Sondheim and Lonergan on Laguna’s 2001-02 Lineup

The Laguna Playhouse will stage the U.S. premiere of “Moving On,” a revue of Stephen Sondheim songs, and the West Coast premiere of Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery,” a finalist for this year’s Pulitzer Prize in drama as part of its 2001-02 season.

The season will also include four other shows not previously staged in Southern California, plus “Candida,” one of George Bernard Shaw’s less frequently mounted plays.

“Moving On” (Nov. 3-Dec. 2) picks up where the popular “Side by Side by Sondheim” left off. David Kernan, the English actor who conceived “Side by Side” in 1975 and was in its original British and Broadway casts, will direct the Laguna production.

“The Waverly Gallery” will run from Jan. 5 to Feb. 3, 2002. The humor-tinged drama revolves around a formidable woman’s drift into Alzheimer’s disease. Playwright Lonergan has won many honors, including an Oscar nomination for best screenplay for “You Can Count on Me,” which he directed.

A.R. Gurney, of “Love Letters” and “Sylvia” fame, switches milieus to Japan with “Far East” (April 6-May 5, 2002), which focuses on a young U.S. naval officer and his Japanese lover. The play, having its Southern California premiere, uses elements of traditional Japanese stagecraft drawn from Kabuki and Noh theater. An adaptation of “Far East” is scheduled to air May 20 in the PBS television drama series “Stage on Screen.”

Rebecca Gilman’s “Spinning Into Butter” (Sept. 8-Oct. 7) was acclaimed last year for its treatment of political correctness carried to extremes on a New England college campus. Originated at Chicago’s Goodman Theater and seen at New York’s Lincoln Center, it is having its Southern California premiere.

The coming Laguna season also includes return engagements for two playwrights whose work was seen last year.

Richard Dresser follows up “Gun-Shy,” his comic play about divorce, with the West Coast premiere of “Wonderful World” (July 28-Aug. 26), a comedy about the strained relationship of two brothers. It was first seen at this year’s Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Ky.

Irish writer Bernard Farrell, whose sadly comic “Kevin’s Bed” had its U.S. premiere at Laguna, is represented by one of his earlier plays, “Stella by Starlight” (Feb. 16-March 17, 2002), which was a hit in Dublin in 1996.

“Candida” will play June 1-30.

The skew toward newer work contrasts with the current Laguna Playhouse season, which included a well-known 1960s play, “The Price” by Arthur Miller, and two shows from the 1970s, “The Belle of Amherst” and David Mamet’s “American Buffalo.”

Information: (949) 497-2787.