Now That Lloyd Webber Show Is Rescheduled, Center Customers Will Get What They Pay For

Thanks to a change in scheduling, Orange County Performing Arts Center subscribers who bought tickets expecting to see Sarah Brightman starring in “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” will actually get what they paid for at all performances.

Ads for the Center’s 1989-90 Broadway series, which began running on Sept. 17, trumpet Brightman as star of the “theatrical concert.” But under the original six-day, eight-performance schedule, alternate soloists would have taken her place at the two weekend matinees in the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall. Now, 12 shows, including four added non-subscription performances, have been scheduled over 12 days, Nov. 7 through 18, with Brightman slated to sing in each.

Brightman, who is married to Lloyd Webber, premiered the role of Christine in the London and New York productions of “Phantom of the Opera.” In “The Music of . . . ,” she and a cast of soloists will sing excerpts from a number of the composer’s musicals.

Center president Thomas R. Kendrick saw the production in Toronto, where it was being readied for a national tour, and scheduled it to open the Center’s 1989-90 Broadway series. But after subscription efforts started, Center officials learned that Brightman would not sing two shows a day because of the “vocal demands” of the concert format.

“We committed to it on the basis of what we had seen,” Kendrick said Thursday. “We felt that she would be a crucial element of the presentation.”

The new schedule was announced Wednesday after several weeks of negotiation. “Because we had the time available, it was very amicable,” Kendrick said. “We wanted our subscribers to see the show we saw.”

Had it not been possible to add the performances, Kendrick said, the Center would have tried “where possible” to honor requests by subscribers with matinee tickets to transfer to evening performances.

“The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” will open its tour this weekend in Ames, Iowa, and will travel to about 25 cities (the touring orchestra, numbering 35, will be doubled in size for the Orange County engagement). A press representative for the tour said alternate soloists will sing in place of Brightman during matinee performances in a number of other cities.

Two other upcoming shows in the Center’s Broadway series have stars prominently mentioned in the advertising. Kendrick said Rudolf Nureyev in “The King and I” and Pam Dawber and Joel Higgins in “She Loves Me” are scheduled to appear in all performances. Stars for the two remaining shows in the five-event series, “Chess” and “Starlight Express,” have not been announced.