Pace Theatrical Group

The Orange County Performing Arts Center will invest $250,000 in a touring production of the Tony Award-winning musical revival of "Anything Goes," Center president Thomas R. Kendrick said Thursday. The sum is the Center's largest investment so far in an outside production, and it will entitle the Center to 10% of any profits the show produces during its tour, Kendrick said. A previous attempt to restage the Cole Porter show, which won a 1988 Tony Award while playing at Lincoln Center in New York, was unsuccessful and canceled before the end of its scheduled run. But Kendrick said he is confident that the problems that plagued the production, which included a huge set that made it difficult to move the show from city to city, would not hamper this latest effort.

When composer David Shire and his co-authors were asked if they wanted to rework their 1996 musical "Big" for a touring production, he recalls, "We had two impulses: Yes, we'd like to change a great deal. And second, we'd rather have root canals for a straight week." After all, he, lyricist Richard Maltby Jr.

A new partnership between Pace Theatrical Group and Jujamcyn Theaters, revealed Monday, will create a giant new force in commercial theater and may rewrite some of the rules governing the relationship between Broadway and commercial theater outside New York. By joining forces, the two companies will control the touring programming at 42 North American theaters, at Jujamcyn's five Broadway theaters and at four theaters in England.

A new partnership between Pace Theatrical Group and Jujamcyn Theaters, revealed Monday, will create a giant new force in commercial theater and may rewrite some of the rules governing the relationship between Broadway and commercial theater outside New York. By joining forces, the two companies will control the touring programming at 42 North American theaters, at Jujamcyn's five Broadway theaters and at four theaters in England.

When composer David Shire and his co-authors were asked if they wanted to rework their 1996 musical "Big" for a touring production, he recalls, "We had two impulses: Yes, we'd like to change a great deal. And second, we'd rather have root canals for a straight week." After all, he, lyricist Richard Maltby Jr.

The adage that "the show must go on" has acquired special meaning at the Orange County Performing Arts Center: Its heavily subscribed series of Broadway musicals is about to begin 4 months late. Ever since Center management was forced to cancel a bus-and-truck revival of "Camelot" last November because star Richard Harris called in sick, the Broadway Series has been little more than a subscriber's wish list. "In our first 2 years, we ran nine musicals in a row and never lost a one," says Center President Thomas R. Kendrick.

Broadway Bound: Des McAnuff's staging of Pete Townshend's "Tommy," which had an extended and sold-out run at the La Jolla Playhouse after its premiere there in August, is headed for Broadway. It will open next April, followed by a national tour that will probably return the show in 1994 to Southern California. Casting is not yet set. The New York version will be at the St. James Theatre and will be produced by PACE Theatrical Group and Dodger Productions.

Five Broadway musicals, including "Cats," "South Pacific" and "Me and My Girl," have been booked for the Orange County Performing Arts Center's 1987-1988 season, officials for the Costa Mesa facility have announced. The other two musicals are "My One and Only" (Oct. 21-25) with Tommy Tune and Stephanie Zimbalist, and Cole Porter's "Can-Can" (July 26-31), featuring Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes. Robert Goulet will star in "South Pacific" (Jan. 5-10).

The Pace Theatrical Group, which produces the Broadway series at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, will be producing a similar series of nationally touring shows at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. Except for "Deathtrap," a nonmusical that would not fit OCPAC's Broadway agenda--all of the shows set for Long Beach have been presented in Costa Mesa, some several times and two as recently as last season.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center will invest $250,000 in a touring production of the Tony Award-winning musical revival of "Anything Goes," Center president Thomas R. Kendrick said Thursday. The sum is the Center's largest investment so far in an outside production, and it will entitle the Center to 10% of any profits the show produces during its tour, Kendrick said. A previous attempt to restage the Cole Porter show, which won a 1988 Tony Award while playing at Lincoln Center in New York, was unsuccessful and canceled before the end of its scheduled run. But Kendrick said he is confident that the problems that plagued the production, which included a huge set that made it difficult to move the show from city to city, would not hamper this latest effort.

The adage that "the show must go on" has acquired special meaning at the Orange County Performing Arts Center: Its heavily subscribed series of Broadway musicals is about to begin 4 months late. Ever since Center management was forced to cancel a bus-and-truck revival of "Camelot" last November because star Richard Harris called in sick, the Broadway Series has been little more than a subscriber's wish list. "In our first 2 years, we ran nine musicals in a row and never lost a one," says Center President Thomas R. Kendrick.

Five touring musicals will arrive at the Orange County Performing Arts Center next season, a spokesman announced Wednesday. The road versions of two of this year's top Tony winners--Stephen Sondheim's and James Lapine's "Into the Woods" (best musical) and Cole Porter's '30s classic "Anything Goes" (best revival)--will be featured, along with the 1965 Tony winner, "Fiddler on the Roof."