Light Opera’s Season Tickets Prove Popular : Subscriptions: The newly formed troupe reports that more than 1,000 seats have been sold for a two-show package at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

IRVINE —  Amid claims that the economic downturn has hurt attendance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the newly formed Irvine Civic Light Opera reports that its sale of season subscriptions to a pair of shows at the Irvine Barclay Theatre has exceeded expectations so far.

“All the other performing groups we’ve talked to in the area have been surprised at what we’ve received in such a short time,” Roger Hudson, a member of the troupe’s board of directors, said Tuesday.

Hudson, who also serves as the company’s technical director, noted Friday that more than 1,000 season tickets have been sold since the nonprofit musical theater troupe began advertising three weeks ago for a two-show subscription to Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Pacific Overture.”

Both musicals are to have Actors Equity professionals in the starring roles. “Evita” is scheduled to run at the Irvine Theatre for eight performances over the weekends of Feb. 14-17 and 22-23; “Pacific Overtures” also will have eight performances on the weekends of July 11-14 and 19-20. Season tickets range from $27 to $40.

Hudson said the Light Opera Company currently is negotiating with the theater management for additional, midweek play dates between those weekends to enable both shows to have continuous rather than interrupted engagements. The negotiations hinge, in part, on the total sale of the subscriptions.

Irvine Theatre President Douglas C. Rankin is requiring all performing organizations at the 756-seat facility to keep about 20% of the seats for all performances available for non-subscribers. Hudson said, however, that the Light Opera Company is trying to sell a total of about 6,000 subscriptions, which would mean full houses for both shows, “because even that won’t meet more than 60% of our production costs.”

To satisfy Rankin’s requirement, the Light Opera Company has offered to keep open “a majority of the seats” for the midweek play dates, if they can be arranged.

Meanwhile, the troupe has raised about $35,000 in contributed income since August, including about 100 donations of $500 each, Hudson added. Each $500 contribution entitles the donor to a single raffle ticket for a 1991 Lexus. “The kicker is that we’re limiting the raffle to 500 tickets,” he said.

The projected budget for the Light Opera Company’s first season comes to about $350,000, with “Evita” and “Pacific Overtures” expected to cost $150,000 each.

Season subscriptions can be purchased by phone at (714) 263-1900. Information is also available at (714) 640-0339 or (714) 854-4425.