It’s Off to Workshop They Go

Four in-the-works musicals are about to receive a lot of exposure--on the Disney lot in Burbank. Excerpts from the quartet of shows will be presented in the ASCAP/Disney West Coast Musical Theater Workshop in several sessions from April 8 to May 17.

The readings aren’t open to the public, but they’re certainly open to Disney brass who might be looking for another “Beauty and the Beast,� as well as to other musical theater bigwigs.

However, workshop director Stephen Schwartz--who last week shared Oscars with Alan Menken for the score of “Pocahontas,� as well as a song from it--said that the event “is not a forum for showcasing. Our goal is to make it as little to do with selling the shows--and as much to do with improving them--as possible.�

The project continues a series of ASCAP workshops that has been held in New York for 14 years.

Three of the four shows were created by L.A.-based talent:

* “Mississippi Moon,� with music by Barry Fasman, lyrics and book by Jeffrey Monday, a folk tale set in the bayou;

* “The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear,� with music by John Allee, who also co-wrote the lyrics and book with Gary Matanky, about a boy who turns inward following a divorce; and

* “The King and Me,� by Marie Cain, about Elvis.

The fourth show to be workshopped is “Bobos,� with music by James McBride, who co-wrote the book and lyrics with Ed Schockley.

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TAPER TALENT: Also from the in-the-works department, the Mark Taper Forum is spreading some additional money around to writers of developing projects.

The new Richard E. Sherwood Award was presented last week (on opening night of “Blade to the Heat�) to Robert O’Hara, whose “Insurrection� was part of the last two Taper New Work Festivals. The $5,000 prize, intended to be annual, was endowed by the family of the late Richard E. Sherwood, who was Center Theatre Group board president from 1982 to 1987 and chairman of the board’s executive committee until he died in 1993. Taper brass picked the winner, who was approved by the Sherwood family. “Insurrection� follows the adventures of a graduate student who accompanies his 189-year-old grandfather back to the Nat Turner Rebellion.

Meanwhile, the Taper’s Latino Theatre Initiative has announced a commission to Milcha Sanchez-Scott for “La Carmen,� a contemporary adaptation of Bizet’s opera, and has also announced playwright fellowships to Gregg Barrios, Leo Garcia, Josefina Lopez, Monica Palacios, Severo Perez, Bernardo Solano, Caridad Svich and Edit Villarreal. In addition to working on individual projects, the fellows are invited to in-house seminars and other events designed to integrate them more closely into the Taper, said the Initiative’s co-director Luis Alfaro. Another nine fellows will be announced next summer and a festival of work from all 18 fellows is slated for January.

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TKTS BOOTH: The ticket agency TKTS L.A., usually reached by dialing (213) 660-TKTS, has opened a walk-up booth at the Coast Playhouse, 8325 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Open every day from noon to 7 p.m., the booth sells full-price tickets to any of the shows TKTS L.A. normally handles, plus half-price tickets to members of the organization’s TKTS Club (membership fee: $25 a year, good for two people). TKTS L.A. President Michael Pasby said there usually are about 40 shows selling full-price and about 20 selling half-price--including some that don’t use TKTS L.A. as their normal reservations service.

The service charge is $1 for walk-up tickets (compared to $3 over the phone), and they can be bought with cash.

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THREE DECADES: East West Players celebrates its 30th anniversary April 20 at a gala ceremony at the Biltmore Hotel. Visionary Awards will be presented to the group’s eight founders--Mako, Rae Creevey, James Hong, June K. Lu, Guy Lee, Pat Yi, Yet Lock and Beulah Quo--as well as to Janet Yang of the Ixtlan production company, actors Jason Scott Lee and Ming-Na Wen, and the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center. Former artistic director Nobu McCarthy and her husband William Cuthbert will receive a lifetime achievement award. Information: (310) 201-5033.