STAGING EXCELLENCE MOMENTS TO SAVOR IN L.A. THEATER.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

A theater writer can look at just about anybody else's ``best of'' list with a certain ``I still have time'' comfort. Most of the critic-anointed best films are still playing within easy driving distance. Or else my old pal the VCR/DVD player comes to the rescue. Best concerts? Can't relive them, but the CD player lets the music play anew.

Miss a live stage show, however, and you're sunk. There's no video or soundtrack to duplicate the experience of actually being there, and - unless we're talking about one of those endlessly recycling tours - the production won't be back. It's gone.

I gathered a ton of memories during my hours spent in area playhouses in 2002. As per usual, I was roused, ticked, touched and enlightened. In no particular order and with the usual mea culpa that there were too many plays and performances I didn't see, my fond recollections of L.A. theater in 2002 included:

--The way the dying daylight caught St. Vibiana's Church and the touching, inventive tour the Cornerstone Theater Company gave of the facility in ``Crossings,'' its site-specific play about Catholic immigration.

--The exuberance and technical panache far beyond a 99-seat theater's means employed by Circle X in ``Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog.'' Forget the Broadway-bound behemoths, Jillian Armenante and Alice Dodd's story of forgotten film pioneers was the best musical of the year. Hands down.

--Misty Cotton and Julie Dixon Jackson's rendition of ``Leave Me Alone'' in the conjoined-twins musical ``Side Show'' for the Colony Theatre Company.

--Brian Bedford's sure-handed turn as a pair of Sganarelles in ``The Moliere Comedies'' at the Mark Taper Forum. Yes, he's done the roles before. Yes, the production was an import. But this kind of craftsmanship is to be savored whenever it comes our way.

--Chad Kimball's dancing cow in ``Into the Woods'' at the Ahmanson Theatre, upstaging Vanessa Williams and everything else on two legs in this Broadway-bound revival.

--The blood-soaked, wedding cake-smeared finale of Charles Mee's ``Big Love'' at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice. Which, by the way, is still playing.

--Desma Murphy's scare-fire scenic design for the Road Theatre Company's ``The Woman in Black'' in NoHo. Also still playing.

--The gut-wrenching slugfests between Mike Genovese and Ellen Crawford in ``Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' at the Blank Theatre Company and between Tracy Middendorf and Morlan Higgins in ``After the Fall'' at the Fountain Theatre.

--The expert enlist-an-audience-member maguffin in the Troubadour Theatre Company's ``All's Kool That Ends Kool.''

--Helen Hunt, in her long-overdue return to the stage, bringing poignancy to the post 9-11 play ``The Guys'' at the Actors' Gang.

--The sharp writing of David Auburn's ``Proof'' at the Wilshire Theater.

--The belly laughs inspired by Tim Bagley's desecration of Tennessee Williams in the Groundlings' spoof ``Beverly Winwood Presents the Actors Showcase'' at the Canon Theatre.

--Gerald Sternbach taking over the Reprise! baton from the late Peter Matz, bringing down the house with Cole Porter's ``Anything Goes.''

LOOKING AHEAD: In 2003, we'll see Lily Tomlin and Elaine Stritch in solo shows. The Colony will bring us the L.A. premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's ``Fuddy Meers,'' and the Taper offers Jon Robin Baitz's ``Ten Unknowns'' and, later, Tony Kushner's ``Homebody/Kabul.'' ``The Lion King'' will finally ship out of the Pantages Theatre to be replaced, a few promotion-laden months later, by Mel Brooks' ``The Producers.''

And not that he isn't frying bigger fish, but I do wish Mel Gibson would finally assemble that production of ``Hamlet'' starring Robert Downey Jr. that was promised L.A. audiences a couple of years back.

More L.A. stage highlights

In addition to those mentioned in the story, here also are 10 shows that L.A. was fortunate to experience in 2002, listed alphabetically:

1. ``A Class Act,'' Pasadena Playhouse

2. ``Cobb,'' Falcon Theatre

3. ``Communicating Doors,'' Odyssey Theatre

3. ``Dog Mouth,'' Padua Playwrights at the Evidence Room

4. ``The Exonerated,'' Actors' Gang

5. ``John Henry and the Shaker,'' Oasis Theatre Company at Inside the Ford

6. ``Morning's at Seven,'' Ahmanson Theatre

7. ``Ragged Time,'' Black Dahlia Theatre

8. ``Sorrows and Rejoicings,'' Mark Taper Forum

9. ``The Wild Duck,'' A Noise Within

10. ``Woyzeck,'' UCLA 

Honorable mentions: ``Romeo and Juliet,'' Shakespeare Festival/LA; ``Playboy of the Western World,'' Furious Theatre Company; ``The Junebug Symphony,'' UCLA; ``Guys and Dolls,'' Wilshire Theater.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) The Reprise! production of Cole Porter's ``Anything Goes'' brought down the house.

(2) The painful relationship between Morlan Higgins and Tracy Middendorf in ``After the Fall'' provided another memorable theatrical moment.

Box:

More L.A. stage highlights (see text)