Stars Quit but Producer Says Show Will Go On : North Hollywood: Kevin Von Feldt, jailed in the past for false advertising, has sold tickets to musicals.

Only three weeks before the advertised debut of an ambitious series of musicals and plays in North Hollywood, top-billed stars are bailing out, vital union contracts have not been signed and the theater’s facilities do not meet union standards.

The producer of the venture, Kevin Von Feldt, who in the past was sentenced to jail for false advertising, insisted Monday that the show will go on as promised.

In brochures received two weeks ago by San Fernando Valley residents, and in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times, Von Feldt announced that the North Hollywood Renaissance Theatre subscription series would kick off May 7 at the former El Portal Theatre on Lankershim Boulevard with a production of “The Music Man.”

Von Feldt said Monday he had sold about 880 tickets, about half of which were for the four-show season. The season tickets were advertised at $78 and $85.

But John Davidson, advertised as the star of “The Music Man,” dissociated himself from the series Monday, along with broadway veteran Victoria Mallory and comic Don Rickles, advertised as the star of a future production of “Death of a Salesman.”

“The producer did not have the right to advertise John’s participation until certain financial conditions were met,” said David Westberg, Davidson’s agent. “We were supposed to get a deposit before they used his name.”

Von Feldt acknowledged a dispute with Davidson over money, but declined to comment further on it.

Mallory was listed in newspaper ads as playing the female lead in “The Music Man.” But her manager, Richard Berman, said she turned down the role last week.

“They really didn’t have the right to use her name,” Berman said. “There was no deal. We were just talking.”

The curious casting of Rickles--a comic with a Las Vegas following best known for uninhibitedly insulting everyone within reach, including the audience--in the somber “Death of a Salesman” was news to the comedian.

“The producer had made an offer but Don turned it down right away,” said Paul Shefrin, Rickles’ publicist.

“When one of Don’s friends saw the brochure and told him about what was in it, he got his agents to call up and tell them to cease and desist, immediately.”

Von Feldt’s previous attempt to produce Equity theater in Los Angeles failed in 1989. His announced production of George C. Scott in “Scrooge” at the Wilshire Theatre was canceled when the actor quit the show a couple weeks before it was to open. Scott’s agent said the actor pulled out because “payment had not been made in a timely fashion.”

In 1987 Von Feldt was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading no contest to 10 counts of false and misleading advertising for running a bogus airline agency and selling tickets to a nonexistent series of classic movies.

At the time of his sentencing, he was termed a “career con artist” by City Atty. James K. Hahn.

To replace Davidson, Von Feldt said he has cast Gary Sandy, who was a regular on the “WKRP in Cincinnati” television series. (Sandy’s agent said that the deal will not be finalized until the Equity bond is posted).

Casting problems are only a part of what Von Feldt will have to overcome if he is to get the theater venture off the ground in just three weeks. He has yet to complete his arrangements with Equity, the stage actors union, that would allow its members to perform in the 1,245-seat theater.

“He has to post a bond before any contracts can be signed,” said Kevyne Baar, an Equity business representative. The bond must cover two weeks of pay and benefits for all of the more than 30 members of the cast.

Von Feldt would not discuss the show’s budget, but it would be extremely difficult to produce a musical in that size of a theater without moving into the six-figure range. He said he already had enough funding from backers to do the show and that the Equity bond would be paid later this week.

Equity also requires that the dressing rooms and other backstage areas pass inspection as being “safe and sanitary” for performers. Baar said that a union representative did visit the theater, which was built in 1926 and in recent years has been a venue for movies and rock concerts.

“It did not meet our standards,” she said.

Von Feldt said that by the time the theater is ready to open, he will have extensively renovated the dressing rooms, which are currently empty, cement-walled rooms off a dark corridor under the stage.

About two-thirds of the cast members Von Feldt said he has hired were in a production of “The Music Man” in San Bernardino that closed in February. Because of their experience, he said, the show won’t have to go into rehearsal until April 26.

As for music and crew, Von Feldt acknowleged he has not yet begun negotiations with the musicians or stagehands unions. “We know their regulations and what we need, so that can be taken care of very quickly,” he said.

Finally, he said that the musty theater will undergo a thorough cleaning and will have new carpet installed before opening night.

If he successfully puts “The Music Man” on stage before an audience, he will be the first producer to mount an Equity production in the San Fernando Valley since the mid-1960s when the Valley Music Center in Woodland Hills failed and eventually became a Jehovah’s Witness hall.

Von Feldt became angry, during an interview, when a reporter asked about his record. “Here I am trying to take a white elephant of a theater, fix it up so that it is a good thing for a neighborhood and give work to actors,” he said.

“What is wrong with that? People like John Davidson’s lawyers and Equity question what I am doing. But when this theater is packed with families having a good time at ‘The Music Man’ and actors are working here again and making money, we’ll see what they all say.”

Times staff writer Don Shirley contributed to this story.