Will World Premiere of ‘Star’ Put Town on the Map?

This town of 85,000 souls hugs Interstate 80 halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento and is a blur to thousands of motorists who swoosh by every day to destinations of more renown.

But those who look beyond freeway exit signs and roadside fast-food joints will see something that caught the eye of playwright Dale Wasserman: the forgotten American theater audience. He chose this community of small-town pleasures for the premiere of “Western Star,” his new musical.

“You couldn’t get any further off Broadway unless you went to China,” the writer says contentedly.

Indeed.

“This is the most exciting thing to happen in Fairfield since Travis Air Force Base opened,” said Grace Lieberman, manager of the city’s arts division, days before it opened Saturday night. “My heart is pounding. People are out renting tuxedos for opening night. Women are having their hair done and getting baby-sitters. It’s a big deal. This is show biz!”

Lead actors include a community college teacher, an insurance agent and even a prison guard. Props have been borrowed: shotguns, stuffed birds, 20 pairs of cowboy boots. “Someone brought in a triangle dinner bell,” says Lieberman, who operates her program on an annual budget of $15,000. “He said, ‘Now, you’ve got to get it back to the ranch when you’re through with it.’ ”

But the production seems to have avoided a small-town feel, and though Wasserman insists he’s not looking to reviews “to make or break this play,” good notices never hurt. The Sacramento Bee’s Robert Masullo said there is “substantial quality” in the production, adding that “with the right fine-tuning, it seems likely it can go all the way.” Critics from Bay Area newspapers are expected this weekend.

Wasserman, fed up with what he sees as Broadway’s crass commercialism, is happy to take his show on the road. The Broadway stage, he maintains, has become theater of pomposity and whiz-bang gimmicks.

“I just loathe Broadway,” he says. “I have no desire to have my shows on Broadway. I can safely say that because I’ve been there.”

For sure, Wasserman is one of America’s most-produced living playwrights. He’s responsible for international smash hits such as “Man of La Mancha,” which spent six years on Broadway, and the stage version of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Wasserman has created numerous TV specials and motion picture scripts and is working on more than a dozen other projects.

This time, instead of big city bright lights, he picked a community on the rustic eastern edge of the Bay Area to showcase his musical for the common folk.

Surrounded by loamy farm soil, the flatland city is devoted to culture and arts like few others its size. It has a new, architecturally innovative $7.2-million theater, a symphony orchestra, ballet and opera companies and several acting troupes. The work ethic among residents here is strong. They are the kind of people Wasserman believes new multimillion-dollar musicals are leaving behind.

“I think Broadway is doing damage to the future of theater,” says Wasserman, who recently failed to prevent the recent revival of “Man of La Mancha,” which the playwright had suggested should undergo a face-lift. “The fact is, only the elite can attend Broadway shows because of the pricing process. It may be good for the tourist industry in New York, but I can’t think what else it’s good for. It’s become prohibitively expensive, both to produce and for ticket buyers. It has become very elitist.”

Wasserman, who does not give his age, has always done things by his book. Now, he is invigorated by “Western Star,” which he offered to the city free of royalties. Wasserman even drove from his Southern Calfornia home for final dress rehearsals. The production is a simple offering with a budget of about $11,000 and an able cast of non-professionals. In an unusual move, the city itself is sponsoring the show.

Wasserman says the town’s sincerity and stunning new theater quickly won him over. “It would be foolish to say we are getting a Broadway-type production,” he observes. “But there’s a pretty big pool of talent. I don’t think the play will suffer for lack of being a totally professional production. It should be quite good. I’m amazed at the enthusiasm and industry of these people. And they have a startlingly beautiful theater.”

Anita Phillips Berman, Wasserman’s creative consultant, who lives in nearby Davis, discovered Fairfield’s theater by accident while shopping at a mall. She thought it would be just right for mounting new work.

The community’s support has been a bonus. “There are no egos involved,” Berman says. “They work so hard. They don’t look at their watches and say, ‘It’s time for coffee.’ All I can compare this to is when I played summer stock as a young girl; we’d all be friends. It’s been a fabulous experience. We’re bringing theater to the people. I don’t care if I go back to Los Angeles again. I want to bring another show up here.”

“Western Star” is set in a Colorado mining town in 1875 and focuses on a passel of players who mistakenly believe they can leave their troubles behind when they turn westward. They struggle together--and sometimes against each other--to build a community. There are choreographed gunfights, robberies and community celebrations.

The story swirled around the playwright’s mind for 30 years. “I’ve been brooding on it for some time,” Wasserman says. “I’m interested in the American West, the real meaning of the West. What did it mean to the people who came West? They were the runners-away, the failures.”

The score and lyrics were written by Scott De Turk and Bill Francoeur, who have also created the musicals “Box Car” and “Piano Player” together. Director Rodger Hoopman is founder of Sacramento’s Chautauqua Playhouse and is an instructor at Sacramento City College.

Hoopman says the cast has only had seven weeks, evenings and a few weekends, to work on the play. “There’s a lot of pressure doing it this way,” he confides. “These people are doing it for the love of it. This is not the same thing you will see at a $200,000 Los Angeles production.”

Wasserman bypassed the usual workshop phase for a new play, so the part-time cast has had to work out kinks on their own. “We don’t have time to take it out to the workshed and beat it,” Hoopman says. “I’m hoping we can pull it together. It’s a real simple musical with a very traditional approach. I don’t think the staff will get the full effect of what they are involved with until it’s over.”

Wasserman hopes to see “Western Star” produced in many of the nation’s regional theaters, and eventually as a TV special or motion picture. Working with community theater has been a priceless experience, he says. “I wrote ‘Western Star’ with no intention of Broadway whatsoever, but to fill a growing need among regional theaters. It’s a play that’s high in entertainment and not difficult to produce.”