Long Beach Booking of ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ Is Derailed : Negotiations: Next spring’s national tour of the Broadway musical may now begin at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

In May, Long Beach Civic Light Opera announced that it would host the opening of the national tour of “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

Now that’s off. Instead, it looks as if we might meet this Broadway musical in Hollywood.

Though no deals have been signed, the best guess is that the tour will originate next spring at the Pantages Theatre, probably as part of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera season. That’s the word from Marvin Krauss, one of the show’s producers.

This switch in venue coincides with the recent move of producers Martin Wiviott and Keith Stava from the Long Beach Civic Light Opera to the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. Did they bring “Meet Me in St. Louis” along with them?

“Marty’s move has nothing to do with it,” said Krauss.

“If we hadn’t moved, the same thing (the switch in venue) would have happened,” added Stava.

So what did happen? According to all concerned, Long Beach never had a signed deal to do “St. Louis.” Wiviott and Stava maintain they had permission to announce the show as part of its season, but Louis Burke, the producer who was then planning the tour, disagrees.

At any rate, the Nederlander Organization, which manages Los Angeles Civic Light Opera and owns the Pantages, was also interested in “St. Louis.” And this was enough to cause the show’s producers to look north to Hollywood.

“Obviously you can make more money at the Pantages than you can in Long Beach,” said co-producer Krauss. A normal run at the Pantages is four or five weeks, compared with a little more than two weeks in Long Beach, said Wiviott.

“We were never disinterested,” said the Nederlander company’s Stan Seiden, adding that the New York production of the show played in a Nederlander theater. “We were still negotiating (for the show) when Long Beach made its announcement. Personally, I think it was a premature announcement.”

As announced earlier this week, the plan is for the show to move to Orange County Performing Arts Center May 14-19 after the Hollywood run. These dates are during the period when Long Beach was going to be presenting the show. Even the Orange County booking has not been signed, said Miles Wilkin, chairman of Pace Theatrical Group, which books musicals for the Orange County center. But Wilkin added that it would be unusual for the deal to be signed this far in advance. And because Pace is co-producing the “St. Louis” tour, the eventual confirmation of the Orange County booking should not pose a problem.

So where does all of this leave Long Beach? Looking for another show to occupy the third slot in its season--on top of its current search for producers to replace Wiviott and Stava.

“We feel we owe our subscribers something terrific, so we’re taking our time” in the search for a replacement show, said Long Beach executive director Pegge Logefeil. Meanwhile, the search for a new producer for the company netted 62 applications, she reported, 10 of whom are “fabulous” and five of whom are “dream producers.” A selection is expected by early September.

“GRAND” PLANS: “Grand Hotel” looks like another strong possibility for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera season, according to Krauss, who is co-producing the tour of the Tommy Tune-directed musical as well as that of “St. Louis.”

Krauss added that the Los Angeles dates for “Grand Hotel” are not as firm as its dates in Costa Mesa, where Orange County Performing Art Center has slated the “Hotel” for April 2-7. But he said he expects the show to play the Pantages for four weeks out of the period between Feb. 5 and March 31. The precise dates depend on which of two possible tour scenarios is adopted, he said. Likewise, dates for San Diego, later in the year, have not yet been firmed up.

It sounds as if “St. Louis” and “Grand Hotel” are both headed for the Pantages at roughly the same time. Might one of them instead play the Nederlander’s Wilshire?

“My guess is they’ll both play the Pantages,” said Nederlander executive Seiden. Overlapping schedules for the two shows “would not be prudent business,” he said.

KATZ AT TAPER: The Mark Taper Forum has hired a new dramaturge, Leon Katz, a former Yale professor. Part -time now, he’ll become a full-time staff member in October. He’s the first official Taper dramaturge since Jack Viertel left the theater in 1987.

TWOFER: Anyone who brings a non-perishable food or household item to the box office of the Doolittle Theatre will receive two tickets for the price of one, good for the matinee performance of “Rumors” next Thursday. The items will go to the “Necessities of Life” program of AIDS Los Angeles. The normal ticket cost ranges from $26 to $32.