Steve Allen and Jim Bailey top the list of attractions slated for Theatre West's 38th season, the theatre's most ambitious ever, with six world premieres and an L.A. premiere scheduled.

Allen will appear Nov. 24, 1999-Jan. 9, 2000, in his own brand-new musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Allen will perform onstage as Charles Dickens.

Bailey, who many consider America's best female impersonator, will portray Tallulah Bankhead in Tallulah and Tennessee by Charles Rome Smith from Oct. 14- Nov. 7.

Theatre West's new season will commence Sept. 9-Oct. 3 with the L.A. premiere of four short plays by Thornton Wilder, directed by Wilder's friend and colleague F.J. O'Neil. The plays are A Ringing of Doorbells, Youth, The Rivers Under the Earth and In Shakespeare and the Bible.

The other attractions are Thicker Than Water by Roy Battachio (Jan. 27-Feb. 20, 2000); The Shift: Fables of New York by Charles Mount (March 9-April 7, 2000); Come Baby, Cradle and All by Doug Haverty (April 20-May 14, 2000); and Elinor Adjusting by Eugene Pack (June 1-25, 2000).Individual tickets are $12, except for Tallulah and Tennessee, tickets for which cost $15, and A Christmas Carol, set at $25.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent