Starlight May Resurrect USO Era for New Musical

Starlight Musical Theatre has been talking about doing a new show for years. Now it looks as if the company has finally made its choice--a still untitled musical about the United Service Organization (USO) in Southern California at the start of World War II.

Starlight commissioned the musical from Anthony Stimac, founder and artistic director of Musical Theatre Works in New York, and tested out the show in a staged reading last Saturday at San Diego City College in the fourth workshop of its 1990 Prelude series.

The story follows the lives of three women performers who fall in love with servicemen and follow them to the South Pacific. While new music was written for it by Peter Ekstrom and lyricist Steve Hays, the story draws heavily from classic songs, including “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” “Over There” and “You’re in the Army Now.”

Whether Starlight can get the rights to perform these standards in the show is one of the questions the company is currently pursuing.

If all goes well, the show may play Starlight Bowl as early as August, 1991, said James Dark, president of the Board of Trustees. If it is not ready for the 1991 season, Dark said the musical may open the 1992 season.

This move toward commissioning a new play comes at a time when Starlight is finding it harder to come up with musicals new to San Diego.

There aren’t a lot of new musicals out there for Starlight to choose from, Dark said. Shows like ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ ‘Cats’ and ‘Starlight Express’ may never be released to regional theaters, and recent hits like “Grand Hotel,” “City of Angels” and “Meet Me in St. Louis” have been reserved for touring companies for at least the next few years.

That leaves Starlight looking at shows that have been around the block a few times, like “Cinderella” and “Man of La Mancha.” Also under consideration is “Babes in Arms,” which includes the songs “The Lady is a Tramp” and “My Funny Valentine” from the film version of “Pal Joey.”

Not coincidentally, Starlight’s backward look also comes at a time when Starlight is looking at the box office--nervously. Starlight relies upon its box office for 75% of its revenues, and a disappointing turnout for its first attempt at Sondheim, the critically acclaimed season opener “Follies,” made the board of trustees anxious, according to several sources.

“Our subscription base is going down,” said Dark. “Starlight has always been and will always be a very successful operation. We operate in the black. But even a slight dip in subscription base hurts you. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope we break even this year.”

But why the drop in subscription base? Are people getting tired of the old standards or are people turning off at Starlight’s recent attempts to try something new? Are people turning away from the planes that plague the Starlight Bowl or would the company lose its audience altogether if it dared to move?--probably a moot point, since Starlight’ lease with the city for the Bowl runs for another 17 years.

Or is Starlight’s audience aging out of the picture? And are the tried-and-true musicals failing to bring in younger fans and different audiences.

No one knows. In the meantime, Starlight is trying to please the old audience as well as the audience that wants something new by commissioning new shows, like the USO show, which will have an old-fashioned feel to them.

Starlight will also continue to look to Musical Theatre Works as an ongoing source of new material.

“We will basically be their West Coast branch and we will continue the Prelude series every year,” said Dark. “Our Board is committed to it.”

The next new musical coming into town will come via Lamb’s Players Theatre, which will present the West Coast premiere of a new Off-Broadway-bound musical Oct. 5-Nov. 11.

Robert Smyth, the artistic director of the small National City theater troupe, said he has had his eye on “Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller” for at least four years, since it originated with an Indiana company called the New Harmony Project.

Writer Mark St. Germain adapted the book from a story by Stephen Vincent Benet about a man’s 70-year quest to outwit death, also known as “the foolkiller.” The music and lyrics are by Randy Courts. Deborah Gilmour Smyth, Lamb’s associate director will direct.

Smyth learned about the musical from one-time Lamb’s Players Theatre ensemble member David McFadzean, who was instrumental in starting the New Harmony Project.

Producer Carolyn Copeland produced the show at the George Street Theatre in New Jersey and is now planning for an Off-Broadway run. Copeland, a longtime friend of Smyth’s, gave Lamb’s the opportunity to do the West Coast premiere. Lamb’s will not be involved in the New York run.

PROGRAM NOTES: Rumors are heating up about stars reportedly going to check out the staged reading of the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s new musical, “The Life and Life of Bumpy Johnson,” Sept. 29 and 30 at Newark Symphony Hall in Newark, New Jersey. Spike Lee and Bill Cosby are said to be interested in Amiri Baraka’s script about real-life black gangster Bumpy Johnson. Johnson became a hero in his community by using his money to help bankroll the Harlem Renaissance. George Ferencz is directing and jazz Hall of Famer Max Roach is writing the music. The show will have its world premiere at the Rep in January. . . . San Diego Playgoers will present “Les Miserables” and “City of Angels”--along with “Grand Hotel”--on its fall season schedule. The dates will be decided this week, said Stan Seiden, president of the Nederlander organization which presents the San Diego Playgoer series. . . . The San Diego Repertory Theatre is hoping to remount its successful production of Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This” beginning Oct. 17 if it can sign the original cast. So far it has lined up three out of the four actors. . . . Craig Noel, executive producer of the Old Globe Theatre, celebrates his 75th birthday Saturday, but the big “Birthday Fantasy” celebration will be mounted as an Old Globe Gala Oct. 13. Noel, who won an award from the San Diego Critics Circle for his directing just last year, has invested 53 of those 75 years at the Old Globe. . . . Lamb’s Players Theatre will rent the Lyceum Space Sept. 19-30 to present its artistic director, Robert Smyth, in the one-man play, “Damien,” about the priest who devoted his life to caring for the lepers in a leper colony. Smyth is actively looking for a permanent downtown space for his National City company, and will explore a less conventional downtown venue when the company brings “Dickens, Dining and Song,” a production of “A Christmas Carol” along with a very real Christmas dinner to St. Paul’s Cathedral Dec. 12-23. . . . In the musical chairs department: Steve Bevans, Starlight’s acting general manager, has resigned to become the new managing director for the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company. Alfred J. Dillon is Starlight’s new managing director and Starlight is launching a nationwide search for an executive director/chairman of the board.