Pasadena Playhouse will stage ‘Mauritius’

The West Coast premiere of “Mauritius” by Theresa Rebeck (“Omnium Gatherum”) will be the final offering in the Pasadena Playhouse’s 2008 season, the theater announced today, adding that “Looped,” a world premiere play by Matthew Lombardo (“Tea at Five”), will replace the previously announced fourth show in the season, “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” by George Bernard Shaw.

“Mauritius” (Oct. 24-Nov. 23) throws fast-talking con artists and two half-sisters into a double-dealing, scam-filled fight for possession of a valuable stamp collection. “Looped” (July 6-Aug. 3), set in a sound studio and helmed by “Tea at Five’s” director John Tillinger, takes a humorous look at the life of legendary Hollywood scandal-maker Tallulah Bankhead.

The remaining season offerings, previously announced, are the world premiere of the film-based musical “Mask” by Anna Hamilton Phelan, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (March 21-April 13); John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”(May 9-June 8) and the pre-Broadway bow of Jack Heifner’s new musical, “Vanities” (Aug. 29-Sept. 28).

-- Lynne Heffley