The wait is almost over: tickets for the Broadway production of Whistle Down the Wind will go on sale in early 1997.

The new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, directed by Hal Prince, will begin previews at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York April 8, 1997 en route to an April 17 opening. The production began its tryout in Washington D.C. Dec. 6, and is scheduled to open on the 12th, running until Feb. 9, 1997.

Tickets were to have gone on sale Dec. 15, but the date now has been pushed back to lessen conflicts with Dreams and Nightmares which is keeping the Martin Beck Theatre box office busy until Dec. 29.

According to press representative Adrian Bryan-Brown, details about ticket sales have yet to be finalized, but an announcement will be made in upcoming weeks.

The production at the Martin Beck will play evenings at 8 PM Tuesday to Saturday, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2 PM and a Sunday matinee at 3 PM. Keeping in step with this spring's crop of big new musicals (including Titanic and Jekyll & Hyde), Whistle will boast a $75 top ticket price ($70 at Wednesday matinees). Press rep Amy Jacobs would not comment on Whistle's unusually short, 9-day preview period (in comparison, this year's Big, which also had an out-of-town tryout, previewed on Broadway for three weeks), nor its two month hiatus between the scheduled closing in Washington and the start of performances in NY.

Set in a backwater town in 1950's Louisiana just before Christmas, Whistle Down the Wind is the story of three children who find a mysterious stranger whom they mistake for Jesus. The show has music by Webber, lyrics by Jim Steinman and book by Patricia Knop and Webber. The production is directed by Hal Prince, whose last collaboration with Webber featured a plummeting chandelier -- The Phantom of the Opera.

Tickets for Washington production can be purchased by calling Tele-charge at 800-447-7400 or ordering on-line.

-- By Andrew Ku