Eclectic mix for new season

Tom Titus

The new year for theatergoers in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach arrives

this weekend as South Coast Repertory kicks off a slate almost evenly

divided between revivals and shows that will be brand new to local

audiences.

John Strand’s “Lovers and Executioners,” an update of a classic

French costume comedy billed as a battle of the sexes, will open on

the company’s Julianne Argyros Stage. As South Coast Rep puts it,

“Hearts pound, bosoms heave and the occasional bodice gets ripped.”

Should be a lot of fun.

It’s nearly a month’s wait to the next event on the local

schedule, opening Jan. 30 -- “The Subject Was Roses” at the Newport

Theater Arts Center. Familial tensions hang heavy in the air in this

rarely produced Frank Gilroy play about a quarrelsome couple

welcoming their young son back from the Army. To get a take on the

age of this script, you might recall that in the movie version, the

son was played by the current “President of the United States,”

Martin Sheen.

When you talk about oldies, you can’t go much further back than

“Antigone,” the Greek tragedy by Sophocles focusing on a young

woman’s decision to bury her fallen brother against her king’s

wishes, thereby becoming a symbol of individual rights throughout the

world. It opens on the Segerstrom Stage of South Coast Repertory on

Jan. 31.

Also arriving the last weekend of the month will be another oldie,

though not quite so ancient as “Antigone.” Shakespeare’s “Romeo and

Juliet” will be offered at UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor Theater,

introducing the star-crossed lovers who inspired the musical “West

Side Story” to a new generation of playgoers.

South Coast Rep’s Theater for Young Audiences program swings into

action Feb. 6 with “Sideways Stories From Wayside School.” The

award-winning books “hit the stage with sound kabooming and lights

kaflashing along the 30th floor of the funniest school in the

universe,” according to South Coast Rep.

Costa Mesa’s Vanguard University will present a one-weekend

production entitled “Journeys,” created and directed by Deborah

Marley, a professional dancer and choreographer. The story of a young

dancer struggling with her identity will be presented Jan. 29 to 31

and Feb. 1 in the college’s Lyceum Theater.

Education gets another jump start when the Costa Mesa Civic

Playhouse launches its new year Feb. 12 with “Schoolhouse Rock.” The

Emmy Award-winning 1970s Saturday morning cartoon series that taught

history, grammar, math, science and politics with a musical

curriculum will come to the stage in its first local production.

Orange Coast College will offer a Valentine to one of America’s

finest playwrights, Lanford Wilson, starting Feb. 14, with a one-act

festival devoted to his works. The production will be staged by the

OCC Repertory Theater in the college’s Studio Theater.

“Brigadoon,” that mythical Scottish village that appears every 100

years, will surface Feb. 27 at Vanguard University as the Costa Mesa

college offers its version of the vintage Lerner-Loewe musical that

Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse etched in moviegoers’ memories a

half-century ago.

Once upon a time, South Coast Rep had a big hit on the Second

Stage with Alan Ayckbourn’s “Intimate Exchanges.” It’ll be back March

13 on the Argyros Stage with the same actors from the earlier

production, Richard Doyle and Kandis Chappell, portraying an English

garden full of characters.

Finally, the Newport Theater Arts Center has “Something to Hide,”

another new offering. This one is a mystery that revolves around a

writer, his publisher wife and his mistress, who weave a web of lies

and deceit. It opens March 26.

From “Antigone” to “Schoolhouse Rock,” the first increment of

local stage productions in 2004 will offer something for everyone.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.