick and Alan Levey, managing director of the playhouse, agree that the project costs more than $500,000, with the playhouse paying half.

The center’s ultimate hope for the marriage, however, is that a continuing source of musicals will develop for the center.

Kendrick said he would like nothing better than to supplement the half-dozen musicals it gets annually from the Pace Theatrical Group, a distributor of musicals that usually come from Broadway or are heading toward Broadway. Musicals are traditional budget busters for any troupe but also

bring in the money that helps pay for dance and classical music events.

And, if the musicals are picked up by other producers and go on tour--well, that’s even more profitable for both the center and playhouse.

“A future tour could fulfill their recoupment needs,” said the president of Pace Theatrical, Scott Zeiger, who plans to fly in from his Houston office this week to check out the show.

“It could mean royalty payments. It could mean prestige. If they generate a product that goes further than two buildings, they can attract bigger stars. It also means that this plan of investing that they have put together is viable, and they should continue to do it.”

If Zeiger likes what he sees, Pace itself may pick up the show for distribution.

Pace has 23 markets and 250,000 subscribers to supply shows for, Zeiger said. Broadway’s musical output is limited and producers of smash hits like “The Phantom of the Opera” opt for lengthy runs in Los Angeles instead of touring the country. That leaves Pace on the lookout for shows with commercial viability.

“I’m going to see if it’s as good as they say,” said Zeiger, referring to the glowing reviews sent to him by the playhouse along with a letter from Des McAnuff, addressed to Pace chairman Miles Wilkin, inviting him to the show.

“We always have interest in shows that have a capability of touring. The only problem is that we would have to work hard and fast if we want it to tour now, because so many shows are already routed and planned. If the show could be shut down and restored and regenerated for next season, that would be more realistic.

“But, if it’s a slam-dunk hit, there’s always room for something like that.”

Despite their obvious interest in a future life for “A Funny Thing,” playhouse and Orange County spokesmen stress that no one is counting on a life beyond their two venues for the show.

Kendrick pointed out that the show is already paid for, even if the project goes no further than the center.

The keen interest both parties show in this partnership is a microcosm of the larger search for partnerships in the regional theater circuit right now. As an increasing number of theater managers find that individual organizations can no longer face mounting production costs and shrinking funds on their own, the regional theater scene is beginning to resemble a giant square dance, with everyone facing off to new partners every few shows.

For example, the La Jolla Playhouse co-produced its musical “Dangerous Games” last season with Spoleto Festival U.S.A. in Charleston, S.C., and the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia. It also co-produced “The Misanthrope” with the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center, too, is not new to the partnership game. It helped finance a production of “Anything Goes” starring Mitzi Gaynor with Pace Theatrical--but just broke even, said Zeiger. It also co-produced “Strike Up the Band” and “Babes in Toyland” with the California Musical Theatre in Pasadena. The center didn’t lose on the shows, Kendrick said, but the collaboration was less than satisfying. The Pasadena company “never had enough money to do it right,” he said.

Some theater directors seem to thrive on changing partners. But, just as theaters like to rely on a certain core of artists, one can see a reaching out for long-term relationships between theaters with shared visions.

In the case of the center and playhouse, Kendrick said he has been an admirer of artistic director McAnuff for years.

He added that the center had successful runs of two shows directed by McAnuff that played there as part of tours originating elsewhere: “Big River,” which McAnuff directed at the Playhouse and later on Broadway, winning seven Tony awards (one for McAnuff as best director) and the national tour of “Chess.”

Still, the partnership seemed jarring to some industry watchers who question whether these two organizations share a vision or just an economic sensibility.

These observers have wondered whether the choice of “A Funny Thing” reflects the tastes of the playhouse or the center. They ask whether the playhouse traded its artistic respectability for the center’s investment and a chance to sell more tickets.

The playhouse, after all, has never done a standard American musical such as “Forum,” an oft-revived 1962 Stephen Sondheim comedy, loosely based on the works of Plautus, about a Roman slave plotting for his freedom, which has been done by nearly every community theater and high school in the country.

The playhouse built its musical reputation on new works such as “Big River,” “Shout Up a Morning,” “Maybe I’m Doing It Wrong,” “Merrily We Roll Along” (a Stephen Sondheim musical reworked here) and “Dangerous Games.”

The center, on the other hand, is known for popular “Forum”-like fare: “Gypsy,” starring Tyne Daly, “Fiddler on the Roof,” starring Topol, “Anything Goes,” starring Mitzi Gaynor, and “The King and I,” starring Rudolf Nureyev.

Actually, said Kendrick, it was McAnuff who chose “Forum”--much to Kendrick’s surprise.

“There was no preconceived idea of what the musical could be,” Kendrick said. “Knowing Des, we would not have been surprised if it had been a new musical or a revival of a lesser-known musical. We were a little bit surprised at the time. If it were a lesser-known director, we would have questioned it, because ‘Forum’ has been done 100 different ways.

“But it turns out that we’re not going to do ‘Forum’ as much as we are going to do Des McAnuff’s vision of ‘Forum.’ ”

McAnuff bristles at the suggestion that commercial considerations had any weight in his decision to do the show.

“I love this musical,” he said in a written statement. “We had no way of knowing how our audiences would respond to the idea of the playhouse doing an older musical. The choice of ‘Forum’ was, in fact, made because we wanted to do a classic American musical for artistic reasons. I’ve been saying for years that we’ve been looking to do an old musical because we wanted to recognize the legitimacy of the genre as an essential part of the American theatrical repertoire.”

McAnuff is directing the old standard as a new musical, a treatment that he said is actually helped by the fact that he has never before seen a production of “Forum.”

And McAnuff is not put off by how many times the show has been done. Or by the fact that, the last time the show toured, with Mickey Rooney in the lead, it was panned and the tour ended prematurely.

“Amateur groups produce ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ but that doesn’t mean it’s an amateur play,” said McAnuff. “The trouble with musicals is that you tend to get outdated productions that are out of step. They aren’t done often enough by people who are serious students of drama.”

He is familiar with the book and score, but the closest he has come to seeing it is in “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” in which the overture to “Forum” is one of the show’s highlights.

In the process of working on the show, out went the old choreography, sets and orchestration. Two songs, one of which was shortened and the other eliminated from the original production, have been restored: “The House of Marcus Lycus” and “The Echo Song.”

The fresh look of the show worked for the critics. Sylvie Drake of The Times called it “a truly funny thing: a vivid, fast-moving, new-vision ‘Forum’ for the ‘90s.” And Welton Jones of the San Diego Union said, “Anybody who doesn’t fall in love with (it) is just not paying attention.”

It’s working for the audiences who are filling the Mandell Weiss Theatre to capacity.

And, if it works for Pace Theatrical, it will be just another good thing that happened on the way to the “Forum.”