Latino Lab’s ‘Virgen’ to Be a Million Dollar Christmas Production

The Latino Theatre Lab, formerly associated with Los Angeles Theatre Center, has begun rehearsing its first post-LATC show, “La Virgen del Tepeyac.” The lab hopes to present 15 performances at the Million Dollar Theatre on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, Dec. 11-22.

The million-dollar question: Why not do the show at LATC? After all, it was the Latino Lab that refused to move out of the LATC building after the resident company collapsed last month. The lab staged a fund-raiser there on Oct. 28, replete with rhetoric about the importance of the Lab’s continued presence in the building.

The lab’s director, Jose Luis Valenzuela, cites a long list of reasons for doing “La Virgen” at the Million Dollar.

The production is in Spanish, and the Million Dollar “is where Mexicans used to go see movies,” he said. The production is “massive,” and the LATC halls “are not set up for pageantry.” Opening night will be followed by a procession to midnight Mass at La Placita, the church near Olvera Street, to honor the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose story is told in the play.

But besides aesthetic reasons, the cost of renting a hall at LATC from the city would be prohibitive, according to Valenzuela. The rental fee at LATC for a 300-seat theater would be $1,000 per night. Though negotiations were not completed at press time, the rent for the entire run at the Million Dollar is not expected to top $10,000. And the Million Dollar seats 1,100 (not including the balcony, which won’t be used).

The city’s fees for the three larger LATC theaters “are out of the question for any company,” said Valenzuela. “They don’t have the capacity to make your money back, even if you sell out.”

The fees “are another form of censorship,” he contended.

“I didn’t spend the nights here (sleeping in at LATC after the company folded) for them to come back with the same (rental) proposal they’re giving everyone else,” said Valenzuela. “Not that anyone should have to pay that much.”

In order to facilitate the financing of “La Virgen,” the Mark Taper Forum will serve as the lab’s fiscal receiver until the end of the year. A fiscal receivership was required after the lab lost its affiliation with LATC’s nonprofit status when the LATC company went belly-up.

“La Virgen” is Luis Valdez’s adaptation of a 16th-Century Mexican tale. It was first staged at Valdez’s El Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista in 1971, and the Lab production will use costumes and sets from there. El Teatro is staging “La Pastorela” as its Christmas show this year, and Valenzuela said he hopes the shows will alternate at the two theaters so that the Lab would stage “La Pastorela” next year while El Teatro returns to “La Virgen.”

RAYMOND RUMBLINGS: California Music Theatre is exploring the possibility of buying its new home, the Raymond Theatre in Old Pasadena.

A steering committee has been formed with the goal of organizing a capital campaign, said artistic director Gary Davis. According to his estimate, the target amount will be around $4 million--which he hopes would cover the purchase price, continued restoration and an endowment.

A pipe dream in this recessionary era? “A capital campaign is easier to pull off (than raising operational money),” replied Davis. “It ties people’s donations to something tangible.”

The ownership of the building is in flux. Developers Gene Buchanan and Marc Perkins recently took back their property from rock promoter Gary Folgner, who had defaulted on his purchase loan.

“We’ll continue to operate it as a theater for a while, certainly for the shows that have been contracted for,” Buchanan told a Times reporter. But he added: “I’m not a theater operator, I’m a real estate developer.”

In the meantime, Davis said CMT’s bookings in the theater through 1992 are assured. And he expects them to sound better than did “Show Boat,” the group’s first production in the facility last September.

Davis received a number of complaints about the theater’s sound system during that show, but CMT will now rent its own sound system, under the guidance of sound-design whiz Jon Gottlieb, rather than using the house system that Folgner provided.

Whether the group uses union stagehands--who picketed the Raymond when it was run by the fiercely anti-union Folgner--”is still not totally our decision,” said Davis. However, “I think we’re going to work out something that’s amicable to everyone involved.”

The CMT season resumes on Dec. 4 with “The Wizard of Oz,” starring Adrienne Stiefel as Dorothy. Stiefel, who will turn 14 during the course of the run, starred in CMT’s acclaimed “Annie” last year--and since then, already appeared as Dorothy in a Starlight Musical Theatre production in San Diego.

DUELING ANGELS: George Bailey and his guardian angel do get around. Not only is Washington’s Arena Stage presenting “A Wonderful Life,” the Sheldon Harnick-Joe Raposo musicalization of the famous Frank Capra film, but another musical version is surfacing at Riverside Civic Light Opera.

Called “It’s a Wonderful Life,” just like the movie, this one will run Dec. 6-15 in Landis Auditorium at Riverside Community College. Mitchell Anderson stars as George Bailey. The book is by Anthony Rhine, with music and lyrics by Rhine and Richard Stover.

So who has the stage rights to the story?

According to Harnick, no one knows. When his show was at Laguna Playhouse in 1989, he took out ads in trade papers hoping the owner of the rights would respond. “What was unspoken was ‘Please somebody, sue us’, “ Harnick told the Washington Times. No one did.

Rhine said his research turned up no trace of the rights, and his Riverside production is proceeding on the assumption that the show is in the public domain.

ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING: “A Chorus Line” will return for its umpteenth local engagement Feb. 4-23 at the Shubert Theatre in Century City.

This particular version, directed and choreographed by original cast member Baayork Lee, has been touring the country for more than a year. But there have been some cast changes since it was in San Diego and Costa Mesa last November. Among them, Wanda Richert-Preston is the new Cassie and Kelli Fish the new Val.