The Young Conservatory of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre will premiere Forever Young: The Music of Bob Dylan, a musical revue of tunes by the folky rock legend, March 20-30, 2003 at the Zeum Theatre.

The revue, crafted by Craig Slaight and Krista Wigle, will take Dylan's best known works and stage each number as a seperate story, sometimes as a duet or a solo and sometimes as an ensemble piece. The Young Conservatory did something similiar last year with Dangling Conversations: The Music of Simon and Garfunkel. Slaight will direct with musical direction by Wigle.

Taking the work of rock and pop songwriters and molding stories around their songs has become quite popular in the theatre as of late. Billy Joel's songs form the basis of the upcoming dance play Movin' Out as Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman's tunes (including "Total Eclipse of the Heart") are the backbone of Dance of the Vampires. The audience-pleasing Footloose kicked off the current trend back in 1998.

The Young Conservatory will also co-produce the world premiere of Sarah Daniel's Dust, a commission shared with the Royal National Theatre Youth Program in London. In the play, a teenager girl gets lost in the Underground and, instead of finding her school group, ends battling to the death as a girl gladiator in Roman-era London. Dust plays Aug. 22-Sept. 1, 2002.

The Young Conservatory will also stage an evening of Tom Stoppard's early one acts entitled in Albert's Bridge and More, playing Nov. 14-24. Tickets to Young Conservatory productions are $15. The Zeum Theatre is located at the Yerba Buena Gardens at the corner of Fourth and Howard Streets. For reservations, call (415) 749-2250.

— By Christine Ehren