The Caldwell Theatre Company season opened Nov. 9, 1997 with the Florida premiere of Jon Marans' Old Wicked Songs, a show wherein one character came to terms with his memories of the Holocaust. Now at the Caldwell, opening Feb. 27, is the world premiere of The Gardens of Frau Hess. In Milton Frederick Marcus' drama, the wife of Nazi war criminal Rudolph Hess, a high ranking beautiful German woman, hires a Jewish man of questionable background to tend her gardens during the war.

Running Feb. 22-April 5, Frau Hess stars Patricia Hodges (Dancing at Lughnasa on Broadway) and Ken Kliban, most recently Off-Broadway in Mr. Pim Passes By. John Henry Davis, who staged Papa, directs.

*

The Caldwell season closes with nothing but Romance/Romance , running April 12-May 24. With book and lyrics by Barry Harman and music by Keith Herrmann, the musical tells two different stories of love and romance - one set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, and the other in present day New York, where two couples rent a summer house in the Hamptons.

For tickets to Caldwell shows call (561) 241-7432 or refer to the regional listing on Playbill On-Line. -- By David Lefkowitz