All the County’s a Stage for Shakespeare : There May Be Just One ‘King Lear,’ but Several Other Works Will Be Presented This Season

Local Shakespeare fans can look forward to plenty of choice this summer as Shakespeare Orange County enters its second season of challenging the longstanding reign of GroveShakespeare, and the Laguna Playhouse tries a little bit of the Bard for the first time in more than 25 years.

For a time, it looked as if there would be dueling productions of “King Lear” when both local Shakespeare companies announced the tragedy for their summer seasons. But Shakespeare Orange County’s director, Thomas F. Bradac, thought better of it and changed his mind. “Julius Caesar” is most likely the replacement, with “Richard III” running second (a final decision is expected later this week).

Even one of the county’s burgeoning crop of storefront theaters, the Vanguard Theatre Ensemble, will get into the act with a production of “Othello” slated for August.

Meanwhile, there will still be two chances to see “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as both Laguna Playhouse and GroveShakespeare tackle the romantic comedy. In the novelty department, GroveShakespeare artistic director W. Stuart MacDowell will mount a “Romeo and Juliet” with a modern twist, keeping the text intact but setting the play in Los Angeles and using contemporary music and costume.

Mounting “Midsummer Night’s Dream” is part of Laguna Playhouse’s strategy to broaden its middle-of-the-road stance, a strategy that gets its first test Jan. 12 with the opening of “True West,” Sam Shepard’s violent comic drama. Company artistic director Andrew Barnicle, who performed in an Off-Broadway production of the play in the early ‘80s, will portray one of the rival brothers.

Elsewhere, the remainder of South Coast Repertory’s 1992-93 Mainstage season features a pair of classics--Moliere’s 1688 farce, “The Miser,” and Noel Coward’s 1925 comedy, “Hay Fever”--along with one world premiere: Thomas Babe’s “Great Day in the Morning.” The Second Stage season is highlighted later this month by a production of Samuel Beckett’s 1955 existentialist classic, “Waiting for Godot.”

The Broadway series at the Orange County Performing Arts Center resumes April 13-18 with the warhorse “Evita,” with Valerie Perri (reprising her role as Evita from the show’s first national tour in 1980) and John Herrera (again playing Che, as he did on Broadway). Also on the schedule is a one-woman revue starring Liza Minnelli and the two most recent Tony winners for best musical, “Crazy for You” (the 1992 winner) and “The Will Rogers Follies: A Life in Revue” (1991 winner).

A company-by-company breakdown:

Shakespeare Orange County

The new company, founded by Bradac in the wake of his 1991 ouster from GroveShakespeare, featured “The Winter’s Tale” and “Hamlet” in its first season at Chapman University’s 256-seat Waltmar Theater.

This summer, the two-play season will open in July with either “Julius Caesar” or “Richard III.”

“Twelfth Night,” directed either by Bradac or by Carl Reggiardo, will be .offered in August. Specific dates will be announced.

“It could be interesting to see two ‘Lears,’ but that’s taking a chance with the economics,” Bradac said in December on the decision to drop “King Lear” from the schedule. “Discretion is the better part of valor, and asking people to see both of them might not be a good idea.”

GroveShakespeare

The Grove will open its 1993 season at the 550-seat Festival Amphitheatre on June 19 with “King Lear,” starring Alan Mandell as Lear with MacDowell directing. The season will continue with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Jules Aaron, and a version of “Romeo and Juliet” to be set in contemporary Los Angeles (the subtitle is “R & J/L.A.”). GroveShakespeare is expanding the run of its Festival Amphitheatre shows to six weeks each, which will push its outdoor season into October.

Company officials had planned to announce its season in the 178-seat Gem Theatre last October, but partly because of budget difficulties (the company ended 1992 with a $100,000 deficit) and partly in an attempt to coordinate events with the Strawberry Festival in Garden Grove, plans for the three-play season are still being finalized. An announcement is expected later this week.

The focus will be on comedies and musicals, with at least one American classic, MacDowell said. He said Monday that he watched the Buffalo Bills come back from a 32-point deficit to beat the Houston Oilers in the NFL playoffs Sunday.

“It gave me great hope for GroveShakespeare,” he said, with a laugh. “We don’t have that much money this year, so we’re going to be brilliant instead.”

Laguna Playhouse

The 1992-93 season at the Moulton Theatre closes with: “True West,” Jan. 12-Feb. 7; “Bedroom Farce,” a contemporary comedy about marital relations set in suburban England, by Alan Ayckbourn, March 9-April 4; and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” May 13-June 6.

South Coast Repertory

“The Miser,” directed by David Chambers, opens previews on Jan. 8, with regular performances Jan. 15-Feb. 14. “Great Day in the Morning,” set in the fading days of the Gilded Age and featuring songs of the era, will run Feb. 26-March 28. “Hay Fever” will run April 9-May 9, and rounding out the Mainstage season will be William Nicholson’s “Shadowlands,” May 28-June 27, a drama based on the life of C.S. Lewis.

The Second Stage will feature another Ayckbourn comedy, “Intimate Exchanges,” Jan. 29-Feb. 28. “Waiting for Godot” will run March 12-April 11. A final Second Stage production, to run April 23-May 23, has yet to be announced.

Orange County Performing Arts Center

Coming off a near record-breaking run for “Camelot” with Robert Goulet, the center resumes its Broadway season April 13 to 18 with “Evita.” Rounding out the season are: Liza Minnelli’s one-woman revue, May 19-27; “Aspects of Love” by Andrew Lloyd Weber, June 22-27; “Crazy for You” (specific dates in August to be announced); and “The Will Rogers Follies: A Life in Revue,” Nov. 2-7.