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Page 14, PHOENIX, June 20, 1974 Brooklyn%u2019s Chelsea Took Broadway And Walked Off with the GoodiesBY JOHN BLACKMOREWhat%u2019s Chelsea, who lives in Brooklyn, doing on Broadway? Cleaning up, that%u2019s what. The ubiquitous Chelsea Theater Center of Brooklyn, working out of their 200-seat garret theater at the Brooklyn Academy, has taken on the M anhattan Philistines and walked away with all the goodies. To wit: the 1974 Drama Critics Award for Best Musical (%u201c Candide%u201d ) and for Best Play (%u201c The Contractor%u2019%u2019), the Vernon Rice Award for excellence in Off-Broadway Theater (never before has this award been given to an entire company or to a group outside Manhattan); as well as 17 Obie awards, 7 Drama Desk awards, and on and on.The off-season finds Chelsea%u2019s Directors Robert Kalfin, Michael David, and Burl Hash back at their Brooklyn %u201c attic%u201d at BAM pouring over the 1200-odd scripts, four of which will constitute Chelsea%u2019s next season. Despite their successes in M anhattan (or, 1 should say, because working out of BrooklynAntique Fair andh .7 r u , \June23-30Also, Dealers Wanted,Call Mrs. Bershatskey,645 1268hi tin* |i.ukmi| lot .itBflmH'\l--t-1% %u25a0 V d! t il.iycttc AvonI \has worked so well), the Chelsea%u2019s ninth season will play before their loyal Brooklyn following.And loyal they are. Sixty per cent of their subscribers (and 70% of their audience) are Brooklynites, most of whom hail from South Brooklyn. (Thirty per cent from Brooklyn Heights, approximately 15% each from Park Slope and Boerum Hill). But the true nature of loyalty is that Chelsea%u2019s supporters are asked to subscribe (and subscribe they do) without an inkling of what they%u2019ll see in the coming year. Few artistic companies, be it the Met or the Philharmonic, can run a subscription drive on reputation alone. Chelsea can and Chelsea does. They can well boast (and they do): \hate it, but you won%u2019t see it anywhere else.%u201dChelsea is a house built on energy and guts. According to all existing formulae, they%u2019ve done everything bass-ackwards. They have no single spiritual leader and house guru (direction is shared among Halfin, David and Hash), they have no resident company (%u201c We have the largest pool of talent in the world, the New York actors.%u201d ), they refuse to adhere to a consistent theater philosophy (%u201c When we did Leroi Jones, they thought we were Black, when we did Genet, they thought we were serious and relevant, and now %u201c Candide.%u201d Nobody can put a tag on us%u201d ), they do what they like, not what%u2019s indicated. And they continue to work out of Brooklyn while their popularity peaks in Manhattan. They must be crazier than loons!Crazy, rather, like foxes. %u201c Brooklyn,%u201d says Executive Director Michael David, %u201cis now one of the theater capitals of the world, %u2019 %u2019Ya Shoulda Seen It in Brooklyn...How do you squeeze a musical extravaganza first staged in a 200-seat %u201c attic%u201d in Brooklyn into one of the largest theaters on Broadway? It wasn%u2019t easy, according to Chelsea Theater%u2019s directorate. But that problem was a trifle compared to Chelsea%u2019s major coup in getting Leonard Bernstein, Hal Prince and a handful of top-notch Broadway designers and songwriters to agree to come to Brooklyn to stage a revival of %u201c Candide%u201d in a completely new treatment. How%u2019d it happen?%u201c Candide%u201d first appeared on Broadway in 1956, when it failed after a short run. With the music composed by Bernstein, the book by Hugh Wheeler and lyrics by Richard Wilbur, the poet, it was a considerable property, and suffered two extravagant revivals, which also failed.The Chelsea liked the script, but didn%u2019t think they had a tinker%u2019s chance in hell of getting it. They had a better idea. %u201c The show had been treated withreverence, as a museum piece, David commented. The group met with Bernstein two years ago, and instead of courting him, came out with what they wanted: the script, the original production materials, and permission to rebuild the show from scratch on a low-budget basis. %u2018 %u2018 Bernstein was intrigued, and gave us the go-ahead.%u201dThe next step was to get a director. They went to the best, Hal Prince, the most respected commercial producer/director on Broadway. Prince, they thought, would be a good bet because of his past involvements with non-commercial theater. Even so, he surprised them by saying yes. %u201c Chelsea with Bernstein and Prince%u2014whadda marriage!%u201d David exclaimed.The result? %u201cCandide%u201d is the Cinderella success of the current season. Voltaire%u2019s comic picaresque comes off briskly in a series of irreverent vignettes. The undisputed master is Lewis Stadlen, who as Candide%u2019s tutor (Dr. Pangloss), persecutor (theGovernor) and Voltaire himself, provides witty commentary and continuity throughout the show. Mark Baker%u2019s pixyish Candide, all smiles, and Maureen Brennan%u2019s saccharine sweetness as Cunegonda provide the proper feigned innocence for their lead roles.It%u2019s a great show. Go see it. But from all reports, and as directors David and Hash themselves proclaim, ya shoulda seen it in Brooklyn. Hal Prince was so enraptured by the tone and setting of the Brooklyn production when it appeared at the BAM garret theater, that a great deal of expense ($500,000) and trouble was made to reproduce Brooklyn%u2019s magic at the Broadway Theater, more traditional theatergoers were upset by the proposition of sitting on stools in the pits, or dangling their legs over balcony ledges, but all the worse forthem. If they don%u2019t like it, they can play untouchable at more conventional shows. But that%u2019s just the point%u2014they would fail to be touched.-JOHN BLACKMOREa judgment based in no small part by Chelsea%u2019s residence here. Michael cites the borough%u2019s polyglot population, its loyalties and its attitude as constituting an ideal center for free and creative theater. %u201c Brooklyn%u2019s so frigging diverse, we don%u2019t have to serve the needs of all the communities, but with our program we can serve many of them. We do what we want andEL FARO RESTAURANTSouth Am erican & Cuban Cuisine145 Atlantic Ave 9a.m.-10p.m.lis p%u25a0i%u25a0draw audiences with many interests. Let the other companies serve everybody%u2019s interests, we can serve best by serving our own designs.%u201dThe concept of having regional theater to compete with the Manhattan monopoly right in its own territory is, to say the least, unique. But Brooklyn is a special case. A great city within a great city where there%u2019s an independent tradition of theater, music and the arts. %u201c Regional theater in Brooklyn is like having it in Minneapolis, but with Manhattan 20 minutes away,%u201d says Production Director Burl Hash. The benefits of basing their operations in Brooklyn are heady indeed, what with funding resources for Manhattan theater projects continually atTake a chicken to lunch-to the beach -for a ride in the country L -in your own backyard %u25a0| Turn an ordinary meal into a picnic with JI REGO%u2019S ROOST |J^O pen Daily VI to ! I 16V ATLANTIC AVE.(alClinton)\\ S pan ish R estaurantf Authentic Cuisine from Spainf OPEN FOR LUNCH AND DINNER SEVEN DAYS^ TAPAS( Spanish snacks (served at the bar Sat. & Sun., Noon to 4 PM! Sm all P arties w e lc o m e (3 0 -3 5 m a x im u m )Lmaximum strain, and the largest untapped audience of theater afficiionado in America. As a result, the Chelsea has experienced its greatest growth in Brooklyn.And we%u2019ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. Look at the brilliant success of BAM%u2019s British Season this Spring, and the development of the City University%u2019s most ambitious theater program at Brooklyn College. Chelsea%u2019s directors don%u2019t fear the competition, in fact they see it as a boon. The more options the Brooklyn theater-goer has, the more he will be drawn to the Chelsea, say the Chelsea people.How did the Chelsea find its way to the Brooklyn Academy? %u201c We couldn%u2019t do what we wanted in Manhattan,%u201d explained Burl. The Chelsea started as Artistic Director Robert Halfin's brainchild in a parish house in Manhattan%u2019s Chelsea district (hence the name). The Center originally staged new,CONTINUED ON PACK 15i 121 A tla n tic A ve . 6 2 5 -8 5 3 9Cabaret:F ly me, I %u2019m Cheryl!On Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22, MissPauiine Frechette [who can be seen as %u201c Cheryl%u201don National Airlines TV ads] taxis down theFlatbush runway and disembarks in our intimate,candlelit Cabaret. Her passport includescredentials such as %u201c Dames at Sea,%u201d %u201c CharlieBrown,%u201d %u201c Company,%u201d %u201c Foiilss,%u201d etc.Her pilot and pianist. Mr. Frank Herman, hasappeared with Gens Krupa, Woody Herman, andElephant%u2019s Memory. No vaccinations required totrip in our Cabaret. Fly MICHEL%u2019S-you%u2019ll like us!No cover, no minimum at MICHEL%u2019S, 346 FlatbushAvenue, Park Slope- NE 8-4552.Air C onditioned M ichel%u2019sin P a rk Slopeetna M mB R O O K L Y N C H I N A T O W NC H I N E S E R E S T A U R A N T111 COURT STREET 655-2717 855-2718V /////////////////S ////////////////////////////////////////////Z ////*Grand OpeningCafeteria style lunch Fast service - Take-out orders Free Delivery - Table service at dinner Every day special: 1.65 and 1.95( including tea, coffee, or soda )Open AAon.-Sat.- 11am to 9pmFree coupons wjiich canbe exchanged for Chinese giftsbSu'vM eyers Lot151 Pierrepont St.Admission $1, with this ad $.75$SiTell us what f\\you're thinking aboutlocal issues.Editor,155 Atlantic Ave