We often shill here for the Reprise! theater group which stages dandy, short-run productions of classic musicals up at UCLA. This year's season was supposed to consist of Cabaret followed by The Baker's Wife and then The Apple Tree.
Their Cabaret, which I reviewed here, was superb. But now they've announced that The Baker's Wife, which was to have run February 14 through 26 of '12, will not take place and there will be no replacement show in its place. Put simply, ticket sales and fundraising drives have been insufficient. Subscribers are being offered refunds with the hint that they could instead donate that money to Reprise! The Apple Tree is still scheduled to be produced in April.
This is very sad news for lovers of good theater in Los Angeles. I didn't think this year's choice of shows was as strong as some…but if Reprise! with its track record for delivering quality on stage isn't making it these days, that's a bad sign for all. Very bad.