"Island," "La Mancha," "I Love My Wife," "Chess"

The Reprise Theatre Co.'s 2008-09 season has been announced and, for his first programming duties as artistic director, Jason Alexander has an interesting slate.

When I interviewed Alexander a few months back, I asked whether he would be acting any of his company's productions. "When appropriate" was his reply in a nutshell (When appropriate, the former "Seinfeld"-ian also directs. "You probably won't be seeing my Don Quixote anytime soon."

We might, however, see his Sancho Panza when "Man of La Mancha" bows Feb. 17, 2009 at the Freud Playhouse, UCLA. I sometimes scratched my head when Reprise! (as it was formerly called) would stage musicals that were anything but undiscovered gems like "Brigadoon" or "Anything Goes." "Man of La Mancha," the musical Don Quixote tale by Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion with the song "The Impossible Dream," can get a little ubiquitous (A Noise Within did a great scaled down version last season), but it's nothing if not a trusty warhorse.

"Once on this Island," on the other hand, is a horse of a different stripe. The season opener (yes, we frequently take things out of order here at TCiC), is a reggae and calypso fused "Little Mermaid" tale about a West Indies village girl who saves the life of a Prince. Music and lyrics are by "Ragtime's" Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Sept. 2-14 at the Freud.

Billy Porter will direct, Bradley "Shooz" Rapier of the Groovaloos will choreograph and -- aren't they optimistic -- Reprise has even announced partial casting: Yvette Cason, Vanita Harbour, Patina Miller, Jesse Nager, Leslie Odom Jr., Nita Whitaker and 2008 Grammy nominee Ledisi.

Alexander will act in "I Love my Wife" along with Vicki Lewis and Steven Weber for director Larry Moss. The Michael Lewis and Cy Coleman piece is set amidst the sexual revolution of the 1970s. Dec. 2-14 at, not the Freud, but the Brentwood Theatre on the V.A. grounds.

And more than a year from now (May 5-17), the company wraps the season with "Chess." With music by the ABBA B's (Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus) and lyrics by Tim Rice, "Chess" was a London hit and a Broadway flop. It's a Cold War love story between a Russian chess master and an American woman, set amidst a series of chess tournaments. Remember "One Night in Bangkok?" Yeah, from that musical.

More info: www.reprise.org