GLENDALE : Alex Patrons May Exchange Tickets

Alex Theatre subscribers left holding half a season’s worth of useless tickets last year will be able to exchange them for a series of Broadway musicals that will begin at the theater in September, officials said Tuesday.

Jilted theatergoers were left empty-handed when Theatre Corp. of America walked out of a contract to produce a series of musicals. They will be allowed to trade the tickets for individual shows or use the value of the unused tickets toward the purchase of a subscription to the new series, said John Hedlund, chairman of the Alex Regional Theatre Board.

“Since the withdrawal of (Theatre Corp.), the board has been exploring options to address the unfulfilled obligations” to the subscribers, Hedlund said.

The Alex Theatre has signed a one-year agreement--with a four-year option--with Theatre League Inc., a national performing arts organization, to produce Broadway musicals at the renovated theater. The first season will include “South Pacific” with singer Jack Jones and “My Fair Lady” with actor David Birney.

Hedlund said the theater board made efforts to avoid a repeat of the Theatre Corp. fiasco, in which that company suddenly declared it had run out of funds and could no longer stage the musicals. An estimated 11,000 season tickets worth about $1 million had been sold to the canceled shows, and although the Alex board has filed suit, the company recently declared bankruptcy and officials have expressed little hope of recovering subscribers’ money.

The Alex board has reviewed Theatre League Inc.’s financial statements to make sure the company is sound. To protect ticket buyers, the board has stipulated that Theater League deposit all ticket income in financial institutions located in Glendale, Hedlund said.