ARTS WATCH : STARLIGHT SNARES ‘A CHORUS LINE’

SAN DIEGO —  It’s news enough that the San Diego Civic Light Opera Assn. (Starlight) will add its first September production to its usual four-show summer slate at the Starlight Bowl this year. But it’s not just another show. Starlight has snared the rights to “A Chorus Line”--Broadway’s longest-running blockbuster--and will stage the musical for a 20-performance run beginning Sept. 12 in the troupe’s 4,300-seat outdoor amphitheater in Balboa Park.

Starlight not only becomes the first area company to contract for the innovative musical, but breaks somewhat adventurously from its family-fare tradition by taking on a show of such adult proportions. Appropriately, Starlight will cast the show, which depicts a group of dancers auditioning for a Broadway chorus line, by holding open auditions on the Starlight Bowl stage at 10 a.m. June 22--another first for the company.

According to Starlight executive producer Leon Drew, the musical’s publisher, Tams-Witmark of New York, made the show available within the last month. Despite its cost--what Drew called “a premium royalty rate”--Starlight contracted for the show as a means of climaxing its 40th anniversary season.

“To us, the opportunity is spectacular,” Drew said. “And though I do think this is somewhat more sophisticated than many of the shows we have done, our audience in the main is a sophisticated audience. Yes, we are family oriented, but we do not play to a large number of children for any show, and I think our audiences will be pleased to sense a step in the right direction for Starlight. Also, San Diego has a truly wonderful talent pool of dancers, and our ability to give them this opportunity is significant.”

Drew said he anticipated “unprecedented demand” for tickets to the show, which would be priced at $5 to $20 (Starlight’s regular season prices range from $7 to $16).

BIG RIVER: Speaking of “A Chorus Line,” perhaps the same long-running fate awaits “Big River,” the musical based on “Huckleberry Finn” that originated last summer at the La Jolla Playhouse and opened on Broadway two weeks ago.

The reviews were mixed, and Monday “Big River” garnered 10 Tony Award nominations--a total matched only by the Royal Shakespeare Company--for everything from best musical to best director. (It was directed by La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff.) There were also 13 Drama Desk nominations for the show.

Indeed, “Big River,” the last musical of the Broadway season, had to be a key factor in the Tony Award committee’s decision Thursday to include a best musical category this year, given the season’s dearth of quality Broadway musicals.

“Obviously we are all very honored,” McAnuff said when reached between sips of champagne during a holiday in New Orleans. “But what I’m most pleased about is that the nominations cover all of the categories of the show, and this reflects what’s been for me an exhilarating collaboration. For the Playhouse, I hope that this is just the beginning, as we continue to develop new work. . . . Ultimately, this will give us visibility and should help us attract more and more artists and craftsmen at the forefront of American theater.”

It might also help fill the Playhouse’s coffers. Budgeted at $2.5 million, Broadway’s “Big River” has eight co-producers, the main man being Rocco Landesman, whose donation made the $250,000 La Jolla production possible. According to Playhouse managing director Alan Levey, “We would participate in the net profits if ‘Big River’ ever does recoup, but the amount wouldn’t be substantial. Just a nice little nest egg--certainly nothing that would operate our facility like ‘A Chorus Line’ has done for the New York Shakespeare Festival, which produced it.”

PAS DE DOUGH: If you’re holding your breath for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s scheduled July 4 performance at the Open Air Theatre of San Diego State University, don’t. The show’s promoter, Fahn and Silva Presents, is now at risk of losing the date due to a somewhat Byzantine scheduling conflict. Basically, Baryshnikov, who is also director of the American Ballet Theater, has an agreement with American Ballet Theater not to bring his solo touring show to cities in which the full American Ballet company is slated to perform. And now the San Diego Arts Foundation has contracted with the American Ballet Theater for a March 25-30 engagement here at the Civic Theatre.

This is all negotiable, of course, but the Arts Foundation has the option to permit the solo date here or not. According to Arts Foundation head Danah Fayman, the Baryshnikov solo date is less a threat to the box office for the American Ballet Theater dates (at which Baryshnikov may or may not appear on stage) than to the foundation’s June 26 to 29 Civic Theatre engagement of the Joffrey Ballet.

“I would think it would hurt (both events) to have the Joffrey and Baryshnikov so close to each other,” Fayman said. “From a business point of view, it doesn’t sound real wise, but we’ve proposed some circumstances under which Fahn and Silva could still bring Baryshnikov to town.” Fayman would not elaborate on the proposal.

“We’re trying to work something out that would be equitable to Fahn and Silva, Baryshnikov and the Arts Foundation,” Mike Fahn said. “My hope is for San Diego to in fact see Mikhail Baryshnikov dance. I think (the July 4 date) is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” The matter should be sorted out this week.

ARTBEATS: Old Globe regular Harry Groener has landed a plum part. He’s set to replace Mandy Patinkin in the title role in Stephen Sondheim’s current Broadway smash “Sunday in the Park With George” . . . Leslie Lemke, the 33-year-old who is blind and severely retarded yet has remarkable skills as a concert pianist, will perform at a fund-raiser for the Greater San Diego Special Olympics on May 16 at the La Jolla home of Betty Summers. Call the Special Olympics for information . . .

The San Diego Area Dance Alliance will initiate a film series highlighting all aspects of dance this weekend at 3255 5th Ave. The opening weekend will feature two 8 p.m. programs. Three films depicting dance in primitive cultures will be screened Saturday evening, while Sunday’s program will be devoted to “The Healing Power of Movement.” Judith Greer-Essex, a practicing dance therapist, will moderate.