Lucie Arnaz and Kate Dawson star as the harassed sisters from Ohio in Leonard Bernstein's Wonderful Town, which will play for a total of 18 performances in southern California. The stage musical version of the movie "My Sister Eileen" will appear at two different venues: Oct. 8-24, 1999 at the Civic Auditorium in San Gabriel; and Oct. 29-31 at The Alex in Glendale. Cliff Bemis co-stars in the production.

With score by Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the musical is based on the real-life sketches by Ruth McKenney about the adventures of two young and pretty sisters who come from the midwest to New York's Greenwich Village to seek careers for themselves. The librettists, Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov, have embellished these tales and invented some new and wicked characters.

Don Amendolia directed for the Music Theatre of Southern California and Kevin Carlisle & Associates. The road company's eventual destination is Broadway.

Arnaz plays the elder sister Eileen; Dawson her boy-crazy sister. Bemis plays the magazine editor who falls in love with the wrong sister.

Arnaz, daughter of the late Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, has starred on Broadway, TV and films. The numbers to call for tickets and information are (626) 308-2868 (San Gabriel) and (800) 233-3123 (Glendale).

-- By Willard Manus Southern California Correspondent