L.A. THEATERS BOLDLY HEAD FOR 2000.

Byline: Reed Johnson Theater Critic

"Best and Worst of Year" lists are one of life's necessary irritants, like flossing your teeth and listening to presidential debates. Hoping to vary the formula slightly, here's my list of 1999's "10 Most Significant Happenings In L.A. Theater," in no particular order.

1. Not so long ago, the Pasadena Playhouse was a beloved but creatively atrophied Spanish Revival landmark in search of an artistic vision. Now, under energetic third-year artistic director Sheldon Epps, it's a savvier, splashier institution, fresh off the box-office smash "Play On!" (Epps' Jazz Age updating of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night") and a sterling revival of the Moss Hart chestnut "Light Up the Sky." Epps also has provided a platform for new work and has formed an artistic alliance/exchange with the Theater of Vienna. It's a tricky agenda, but so far Epps seems to be keeping a diverse constituency happy while putting a new sheen on an 82-year-old gem.

2. Practical concerns (no-show-ers, not enough seats) as well as creative opportunities led A Noise Within, the quietly accomplished 8-year-old classical repertory group, to relocate from downtown Glendale and become resident company at California State University, Los Angeles. With a loyal subscriber following and a bigger, better-equipped venue at its disposal, A Noise Within stands ready to expand the local demographic base for timeless plays and extend its artistic reach as a major regional company.

3. You'd have thought they were giving away free Oscars by the number of film and TV stars on L.A. stages last season. A partial list of marquee talent eager to reconnect with their theater roots would include Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland, Calista Flockhart, Paul Rudd, Annette Bening, Molly Ringwald, Alan Alda, Alfred Molina, Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce. The upside: Angelenos got to see top Hollywood performers up close and personal, as New Yorkers and Londoners do regularly. The downside: Ticket shortages and the prospect of too much celebrity-driven theater in a town already besotted with big names.

4. The Reprise! series of staged concert musicals took a major step forward in its third year with its laudable productions of the murderously difficult "Sweeney Todd," starring Kelsey Grammer, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and "The Boys From Syracuse" at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. Both shows received national media attention and signaled producer Marcia Seligson's intent to keep raising the series' already high standards.

5. The Geffen Playhouse also reached a creative milestone with last spring's production of Donald Margulies' "Collected Stories." The brilliant performance by Linda Lavin (of TV's "Alice") as a college professor eclipsed by her ambitious protege was the main reason to see this funny, provocative two-character spin on "All About Eve." Samantha Mathis proved a formidable co-star, helping to turn this production into the Geffen's first Broadway-quality show, as well as a surprise hit.

6. Although it was a long-running cult hit in New York, the Platonically inspired, transsexual rock 'n' roll spoof "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," starring talented Michael Cerveris, never caught on with L.A. audiences and is closing this month at a loss reportedly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Producers Joan Stein and Susan Dietz deserve much credit for giving the offbeat musical play a chance. But the absence of a major star in the lead role and the fact that East Hollywood lacks the funky downtown ambience of the East Village kept "Hedwig" from capturing L.A.'s imagination, despite good reviews.

7. Six years after being leveled by the Northridge Earthquake, the former El Portal movie house, in the heart of the NoHo Arts District, threw a November coming-out bash for its new incarnation as the El Portal Center for the Arts. In league with its principal tenant, 28-year-old Actors Alley theater company, the El Portal hopes to become the Valley's first fully professional midsize theater, with full seasons of plays at both its 382-seat Mainstage Theatre and its 99-seat Circle Theatre, as well as offering cabaret, performance classes, dance and other attractions. Sounds promising, but the productions will have to be top-notch to maintain the necessary patron support and advertising bucks both inside and outside the Valley.

8. On a related note, several of the El Portal's NoHo and Valley neighbors last year opened new theaters (American Renegade) or took on full seasons of plays (Theatre West, Falcon Theatre in Burbank). More area theaters are planning moves to NoHo in the coming years, shoring up the Valley's primary cultural enclave.

9. After treading water in recent years, Laurie Anderson reasserted her ability to pull new, idiosyncratic insights from mainstream Americana with last fall's high-concept multimedia odyssey, "Songs and Stories From Moby Dick," at UCLA's Royce Hall.

10. Sir Peter Hall's Shakespearean double bill at the Ahmanson last summer produced a split decision: a timely, emotionally engaging "Measure for Measure" and a shrill, conventional "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In future, this trans-Atlantic joint venture will need longer rehearsal times and more conceptual daring if it's to become a can't-miss part of the summer cultural calendar.

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Photo: (1 -- 2) Top: Jamey Sheridan, left, and Donald Sutherland in "Enigma Variations." Above: Al Pacino director and star of "Hughie."

(3) Pasadena Playhouse director Sheldon Epps, left, and Rudi Klausnitzer, general director of the Theater of Vienna.