Date with Des

DES MCANUFF OFFICIALLY LEAVES HIS POST as La Jolla Playhouse artistic director April 15, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be quickly gone or that his life will get any less hectic.

First, in his new position as director emeritus, he’ll help the Playhouse board pick his successor and smooth the transition. Then, he’s preparing for the new phase of his bicoastal, binational career as co-artistic director of Canada’s esteemed Stratford Festival in Ontario, plus projects in New York. He closed this Playhouse chapter by directing last month’s Page to Stage work, The Farnsworth Invention. And he accepted San Diego Opera artistic director Ian Campbell’s invitation to stage Wozzeck, April 14-22.

It’s McAnuff’s first opera. Why now? “Well,” he says with a chuckle, “Ian asked, and he picked the one opera I found irresistible.” Alban Berg’s unconventional work (see David Gregson’s preview on page 170) is just the kind of project McAnuff loves to tackle.

Is directing opera much different than theater? “Opera is much faster-paced,” McAnuff says. “You don’t have much time with the principals. They get hired and rehearse on their own, then come in and do their performances. Theater is much more process-oriented.” Nonetheless, he adds, “Each experience is valuable. I learned a lot about directing actors on stage from directing films.” He’s referring to his 1994-2001 Hollywood interlude between his two terms as Playhouse artistic director.

He certainly spurred a rebirth, following his hiring in 1982 to resurrect the company, dormant since the 1960s, making the Playhouse one of the nation’s top regional theaters and spawning several productions that captured Tonys on Broadway. “We’ve accomplished what we wanted to do,” McAnuff says, citing the completion of the three-theater complex and establishment of a capital campaign. He’s especially proud of the income from royalties (“in the seven figures”) the Playhouse is getting from productions he shaped, like the Four Seasons musical Jersey Boys and the Billy Crystal bio-play, 700 Sundays, both of which won a Tony. “I wish I’d had those royalties when I came back,” he says.

Some projects didn’t do well, like Dracula the Musical, a flop on Broadway. But McAnuff and the Playhouse rebounded smashingly with 700 Sundays and Jersey Boys. The former sold out nearly every performance of its limited run (Crystal may take it on the road again), and Jersey Boys is a monster success that all by itself could keep McAnuff hopping. The musical is still filling houses on Broadway and in San Francisco, with companies to come in Chicago and Los Angeles.

“The rest of my life is no less busy,” McAnuff says, mentioning possible futures of three other recent Playhouse-developed musicals, Palm Beach, Zhivago and a refreshed The Wiz. He’s also moving ahead with a couple of tuners that may wind up on the La Jolla schedule: The Essential Alice, taken from the novels of Lewis Carroll, and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, from the concept album by the band Flaming Lips.

And then, of course, there are those other commitments, most notably Stratford. “The great thing about that situation,” McAnuff says, “is that I don’t have to deal with a board. The politics can get old. I’m only involved with the art.” One possible extra duty, however, he doesn’t mind. “Fund-raising is a privilege. You’re asking people to give money to something you love. That’s nice.” He hasn’t decided what play he’ll do first, though he concedes “I’d like to do a Shakespeare.” In 1983, he opened the Stratford season with a lauded presentation of Macbeth.

He plans to buy a home in New York, but will rent in Stratford. “I like to keep a suitcase packed,” he jokes. “If you buy a home, they kind of think they own you.”

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