Playhouse lifts curtain on 40th season

Tom Titus

The Huntington Beach Playhouse, which will mark its fourth decade

next year, has unveiled a list of mostly familiar plays for its 40th

season in 2003, including the comedy that got the community theater

off and rolling back in 1963.

That first production was “Harvey,” the Pulitzer Prize winner by

Mary Chase, which the playhouse also chose as its parting shot of its

lengthy tenure at the Barn in 1976. “Harvey” will be presented in the

September slot next season, from the 12th to the 28th.

Leading off the 2003 season, opening Jan. 10 and running through

Feb. 2, will be one of the greatest musicals of all time -- and one

that the playhouse somehow made memorable while ensconced in a tiny

storefront at the Seacliff Village shopping center -- “West Side

Story.” The musical predates the playhouse itself by just a few

years, and will match up the Jets and Sharks for an all-out rumble on

a larger stage this time.

The playhouse usually includes a ripping good English sex farce --

such as last year’s “No Sex, Please, We’re British” -- in its lineup.

Filling that requirement next year will be “Don’t Dress for

Dinner,” a romp about a Briton’s planned assignation with his French

mistress that goes predictably awry. It’s penciled in for Feb. 21

through March 9.

One of my all-time favorites (I played Pulver back in the old

days) is “Mister Roberts,” which the playhouse will produce from

April 25 through May 11. This seagoing dramatic comedy is set on a

cargo ship in the backwater of World War II and is a perennial crowd

pleaser.

“Heaven Can Wait,” which the playhouse will stage June 13-29, is

another reprise from the Barn days. You may remember the Warren

Beatty movie version in which his back-from-the-dead character was

switched from a boxer to the quarterback of the then-Los Angeles

Rams.

A musical that’s gotten quite a bit of stage time in recent years

is “Quilters,” involving seven American pioneer women undergoing the

hardships of the move west. It’s ticketed for July 25 to Aug. 17, to

be followed by the 40th anniversary production, “Harvey.”

Agatha Christie usually manages to lure the ticket buyers, even if

they already know whodunit. The playhouse will call on Dame Aggie

with “Ten Little Indians,” which opens, fittingly, on Halloween and

plays through Nov. 16.

As usual, the playhouse will present its summer Shakespeare in the

Park selection, the title of which remains unconfirmed. Whatever it

is, it’ll be performed July 5-27 in the Central Park amphitheater,

adjacent to the Huntington Beach Library, which houses the playhouse.

Should any of these plays not be available -- as was the case with

“Born Yesterday,” which will be replaced with “The Foreigner” this

season -- the theater will select a replacement show from a list that

includes “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Murder on the Nile” and

“Picnic.”

For those unfamiliar with the Huntington Beach Playhouse, it’s in

the Central Library complex at 7111 Talbert Ave. Additional

information may be acquired by calling the theater at (714) 375-0696.

Auditions for the 2002 season closer, “The Foreigner,” have been

announced for 1 p.m. Sept. 8 and 7 p.m. Sept. 9 in the Maddy Room in

the library building. Larry Shue’s comedy about a shy Englishman

taking refuge in a Georgia fishing lodge calls for a cast of five men

and two women -- two men with British accents, the rest with a rural

Georgia twang. “The Foreigner” opens Nov. 1 for three weekends and

information is available at the above number.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.