Will LATC Go Back to the City for Its Allowance?

Is Los Angeles Theatre Center serious about cutting its financial cord to the city?

Ask City Councilwoman Joy Picus. On Tuesday, when the council considered the fine print of the city’s agreement to purchase LATC, she offered an amendment that would have deleted language barring the center from asking the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which bankrolled much of LATC’s history, for more moolah.

Citing the agency’s “contractual obligation” to LATC, Picus said: “The CRA made a commitment to revitalize” the neighborhood. “That has not happened.”

Thanks but no thanks, responded LATC’s representative at the council that day, James Hunter, the theater board’s vice president for development.

“I appreciate the (Picus) motion,” he told the council, “but it is the stated intention of the board not to be back” before the council with any more financial requests.

“You’re absolutely crazy, but I withdraw the motion,” replied Picus. Later, she added, “You’re cutting your lifeline when you say you don’t want my amendment.”

Chances are that Picus’ amendment would not have passed. In fact, it may have served only to antagonize other council members who support the city’s purchase of LATC but oppose the expenditure of any more city money on its operations.

“I believe much of the support was based on the fact that there wouldn’t be any more (financial) requests,” said Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores.

“I’m not averse to supporting them,” said Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who had been absent on March 6, when the council tentatively approved the LATC package. “But there are ‘regional’ theaters that have just as much to contribute.” She cited Crossroads Theatre in her own district. “There is a point beyond which LATC is draining the resources” from other theaters, she said.

Longtime LATC nemesis Zev Yaroslavsky applauded Hunter’s avowal that LATC wouldn’t return with cap in hand, but he noted that Hunter could be replaced with officials who might think differently.

Councilman Nate Holden offered this wry assessment of Hunter’s position: “He says, ‘I won’t come back and ask you for more money until I come back and ask you for it.’ ”

With the Picus amendment withdrawn, however, Holden, Galanter and Flores joined the council members who endorsed the details of the LATC agreement. Voting “no” were Yaroslavsky, Marvin Braude and Ernani Bernardi.

LATC’s chief council ally, Richard Alatorre, postponed consideration of the enactment of the LATC ordinance until next week, when he expects two more votes for LATC’s side from Robert Farrell and John Ferraro, who were absent Tuesday. Farrell and a Ferraro spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the absent councilmen plan to vote for the LATC ordinance.

The council’s failure to reach a final decision about LATC last week delayed a foreclosure sale on the LATC building that had been slated for Thursday . The scheduling of the sale was in response to the default of the bonds that helped finance the structure in 1982.

Big Birthdays: “Tamara,” L.A.’s longest running show, marked its 8th birthday Tuesday. And L.A.’s “Phantom of the Opera” will observe its second birthday Friday, one day after becoming L.A.’s longest running musical production ever. Its 839th performance, on Thursday, will break a record previously held by “Hair.”

“The Phantom” has a long way to go to match the number of “Tamara” performances: 2696, as of Thursday. However, “The Phantom,” at the Ahmanson Theatre, is playing for much larger audiences at each performance than is “Tamara” in its Hollywood villa. The capacities of the venues are 2,048 and 130, respectively. By Friday, more than 1,713,502 people will have seen “The Phantom” in L.A.

PCPA Season: PCPA Theaterfest’s “most ambitious and exciting season, ever” is about to begin, according to artistic director Jack Shouse.

Charles Morey’s adaptation of “The Three Musketeers” will open on July 5 in Santa Maria and July 12 in Theaterfest’s outdoor theater in Solvang. This will be its second production, after a 1989 outing at Morey’s Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City. Charles Boushey, founder of the Society of American Fight Directors, will choreograph more than two dozen sword fights.

PCPA also will produce the musicals “Baby” (June 14, Solvang), “Cabaret” (July 5 in Solvang, July 12 in Santa Maria) and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (July 26 in Solvang, August 1 in Santa Maria); Richard Sharp’s adaptation of “Dracula” (July 19 in Solvang, August 9 in Santa Maria) and “King Lear” (July 26 in Santa Maria, August 2 in Solvang), starring James Edmondson of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as Lear.

An Opposing Viewpoint: “Take a look at the smaller theaters,” said George Green in a recent KABC radio editorial. He then suggested checking out “Better Days” at the Cast Theatre, “Independence” at the Gnu Theatre . . . and “City of Angels” at the Shubert.

Come again? The Shubert is one of the city’s largest theaters. And “City of Angels” hasn’t even opened yet.

Elsewhere in his editorial, Green said theater “can cost about the same as a movie and a Diet Coke.” Where does he buy his sodas? “Better Days” tickets cost $15; “Independence” tickets cost $15-$20, and “City of Angels” tickets are going for $30-$50.

“There are no special requirements (to attend theater),” stated Green. “Only that you are a living, breathing member of the human race.” Absolutely no corpses allowed.

Green said theater is like “an AT&T; commercial--you can reach out and touch it.”

“I welcome your comments,” concluded Green. So here goes: It’s laudable of him to encourage attendance at L.A. theaters. But next time, do it so that living, breathing theatergoers don’t wince.