Arts Center Sets 5 Musicals for 1988-89 Season

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.”

A tribute to Elvis Presley and “Camelot,” the 1961 chestnut by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, will round out the series.

Leslie Uggams will star in “Anything Goes.” Richard Harris will reprise the role in “Camelot” for which Richard Burton won a Tony in the original Broadway production. And Topol will star in “Fiddler,” in the role that brought Zero Mostel a Tony.

Center President Thomas P. Kendrick said he was “pleased with the lineup. Given the touring shows out there, we’ve got the very best that is available” (except, he added, for “Les Miserables,” which he said is not feasible for a multipurpose hall because of its open-ended run).

“Camelot” will open the series (Nov. 15-20) followed by “Into the Woods” (March 7-12); “Fiddler on the Roof” (dates to be announced); “Elvis: A Musical Celebration” (May 30-June 4); and “Anything Goes” (Sept. 19-24, 1989). The shows will be presented in association with the Pace Theatrical Group.