Brooks to Take ‘Laundry’ to Coronet

James L. Brooks is directing a play.

The TV and movie hyphenate, known for the Mary Tyler Moore and “Taxi” series and such movies as “Terms of Endearment” and “Broadcast News,” will direct Glenn Close, Laura Dern and Woody Harrelson in “Brooklyn Laundry,” a new play by Lisa-Maria Radano at the Coronet Theatre in West Hollywood.

It will be Brooks’ debut as a stage director. Previews begin April 21, with the run scheduled May 1-12.

Columbia Pictures is bankrolling the project as part of a deal between Columbia and Brooks’ production company, Gracie Films. The estimated budget is around $165,000, said co-producer (and Gracie executive vice president) Polly Platt.

Radano was writing for the Tracey Ullman series, which Gracie produced, when Platt asked her to write a screenplay. Radano turned in a play instead, “and it’s such a perfect play, I’m not inspired to make a movie out of it,” said Platt. But she does hope to take the production to New York.

When Platt mentioned it to Brooks, “it never occurred to me he would say he would direct it,” said Platt.

But co-producer Laurence Mark recalled that “Jim has always been intrigued with the notion of getting into the theater.”

To save money, Platt--an award-winning production designer of movies--is designing the set and costumes as part of her producing duties. And the cast is working for Equity scale, she said. The producers had to sublease the theater from the Serendipity children’s theater company, which altered its own schedule in order to accommodate the production.

Radano’s “The Secret Sits in the Middle” was well-received when it was staged at the Third Street Theatre a year ago.

$10-Million Balcony Job?: When “The Phantom of the Opera” is but a phantom at the Ahmanson Theatre, look upstairs to see what happens next.

The current plan of would-be Ahmanson remodelers is to extend the balconies forward by several rows, install ballroom-style partitions at the back of the balconies in order to block off the most remote seats for more intimate productions, and hang a thin layer of balcony seating along the sides of the hall.

The idea is to shrink the 2,071-seat hall down to 1,400 seats for spoken drama, yet enable it to return to at least its current size for future mega-musicals like “The Phantom of the Opera.” The work could take as long as a year.

Of course, none of this can happen until “The Phantom” takes his final bow. “Phantom” tickets are on sale through Dec. 22, and further extensions are possible.

It’s not likely to happen without at least $10 million, either. That’s the lowest of the construction cost estimates. A more specific estimate isn’t expected until the architects, Ellerbe Becket, turn in their blueprints within the next three months.

“It will require a fund-raising campaign,” said Lawrence G. Ramer, Center Theatre Group board president, “but we’re also hopeful we’ll be looked-on favorably by the county”--which owns the Music Center. “The need is great, and we believe the funds will be there when we need it.”

The Music Center, Music Center Operating Co. and Center Theatre Group are jointly underwriting the architectural costs, which Ramer estimated at around $400,000, on top of $100,000 contributed by the Ahmanson Foundation last year for initial presentations from three architectural firms and Theatre Projects, a Connecticut-based consulting firm. Theatre Projects will assist Ellerbe Becket in preparing the blueprints.

Ellerbe Becket is the descendant of the same firm, Welton Becket, that designed the Ahmanson Theatre three decades ago. This raised a few eyebrows when the finalists for the Ahmanson commission were announced last year. As one source phrased it, “Would they think their building is too precious?”

But none of the individuals who designed the original would be involved in the remodeling, said the firm’s design principal, Lou Naidorf, adding, “A lot of improvements need to be made, and we think they can be.”

‘Birdie’ to Fly North?: Plans are underway for the “Bye Bye Birdie” tour starring Tommy Tune, which is scheduled to open at Long Beach Civic Light Opera in May, to move on to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center in July.

Ballard at Fonda: “Hey, Ma--Kaye Ballard Working Hollywood Boulevard At Last!” is the title of a one-woman show to be performed by, yes, Kaye Ballard at the Henry Fonda Theatre, opening May 8 for at least four weeks. It combines highlights of two solo outings Ballard has done in New York. Ballard tried out the show several months ago in her home town of Palm Springs and has already recorded a cast album, which will be released in time for the Hollywood opening, where she will be accompanied by a 13-piece onstage orchestra. In the meantime, she’s appearing in “Funny Girl” in Long Beach.

Mitchell Speaks: What did Joni Mitchell think of “The Joni Mitchell Project,” the revue of her work that recently played Los Angeles Theatre Center?

“Watching it was a pleasant experience and people really enjoyed it,” Mitchell told Robert Hilburn of The Times. “I saw the potential for what it really could be.”

And yet. “There were some little things that needed correction and some things that needed genuine overhauling. . . . They hadn’t really found much of a theme to hang it on. In there, I think, there were several little musicals. It made me want to revamp it. . . . I’d like to get involved, make it a little more of a musical than a revue . . . and then I’d like to write a musical from scratch.

“People say, ‘Oh, no one else can sing your songs,’ and I always say, ‘That’s ridiculous,’ ” she added, “and this proved I was right. . . . Some can and some can’t.” She particularly lauded the contributions of cast members Hinton Battle and Ren Woods.

Meetings are being held to consider the show’s future, said Barry Krost, who brought the “Project” to LATC in his dual role as LATC board member and business partner of Mitchell’s manager. Mitchell will have “great input in it. But she won’t perform.”