THEATER NOTES : They’re Still a Long Way From Business as Usual : The Pantages and Henry Fonda theaters continue to deal with quake effects--while subway work shakes up their street.

The Henry Fonda Theatre marquee is lighted up after dark. But the letters inside the marquee say “CLOSED FOR REMODELING.” Meanwhile, across Hollywood Boulevard, the Pantages Theatre is open for business--if you can spot it through all the subway construction.

These are not the best of times for the two big theaters operated by the Nederlander Organization. The Pantages recently lost a bid to host “Beauty and the Beast,” which will go to the Shubert Theatre instead. “We like the Pantages,” said “Beauty” producer Robert McTyre. But the decision was based on “where we thought (“Beauty”) could have the longest potential run.” The Shubert has hosted more long-running shows than the Pantages, he noted. Asked whether the subway construction was a factor, McTyre said that Nederlander officials “felt it would be completed before we got there. But it made us nervous.”

The Fonda and Pantages also are still recovering from the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake. Citing quake damage, preservationists have been passing out flyers that urge authorities to “Save the Pantages Theatre.” A recent missive from the organizers of the campaign put the cost of quake repairs at the Pantages $1.2 million and $600,000 at the Fonda.

The Fonda figure is accurate, Nederlander officials say. Fonda repairs began Monday, according to Nederlander West President Stan Seiden, and are expected to go on for 75 working days. Seiden attributed the delay since Jan. 17 to the process of putting together all the necessary permits. Although the marquee indicates a remodeling job, the Fonda will actually keep its current configuration.

Calculating Pantages costs is more difficult. Emergency repairs were completed long ago at the Pantages, Seiden said. The theater is safe, he emphasized. “The Sound of Music” played two weeks in August, concerts are held frequently, and the theater has been used by private groups.

Nevertheless, the theater’s decorative ceiling--a remnant of Hollywood’s most opulent era--requires further work, he said. Although theatergoers might not notice it, “we know where the plaster has chipped, where the cracks are.”

To finish restoring the ceiling, the Nederlander company applied for more than $400,000 in federal earthquake relief grant money through the state-appointed Partners in Preservation, but only $100,000 was tentatively approved. Acceptance of the grant would require Nederlander to come up with the rest of money in order to proceed.

“The ugly fact is that the Pantages Theatre does not have to have the embellishments to function as a theater,” noted a recent preservationist flyer, raising the prospect that the work might not be completed because of its cost.

But Seiden said Nederlander is determined to restore the ceiling to its former glory. It just might take a while.

Theater manager Kerrin Clark said that the $1.2 million cited as the total cost of Pantages repairs in preservationist pamphlets is “a long-range, totally comprehensive figure that involves things not related to the quake but which need attention. We had to come up with a total plan.” Like her boss, Clark expressed confidence that Nederlander would see the repairs through: “We want people to say, ‘Wow! How beautiful!’ instead of, ‘Gee--this must have been great!’ ”

In the meantime, Los Angeles Civic Light Opera subscribers can cross “She Loves Me” off their current season. A proposed tour of the Broadway revival hasn’t been cast yet, Seiden said. A replacement is being sought.

*

“BROKEN” MENDED?: L.A. director Ron Link will stage a production of Arthur Miller’s “Broken Glass” with Linda Lavin and Howard Hesseman next month. It will incorporate a new 10-page scene that wasn’t in the recent New York production; the scene “clears a lot up,” Link said. “I can’t imagine the play without it.”

The only hitch, for L.A. audiences, is that Link’s doing it at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami. However, Coconut Grove producer Arnold Mittelman said he hopes to bring the production to L.A., assuming he can get the L.A. rights--which won’t be determined until Miller’s representatives have seen the Florida production. Mittelman also plans to import a show from L.A. this season--the recent production of “Old Business” starring Harold Gould.

*

SAN DIEGO WATCH: Only 17 days away from opening its first show, “A Little Night Music,” at San Diego Civic Theatre, the new San Diego Music Theatre went belly-up, after selling only about 2,500 subscriptions.

But Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company, which hasn’t presented a full season since 1991-92, is back with a new artistic director, Rosina Reynolds, and an enterprising series of three plays: Scott McPherson’s “Marvin’s Room” (Jan. 26-Feb. 19); Mame Hunt’s “Unquestioned Integrity” (March 9-April 2), about the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, and the premiere of Mark Harelik’s “The Legacy” (April 27-May 21), the sequel to his often-performed “The Immigrant.” Gaslamp performs in the 250-seat Hahn Cosmopolitan Theatre in downtown San Diego.*