Refurbished Plummer Raises Expectations : Venues: Historic Fullerton center reopens with creature comforts for audience and performers.

People in the front row won’t have to peer past trombones anymore to see the stage, air conditioning will make summer productions possible and--perhaps best of all--lines for the restrooms won’t be as long as they used to be.

Those are just some of the changes expected to please audiences and performers alike when Fullerton’s Plummer Auditorium reopens today after a long-anticipated, 14-month renovation.

The city’s Redevelopment Agency footed most of the bill for the $2.7-million face lift. The building’s owner--the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, which uses the 1,300-seat hall for school activities--also contributed.

A 63-year-old Mediterranean-style local landmark nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, Plummer is “the only thing (the city) can call a performing arts center,” according to Terry Galvin, redevelopment agency operations manager. Indeed, it had been North County’s busiest concert venue until it was closed but was nonetheless “underutilized because of its condition,” Galvin says.

Renovation was first discussed by city and school officials about six years ago but wasn’t started until July of ‘92, largely because construction bids were about $700,000 more than originally earmarked.

The renovation included refurbishing of the seats; installation of two restrooms, doubling the theater’s total, and construction of an orchestra pit that can be raised and lowered, permitting unobstructed views of the stage.

A new two-story storage structure for sets and modernized sound, lighting and stage rigging gear are not only expected to attract traveling troupes but also should allow local groups to present more elaborate productions.

And they can help the local groups save money. Cal State Fullerton’s cultural events office--which will christen the new hall tonight by presenting a musical tribute to Ethel Merman--used to have to spend “thousands of dollars bringing in extra lighting and sound equipment,” recalls cultural-events director Wallace Farrelly. Now, “99% of the time, (the hall) will have everything we need.”

Because of the greater backstage space, when frequent tenant Fullerton Civic Light Opera presents its season opener, “The Most Happy Fella” (Oct. 16 to Nov. 1), it will be able to use scenery that was used on Broadway, says Griff Duncan, the FCLO’s general manager.

The FCLO will also be able use a 25-piece orchestra for the show and, for the first time in its 22 years, has added a fourth production to its season, a summer musical, thanks to Plummer’s new air-conditioning system.

Rental costs are increasing slightly this year to keep pace with inflation, according to John Pappalardo, business services manager for the school district. The lowest rent available to nonprofit organizations is now $130.50 per hour, about $10 more than it had been.

At least one tenant of the old Plummer has decided against coming back. The Community Concert Assn. of North Orange County had relocated to the Fullerton First United Methodist Church while the Plummer was closed and will continue to present its programs there. “We feel very comfortable at the Methodist Church,” says the group’s concert chairwoman, Lotte H. Johnson.

CSUF and the FCLO had been using Fullerton’s Pacific Auditorium, which is about 400 seats smaller than the Plummer.

The auditorium, named for Lewis E. Plummer--a longtime Fullerton school superintendent--and designed by architect Carleton M. Winslow, had been refurbished once before, in 1972, to meet earthquake safety codes.

Auditorium manager Walt De Jong, who has worked at Plummer for 13 years, gives the overhaul thumbs-up for preserving such decorative details as interior Greek columns and fancifully painted ceiling beams. “My feeling is that the upgrades were done successfully,” says De Jong, “keeping the aesthetics of the auditorium intact.”

* The Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton, reopens tonight at 8 with “Ethel Merman’s Broadway,” a one-woman tribute starring Rita McKenzie, presented by Cal State Fullerton’s Office of Cultural Events. $8-$15. (714) 773-3371.