THEATER MEMORIES

Acknowledgment of the late Victor Buono’s memorable Falstaff at the Mark Taper Forum in the 1970s should have been included as one of the acting milestones in your April 6 cover package on Center Theatre Group (by Diane Haithman and Don Shirley).

Buono, a wonderful, hefty character actor known mostly from movie and TV portrayals of unsavory oddballs, gave a brilliant performance in “Henry IV.” Like so many fine actors, he had little opportunity to demonstrate his theatrical talent, but he most certainly did at the Taper.

Unfortunately, no visual record of the performance remains for Shakespeare buffs. So what else is new?

FRANK L. BURKE

Los Angeles

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I couldn’t resist writing after reading the remark that Gordon Davidson “worries about the future of theater and Los Angeles.”

According to a New Yorker article, Hugh Hardy, who is an architect of a great variety of buildings and theaters in New York City, believes that “a community in which theater flourishes is in good health, while a community in which theater languishes is, whether it’s aware of it or not, ill.”

It’s a belief, I suppose, about which we must draw our own conclusions.

NED MANDERINO

Los Angeles

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There was no mention of Doris Baizley’s “A Christmas Carol,” which was presented seasonally in December from 1977 to 1981 at the Taper by the Improvisational Theatre Project, then resident at the theater.

Those of us associated with the ITP at that time shared a wonderful experience with the audiences. There were no “stars” involved; it was about the work, orchestrated by the brilliance of director John Dennis. It was a time when L.A. was truly a “theater town.”

CHARLES BERLINER

Los Angeles