Taper’s Davidson Gets His Classical Play . . . Kind Of

With last week’s announcement that Howard Barker’s “Scenes From an Execution” will take the next slot on the Mark Taper Forum season (March 25-May 9), plans to stage a classical play in that slot--or any other time this season--have been pushed aside.

Taper boss Gordon Davidson is putting out the word that “Scenes” itself is “in a way, classical” because it’s set in the 16th Century and “deals with big ideas” on a scale that’s wider than the domestic dramas on the Taper schedule (“The Substance of Fire” and “Lips Together, Teeth Apart”). Still, “Scenes” was originally done as a radio play in 1984 and wasn’t staged in London until 1990, so it wouldn’t fit most definitions of classical .

Davidson himself hasn’t seen it. The project began when he heard that British actress Juliet Stevenson now has her green card and wants to make her U.S. stage debut. Davidson briefly considered trying to arrange for her to repeat her London success in Ariel Dorfman’s “Death and the Maiden”--she had been eliminated from consideration for doing “Death” on Broadway when Actors’ Equity ruled her not enough of a star to qualify under its rules that permit foreigners to work in the U.S.

But then Stevenson suggested “Scenes,” and Davidson was drawn to its theme of the perils of censorship and political patronage. “Even though we have a new President,” he said, “we’re a long way from resolving” the arts issues that have raged across the political landscape in recent years.

Davidson had sought a genuinely classical play, but efforts to bring in Kevin Kline in a tribute to the New York-based Acting Company fell through, as did several other options.

One of those options was the Antaeus Company, a group of classical actors who have been doing readings and workshops, loosely affiliated with the Taper. Though the Antaeus group didn’t make this year’s final cut, Davidson said he’ll “premiere them next season.”

THE RUMOR MILL: Inquiring minds at the “Company” reunion in Long Beach a week ago wanted to know what “Company” composer Stephen Sondheim and his current collaborator, James Lapine, are cooking up for their next show, scheduled at La Jolla Playhouse next fall.

The scuttlebutt was that they’re working on two one-act musicals, both of which take up the theme of physical beauty. One of them appears to be “Muscle,” an adaptation of Paul Fussell’s book about bodybuilders, and the other one might well be an adaptation of “Fosca,” a 19th-Century novel by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti about an ugly woman who loves a dashing army captain. “Fosca” has already been adapted for an Ettore Scola film, “Passione d’Amore.”

None of this could be confirmed. Indeed, whenever Sondheim sensed the presence of reporters, he headed in the opposite direction.

A VIEW FROM GOTHAM: When Tony Randall and Jack Klugman perform Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” at UCLA’s Royce Hall Monday, $50,000 will go to set up an acting fellowship at UCLA (to be matched by the Laura Pels Foundation). But the rest of the net--probably the lion’s share, if the event matches the take from a similar event in New York--will benefit Randall’s New York-based National Actors Theatre.

Stage Watch asked Randall why Californians should support a New York theater. Chances are they won’t be able to see any of its productions.

Randall cited the millions of tourists who visit New York and then added, “The kind of people who would be interested in (National Actors Theatre) are the kind of people who would get to New York sooner or later.”

He hopes to tour his productions “all over the country” eventually, “but it’s so expensive.”

OOPS: A Riverside reader was puzzled by the eight-page brochure mailed to him from the Pasadena Playhouse. It outlined the season and urged him to subscribe. Included were the dates of every performance at the season’s three venues--in Pasadena, Poway and Santa Barbara--and a detailed order form that noted the handling charge would be $7.50.

Only one detail was missing: the subscription prices. When the man called the theater to ask how much it all cost, a ticket seller admitted that the omission of prices was “a gross oversight.”

IF I HAD A HAMMER . . . I’D DO A PLAY: A press release for “Accepting the Pale” at the Lex Theatre notes that the play is about, among other things, “a 12 inch spike and a 5 pound sledge.”

An unusual idea? On the contrary, it’s the latest trend. From the release for the one-man “The Chocolate Quarry” at Theatre/Theater: “Not for nothing is (performer Stephen Rappaport) outfitted with a sledge hammer and a spike.”