Upcoming at and around UCLA

The new season announcements are starting to trickle in from some of the major houses.

We'll start at the Geffen Playhouse, which has scheduled the West Coast premiere of Wendy Wasserstein's last play, "Third," to kick off 07-08 (opening Sept. 19) and will present the new musical "The Best is Yet to Come," co-conceived by David Zippell and Larry Gelbart with music by the late Cy Coleman. Zippel directs.

Wasserstein's play is set before the launch of the second Gulf War, and finds a New England university professor out to take down one of her students for plagiarism.

"The Best..." (beginning performances Nov. 28) is described this way:

"In the vain of celebrating songwriter as storyteller, 'The Best is Yet to Come' allows Cy Coleman’s music speak for itself in this World premiere production. Co-conceived by Larry Gelbart and David Zippel, 'The Best is Yet to Come' is an innovative approach to new musical theater highlighting such songs as “The Best is Yet to Come,�? “Hey, Big Spender,�? and “The Oldest Profession,�? among many others. With a stellar five-person company, an entire songbook comes to life as a collection of stories is told through song.

That seems to be an elegant way of saying "musical revue."

Gelbert, Zippel and the late Coleman were the team behind "City of Angels." If this is indeed celebrating Coleman's tunes, one wonders what precisely anybody needs the likes of Gelbart and Zippel for.

But it's not for me to prejudge...Well, OK, sure it is.

Check out www.geffenplayhouse.com.

More musical news comes from Reprise! at UCLA's Freud Playhouse which has expanded from three to four productions per season starting in the 07-08 campaign. If you've seen Reprise's current offering of "Sunday in the Park with George," you'll agree that this increase is a good thing.

They'll kick off with Rodgers and Hart's "On Your Toes," (Aug. 14-26) concerning a teacher trying to get a Russian ballet master to stage a jazz ballet, and nearly getting bumped off in the process. Next up, an old chestnut, "Damn Yankees" (Nov. 6-18) about a deal struck with the Devil to allow the Senators to beat the Yankees. Then it's "Li'l Abner," (Feb. 5-17, 2008) based on the Al Capp comic strip, and Kander and Ebb's "Flora, the Red Menace," (May 6-18, 2008) about a Depression era fahsion designer. This was the musical that made Liza Minnelli a star.

www.reprise.org.