Alex Hopes for Many Enchanted Evenings : After Nightmare Premiere Season, Glendale Theater Tries Again With a Musical Slate

It’s a small miracle that musical didn’t become a dirty word around the Alex Theatre in Glendale.

A potentially successful opening season was ruined last year when Theatre Corp. of America--the company that was supposed to manage the theater and produce its musicals--pulled out of the Alex and declared bankruptcy.

Financial troubles aside, the fiasco was a public relations nightmare for the Alex. The 1925 Art Deco vaudeville house was renovated at a cost of $6.5 million and open scarcely nine months before TCA abandoned it, stiffing some 11,000 season subscribers.

But in that fine tradition of American theater, the show must go on. Or at least move on. Opening Tuesday, “South Pacific” marks the beginning of the Alex’s second season, complete--perhaps surprisingly--with a slate of musicals.

“South Pacific,” starring ‘60s pop singer Jack Jones as Emile DeBecque, is the first of four musicals at the Alex this season, all produced by Theater League of Kansas City. The show also features Armelia McQueen as Bloody Mary and Lorna Patterson as Navy nurse Nellie Forbush.

Theater League, a not-for-profit performing arts group, has been producing musicals for 20 years, including similar series in Toledo, Phoenix, Kansas City and Thousand Oaks. Last year was its first season at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, and subscribers bought up 90% of the tickets for shows at the 1,700-seat Probst Theatre.

Theater League’s history and reputation were vital to the decision to bring musicals back to the Alex, said Jeanne Armstrong, director of redevelopment for the Glendale Redevelopment Agency, which bought and renovated the Alex.

“We considered dropping musicals altogether,” she said. “We initially thought we’d have to wait a couple of years before we could have a musical subscription, but the fact that Theater League was so willing to help us redeem our subscription tickets, that’s what made it possible.”

The centerpiece of the deal is that Theater League is giving the Alex 100 tickets to each performance of “South Pacific,” Sept. 19-24; “My Fair Lady,” Dec. 12-17; “The Goodbye Girl,” Feb. 20-25 and “Evita,” May 7-12. In return, Theater League is paying one-third the normal rent.

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TCA staged one season of three shows in the first part of 1994 and made plans to present a second season but that collapsed after only one show, the disappointing “Fashion.” TCA let Alex subscribers redeem their tickets, which cost up to $50 apiece, for performances at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Subscribers who chose not to can exchange their tickets for Theater League shows, up to 100 per performance. Subscribers who bought season tickets to the Theater League musicals were given the option of redeeming each ticket for a $20 credit--the cost of which was split between the Alex and Theater League.

Where TCA contracted to run the Alex and produce the musicals, Theater League will simply rent it for four weeks during the season, explained Theater League President Mark Edelman. It will also put on tried-and-true Broadway musicals, unlike the new musicals attempted by TCA.

To reassure wary subscribers, Theater League posted a $500,000 bond at a local bank to ensure subscription ticket money. Its financial records were also thoroughly examined. “We wanted to make sure we got an absolutely 100% reliable company,” Armstrong said. “If we sold another season that had any flaws, we were going to lose our subscriber base entirely.”

Financial security is certainly important to the Alex, which lost an estimated $277,000 in its first season and got a $350,000 subsidy from the city and redevelopment agency this year.

The musicals are just part of a mix of programs that are designed to bring a wide spectrum of people into the theater, said Martin Kagan, who was hired as executive director of the Alex in April. The season includes regular concerts by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Glendale Symphony Orchestra and Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, in addition to performances by Ravi Shankar, the Smothers Brothers and dance troupe Pilobolus.

“If you want to make [the Alex] financially sound, you could book ‘Phantom’ and have it run for three years,” Kagan said. “That’s not what the Alex is about.”

The response from subscribers has been predictably lukewarm. Though Theater League got a late start soliciting, only 3,500 people have subscribed--enough to fill one-third of the 1,450-seat theater for eight performances.

Rosalie Lazarus, who runs a group ticket sales company, said she’s encountered audience resistance. People burned by TCA are taking it out on the Alex, she said. She’s been offering to personally guarantee their ticket money.

Edelman isn’t worried. “We called [TCA subscribers] and asked if they would like to come. And they said, ‘You know, we’ll wait and see. We’ll go to one show and check you out,’ ” he said.

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Edelman and Kagan both anticipate that Theater League will produce the Alex’s musicals for the duration of its five-year contract.

“I can’t tell you what happened, or how [TCA’s] business was run, but if we get to the point that over 2 1/2 weeks we have 12,000 subscribers, we will have a big success at the Alex,” Edelman said.

The city of Glendale filed suit against TCA a year ago, asking for more than $1 million to cover the ticket losses, donations and money loaned to TCA. But TCA’s bankruptcy stalled that lawsuit, and settlement talks aren’t scheduled until November.

Until then, Kagan said, “We’re just one of the creditors.”

* “South Pacific” at the Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Ave., in Glendale, plays Tuesday-Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $32.50-$35.50. Call (800) 233-2123 .