A casting notice in the trade paper, Back Stage, indicates Dodger Theatricals and the Kennedy Center are teaming up to stage a new musical, Lone Star Love, or The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas.

According to Back Stage columnist David Sheward, the notice says rehearsals begin Feb. 14 toward a March 17 first preview at a Broadway theatre, and that an April opening is expected.

The tuner by composer Jack Herrick is inspired by Shakespeare's Falstaff comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor, now set in the American Southwest, and will be directed by Michael Bogdanov. Patricia Birch is cited as choreographer.

No official announcement has been made from the Dodger office, which produces Broadway's Footloose and Wrong Mountain. The Dodgers are also linked to developing a stage musical version of Hans Christian Anderson, drawing on elements from the classic Danny Kaye movie (with a score by Frank Loesser).

-- By Kenneth Jones