STAGE : The Starry White Way : Many movie stars are Broadway bound this spring, daring to defy the critics--not to mention their accountants

NEW YORK —  When Jessica Lange told friends in the movie business that she was going to do “A Streetcar Named Desire” on Broadway this season, they thought that she was, in her words, “certifiably crazy.” What they couldn’t understand was why, having had virtually no previous stage experience, she would uproot her family, take a huge pay cut from her usual movie fee, face the tough New York critics and audiences and then have to repeat the terror night after night for six months. But Lange had an easy answer for them: “Excitement.”

The lure of Broadway has long been a siren song to movie stars. And this season, quite a few, defying the shoals of critics and and skeptical audiences, have succumbed to it. The star watch begins Feb. 20, when Joan Collins hits the Great White Way in Noel Coward’s “Private Lives.” On March 17, Glenn Close, Gene Hackman and Richard Dreyfuss open in Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman’s political thriller, “Death and the Maiden,” followed by Alan Alda appearing in Neil Simon’s “Jake’s Women,” Judd Hirsch in Herb Gardner’s “Conversations With My Father,” and Lange and Alec Baldwin in a revival of Tennessee Williams’ “Streetcar.” Beginning in mid-May, Al Pacino will star in two plays to be performed in rotation at Circle-in-the-Square Theatre: Ira Lewis’ “Chinese Coffee” and Oscar Wilde’s “Salome.”

Stars on Broadway, of course, are nothing new and the convergence of so many at this particular time is nothing more than a happy coincidence for the most part. Nonetheless, there are some apparent reasons for it as well. For many stars, a stint on Broadway often represents a homecoming, a return to where it all began. With the exception of Lange, who had only a brief stint with Paris’ Opera Comique, all of the actors mentioned above have appeared on Broadway before. For some it’s been relatively recent, such as Alec Baldwin, who opened in Joe Orton’s “Loot” in 1986. For others, it’s been a long hiatus: Gene Hackman’s last Broadway appearance was in 1964 in “Any Wednesday.”

Then too there is the hand of God on this Broadway season--or rather, director Mike Nichols and super-agent Sam Cohn, both of whom have been responsible for some of the stellar packages of past seasons, including productions of “Waiting for Godot” with Steve Martin and Robin Williams, and David Rabe’s “Hurlyburly,” which starred William Hurt, Christopher Walken, Sigourney Weaver and Harvey Keitel. This year, they are the prime movers behind “Death and the Maiden,” which Nichols cleared his schedule to direct after seeing it at the Royal Court Theatre in London last year.

Also contributing to the star gridlock is the perception that the current recession has slowed down film production, thereby freeing up the schedules of well-known actors who would otherwise have to sacrifice millions of dollars in order to make a long commitment to the stage.

And there are other reasons as well:

“I think there’s an undeniable cachet to working on Broadway,” says Jeremy Gerard, theater editor and chief critic of Weekly Variety. “Hollywood really does love the theater and does perceive it as its noble cousin.”

“I think the level of gratification you can get in the theater can’t be compared with making movies,” Alec Baldwin says. “It’s a rush.”

“It has to start with the material,” says Bonnie Timmerman, a casting director who is one of the producers of “Death and the Maiden.” “That’s what attracts stars. I think the cast for Ariel Dorfman’s play is a tribute to the writing.”

Yet, noble though it is, Broadway has sometimes proved to be as truculent to Hollywood as a poor cousin can be. The road to becoming the toast of the town in a hit play is riven with potholes for both the stars and the producers. Part of legend is Katharine Hepburn’s famous return to the stage after scoring in movies. In 1933, the year she won an Oscar for “Morning Glory,” she starred in “The Lake” at the Martin Beck Theatre--and quickly drowned. The reviews were poor but none more devastating than Dorothy Parker’s: “She ran the gamut of emotion from A to B.”

Despite the high caliber of box-office appeal among these stars, none of the productions is “critic-proof.” And for one good reason: economics. Indeed, the perennial struggle to get people to part with their hard-earned dollars at the box office has grown increasingly acute of late and the presence of so many stars is a quick-fix to slumping ticket sales. But it is by no means a sure thing. Charles Duggan, who is producing the revival of “Private Lives,” which did poorly on the road, says he thought he needed only to blazon “starring Joan Collins” on posters and advertisements and the show would sell out. Wrong. According to producer Jim Walsh, few if any stars can guarantee automatic recoupment, not as steeply as Broadway is structured today.

While advance sales have been brisk--”Death and the Maiden,” $3 million; “Streetcar,” $2 million and “Conversations,” $1.5 million--stars don’t come cheap. Variety has reported that the stars of “Death and the Maiden” will each garner approximately 6% of the play’s grosses, which means that they stand to make as much as $20,000 per week. Most of the others fall within that range (Joan Collins reportedly higher, Judd Hirsch lower). While that may be a fraction of what they can make on a movie, it’s not exactly chump change.

More importantly, especially for those shows that have announced limited engagements--”Private Lives,” “Streetcar,” the Pacino plays--that means upping the ticket prices if the producers are to have any chance of recouping their investment within the limited time frame. Compared to the dramatic hit “Dancing at Lughnasa,” with a top of $42.50, “Streetcar,” “Death and the Maiden” and the Pacino plays will cost $50 a pop.

Ticket prices are up, says Walsh, who is general manager of “Streetcar” and a producer on “Conversations,” because the schedule of recoupment has to be accelerated on shows that invariably carry a much bigger price tag. “Streetcar,” for example, is capitalized at $1.35 million compared to “Lughnasa” at $790,000. “It wouldn’t make sense to sign Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin and then stint on production costs,” he says.

For “Streetcar,” Lange looms as a big risk given her minimal stage experience. That apparently didn’t worry director Gregory Mosher, who cast her in the play without an audition. Having heard through mutual friends about the actress’ desire to do a Broadway play, the director was at first skeptical. “You’re always hearing about movie stars who are interested,” he says, “but few really go through with it.”

Mosher says that Lange’s gutsiness in taking on this Everest of acting will hold her in good stead for the part--”all tragic characters, Blanche included, have that kind of courage”--and he adds he’s confident that any woman who could go from “Frances” to “Tootsie” will be ready by the first preview.

Having directed Madonna’s Broadway debut in David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow,” Mosher says, “the differences between movie stars and theater actors evaporate when there’s a love of the material and the process of creating. Madonna was DLP--dead letter perfect--with David’s script because she had a great love for the project. So does (Lange) and that counts a great deal in this.”

Mosher says people are buying tickets to “Streetcar” for the “tantalizing possibilities” of what Lange and Baldwin will do with the roles created by Jessica Tandy and Marlon Brando. Other actors, however, sell tickets by their very likability. Critic Gerard basically ascribes the recent box-office success of Tony Randall’s theater company, which presented “The Crucible” and “A Little Hotel on the Side” this season, to the fact that people “wanted to help Felix Unger.”

On that score, Judd Hirsch in “Conversations” and especially, Alan Alda, whom playwright Simon praises as “the best comic actor in the world,” stand to rake in the good will of their fans. But Broadway history is littered with stars who’ve failed to deliver at the box office.

“People aren’t going to buy tickets to see a star, no matter how well-loved, in a mediocre show,” says Arvin Brown, who directed Joan Collins in “Private Lives” and who will direct Al Pacino in “Chinese Coffee.” “Excellence is still the main draw.”

While stars invariably generate enthusiasm for Broadway, many people fear that they are merely quick fixes, a Band-Aid at best for what ails Broadway--diminished audiences, soaring costs and lack of opportunity for actors, writers and directors. There is the idea that stars will drive out “real actors.” And there are those, as well, who question their commitment in the long run. After the initial three weeks of the run of “Speed-the-Plow,” the stories were legion about how bored Madonna was doing the show. “After the first 20 minutes,” says one insider, “she was going crazy.”

Not helping matters for the less-than-committed actor is that Broadway credits are not necessarily a marketable cachet. Even major film stars do not automatically get first dibs on the movie adaptation of the stage role they’ve created. Alec Baldwin, who stars in the film version of “Prelude to a Kiss” being released this spring, also starred in the original stage production, but that’s the exception to the rule. None of the cast of the upcoming film “Glengarry Glen Ross” was part of the original Broadway cast. And it is likely that Roman Polanksi, who will be directing the film of “Death and the Maiden,” will want to start with his own fresh cast.

“As much as it’s great to have the stars here,” says Gerard, “it’s not what Broadway’s about. Hollywood is still about stars and Broadway is still about the written word. And that gets lost in all the hoopla. By October, all these stars will be gone and Broadway will still be in trouble.”

Still, some producers are sanguine that a warm reception for this group of actors will encourage others, like Jane Fonda or Candice Bergen for example, to join the bandwagon. “I’d like to think it’s habit-forming,” says Walsh. “Stars sell tickets and provide opportunities for actors and writers that might not otherwise be available.”

A case in point was the 1986 hit, “Cuba and His Teddy Bear,” a work by the young and little-known Reinaldo Povod, which starred Robert De Niro, Ralph Macchio and Burt Young. Following a run at the Public Theatre, Joseph Papp moved the show for a limited run to Broadway. “I remember going,” recalls Walsh, “and the house was filled with crowds of people who’d probably never been in a theater before. They weren’t too tainted and you could feel the warmth and excitement. Maybe they had a good time, maybe they came back. Who knows? It can’t hurt.”