Singing an Equity Tune : West End Playhouse’s Broadway Revue Goes Union, Increasing Costs but Setting a New Benchmark for Area Theater

A stage production in Van Nuys has been so successful, it’s going to cost the producer a lot more to run.

“Broadway Sings Out!�--a musical being staged at the small West End Playhouse--has run long enough to be forced into an Equity theater contract--a first in the Valley. Although it makes the production more expensive for the playhouse, it is a hallmark in the tumultuous 10-year history of the Van Nuys theater.

The musical is the only Valley show to last more than 80 performances since a new 99-seat theater plan was adopted three years ago by Actors Equity Assn., the stage labor union. Under the plan, the show had to agree last week to sign sanctioned Equity contracts, or close.

“It’s a great show and people are still coming to it, so why shut it down?� said Edmund Gaynes, producer and owner of the West End Playhouse. “This show has a lot of life left to it.�

No other Valley theater has managed to extend a show long enough to require Equity status, said Michael Van Duzer, the Equity’s 99-seat theater plan administrator.

“This is a rare event for the Valley. Very few shows get that far,� Van Duzer said.

But the rollicking, socially significant musical of 63 songs written by a USC gerontology professor has survived by word of mouth to play twice a week for almost a year.

By becoming an Equity show, costs have increased more than $200 a performance because Gaynes must now pay the actors $50 to $60 a week plus benefits--five times more than what he paid before. Before 1988, when Equity rules for theaters with fewer than 99 seats changed, producers were not required to pay actors and could keep a show running indefinitely without Equity contracts.

Now, the union allows small theater operators to hire actors at below-scale wages, but after 80 shows, union wages must kick in.

“When a show goes Equity in the Valley, it’s good for all theaters because people know suddenly that small theaters can tap into the top professional actors’ pool and offer high-quality shows,� said George Ives, Equity’s Western regional director.

Four of the seven cast members of “Broadway Sings Out!� who are not Equity members will be eligible to join the union because of the show’s new status.

“Getting the actors an Equity card is a nice gift we can pass on to them,� said director Pamela Hall, who is co-owner of the playhouse and Gaynes’ wife.

The West End Playhouse is opening its 10th season in its wood-framed building at 7446 Van Nuys Blvd., just north of Sherman Way. Sitting near warehouses in a neighborhood where a homeless person wanders in occasionally, the playhouse has established a loyal audience. “People are realizing that good theater isn’t necessarily in large-scale theaters an hour away,� Gaynes said. “They can find it right here, next-door.�

Almost single-handedly a decade ago, Michael Bell renovated the abandoned, rotting country-Western bar. After running the theater for six years with his wife, Victoria Carroll, Bell sold the theater in 1987 to another couple: actors Gaynes and Hall.

But before deciding to buy the theater, Gaynes was almost killed in a hit-and-run car accident on the San Diego Freeway. A veteran of six Broadway and seven off-Broadway shows, including a part in 1963 opposite Liza Minnelli in “Best Foot Forward,� Gaynes’ throat was slit in the accident, leaving him barely able to talk for years afterward. Gaynes--who was also a television actor with credits ranging from “Kojak� and Mary Martin’s “Peter Pan� to a recurring role on “The Patty Duke Show� and another on the soap opera “As the World Turns�--figured his show business career was over.

“I was a year in the hospital. I couldn’t feed myself. I lost the use of my left arm, but I knew I wanted to stay in the business somehow,� said Gaynes, whose hoarse voice remains. “We decided to regroup and try again.�

Hall, also a Broadway actor who has appeared in productions that starred Phil Silvers and Angela Lansbury, nursed her husband back to health and agreed to help him produce new and original shows. Gaynes produced six of the biggest hits in Los Angeles over the past five years, including “Marry Me a Little� and “Goddess of Mystery,� but he wanted his own theater to avoid the high cost of rental fees. In May, the couple also opened Center Stage in Woodland Hills.

“Broadway Sings Out!� is continuing on its twice-a-week schedule at the West End. The theater is also rented by the producers of a long-running children’s show and by various groups for rehearsal space.

With an eye to the future, Gaynes and Hall are refining original works such as a new play called “Sparks,� a musical titled “Waiting� and a play in the works based on Carole Lombard’s life called “Lombard.�

“It’s been tough, and this town is hard on theater, but it’s worth all the struggles to watch the actors blossom in their roles as they have in this show,� Hall said.

Two of the actors in “Broadway Sings Out!�--Ann Peck and Jon Rider--appeared with Gaynes in the Los Angeles production of “Annie� at the Shubert Theater. Actress Terri L. Cotter has performed in the show since it opened in a Sepulveda community theater in 1990, when USC Prof. Ray Malvani compiled a list of satirical tunes written for stage during the past century. Hall changed and shortened the show, turning it into a professional production with a cast that includes Karen Haskett, Charles Herrera, Steve Kirwan, William Knight and pianist Edward Morris.

“Some of the actors work day jobs such as a legal secretary, art director and an ad agency employee, but they’re all as dedicated as any of the full-time professional actors,� Hall said.

Hall and Gaynes hope the show will expand and move to a bigger theater or go on tour. Meanwhile, the Tarzana couple is developing other material for their theaters while their two daughters Annie, 10, and Jessica, 14, break into show business. Their eldest daughter is on the Nickelodeon cable channel’s “Wild and Crazy Kids� show.

“Trying to weave the children’s careers around our schedules isn’t easy,� said Hall, who also teaches acting and singing. Gaynes is acting again and has recently taped an episode of the NBC-TV sitcom “Cheers.� But for now, their focus is on the added responsibility of a show becoming Equity.

“You go Equity by cutting costs,� said Gaynes, who often answer the telephone at the theater after midnight. “As a producer, I’ve learn to do everything. I haven’t scrubbed so many bathrooms in my life.�

“Broadway Sings Out� is $17.50 a ticket and plays Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Sunday nights at 7 p.m. at the West End Playhouse, 7446 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys . (818) 904-0444.