Valdez’s ‘Bandido!’ Appears Headed for the Taper

Luis Valdez’s “Bandido! The American Melodrama of Tiburcio Vasquez, Notorious California Bandit” is a likely candidate for a slot at the Mark Taper Forum next year.

Even before the play went through the Taper’s recent New Work Festival in workshop form, Valdez had written in the newsletter for his own theater, San Juan Bautista-based El Teatro Campesino, that the play “will finally have its world premiere in Los Angeles as part of the ‘93-’94 season of the Mark Taper Forum in co-production with El Teatro Campesino.”

So why are Taper and Teatro officials hedging when asked to confirm that “Bandido!” is indeed on its way to the mainstage?

Apparently because a few of the terms of the agreement remain to be resolved. One of them is that the Teatro received $75,000 from the AT&T; Foundation’s OnStage program in order to premiere the play in San Francisco last fall.

That production was called off in the aftermath of the Los Angeles protest among some Latino actors over Valdez’s casting of a non-Latina, Laura San Giacomo, in the role of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in a movie, “Frida & Diego,” that Valdez was planning. Evelina Fernandez, an actress who’s married to “Bandido!” director Jose Luis Valenzuela, was one of the protesters.

While that controversy has died down, the AT&T; grant still calls for “Bandido!” to be done first in northern California. An AT&T; official confirmed that the stipulation must be formally changed in order for the Taper production to go forward.

Meanwhile, however, El Teatro Campesino is planning to bring a tour of one-acts and a new youth production, “El Baile de los Gigantes,” to several Southland venues later in April. The group also is looking for a Los Angeles theater where a planned Teatro production of Ariel Dorfman’s “Death and the Maiden” might move.

“Within a few months, you’re going to think we’re everywhere, including L.A.,” said Phillip Esparza, managing director of the Teatro, referring to “a major transformation” occurring at the Teatro.

GOODBY “GODSPELL”: The ongoing trials of those accused of attacking Rodney King and Reginald Denny were a “consideration” in the deliberations that led to the postponement of the opening of “Godspell Now” from April 28 at the Wilshire Theatre to June 16 at a Chicago theater.

The musical, which was slated to open on the eve of the anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, was to have been set in a South-Central shopping mall during the riots but will now take place in a generic city.

While the official reason for switching was that the technical stunts planned for the show weren’t expected to be ready in time, co-producer Joel Murray also acknowledged some concern that renewed rioting could be triggered by verdicts in this year’s trials--which could conceivably come during the run of the show.

Murray was a co-producer of “Stardust” at the same Wilshire Theatre last spring when its run was interrupted by the riots.

Meanwhile, set co-designer Vicki Baral said she and her partner Gerry Hariton were “really surprised” by the decision. “None of the designers had an inkling. But far be it from me to contradict my producer. There may be other technical problems that we weren’t aware of.”

“It’s not so much that things couldn’t be ready,” said director Rob Brownstein, “but that we’re discovering so much as we go. There’s just new stuff that keeps coming up. We want to get everything right rather than pulling a Gordon Davidson.”

A Gordon Davidson?

He was referring to producer Davidson’s postponement of the press opening of “Angels in America” last fall with only a few days’ notice, explained Brownstein. He declined to identify his own show’s technical problems or the “new stuff” that caused the change.

Murray said he wants to bring “Godspell Now” to L.A., but it probably won’t happen until after it goes to Broadway, which Murray hopes to accomplish next fall. Please don’t fret about how much the change in plans might cost; according to Murray, “We have the money necessary to put the show on anywhere and everywhere in the country. I know, because most of it is mine.”

“PHANTOM” OF THE FUND: A special Thursday matinee performance of “The Phantom of the Opera” will benefit the Actors’ Fund of America on April 15 at 2 p.m., at the Ahmanson Theatre. Regular ticket prices ($15-$60) will be charged. Information: (213) 933-9244.