Following two successful stints on the West Coast, King Levine will now try to command its subjects on the East. Richard Krevolin's take on the King Lear story arrives at Queens Theatre in the Park Dec. 15 Dec. 19, featuring the two California leads, Sammy Shore and Bari Hochwald. After a hit run at the Odyssey Theater space, King Levine, directed by Joe Bologna, had a two-month commercial run at the Tiffany Theater, May 1-July 1.

In Krevolin's version of "Lear," Moishe "King" Levine, who made a million bucks out of bagels and bialys, decides to leave his bakery to his three daughters, only to have them try to ship him off to an old folks' home. His struggle to keep his freedom -- and some of his hard-earned dough -- provides many comic twists.

Krevolin is a playwright, screenwriter, poet and teacher. His one-man play Yahrzeit was a hit in Los Angeles and New York in 1997 and is now touring the country. He is professor of screenwriting at USC Film School.

Shore founded the Comedy Store in Hollywood in 1972. A well known stand-up comic, he has opened for such stars as Frank Sinatra, Bop Hope and Barbra Streisand. His 1993 solo show The Warm-Up Man was a hit at the Santa Monica Playhouse.

Hochwald has appeared locally at such theatres as the Tiffany, Ventura Court and Met. Bologna's most recent theatrical venture was the long running comedy Bermuda Avenue Triangle, in which he co-starred with wife Renee Taylor and Bea Arthur (Nanette Fabray in New York).

For tickets and information on King Levine at QTIP call (718) 760-0064.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent
and David Lefkowitz