Alma at the Los Angeles

Monday, October 18, 2004, at 05:14AM

By Eric Richardson

I've watched a Google news search for "alma mahler" with interest since September 30, when the roaming play Alma opened at the Los Angeles Theatre. After a decent number of pre-opening articles it's been hard to find good reviews to go off of. This reuters piece pretty much sums up what I've seen:

The main problem with "Alma," however, is Alma. All three of the younger Almas appear to be rather ordinary Viennese hotties ... The venue itself is the best part of the evening. The baroque interior of the theater is filled with bygone splendor ... Along with preshow drinks, there is a three-course Viennese dinner buffet and wine at intermission included in the $125 tab. Improvement here would be welcome as well.

I would love to go see the show, but for $125 I'd like to be confident I'm getting more than just a cool tour of the Los Angeles . The play runs through Dec. 5, so I think I should be able to make up my mind by then. It would be a shame for something like this to be visible out my bedroom window and not to check it out.