THIS IS THE YEAR THAT WILL BE : MOVIES

Projecting . . . Woody Allen’s new film, “Radio Days,” due out in January, will feature much of the usual Allen Repertory Company (sans Allen) in a nostalgic tale of life during big-time radio. Equally anticipated--by a rather different audience--is Sylvester Stallone’s “Over the Top,” with big guy Sly as a truck driver (due in February).

A handful of admired directors are also releasing films early in ‘87: Francis Coppola’s “Gardens of Stone,” starring James Caan, Anjelica Huston and James Earl Jones; Blake Edwards’ “Blind Date,” starring Kim Basinger and TV’s Bruce Willis in his film debut, and Robert Redford’s “The Milagro Beanfield War” in the fall.

You’ll see Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman in “Ishtar” (May 22); Richard Pryor in “Critical Condition,” next month, and Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins in “84 Charing Cross Road” in February.

TELEVISION

Among the potentially more interesting sights are the Jan. 26 premiere of PBS’ “Square One,” a children’s series about math from the producers of “Sesame Street”; the Feb. 15-22 unspooling of ABC’s controversial miniseries “Amerika,” about a Soviet takeover of the United States, and the April 5 unveiling of Fox Broadcasting Co.’s much-touted “fourth network” lineup of prime-time series.

THEATER

Political theater and new plays hold the strongest promise. At the Taper, Too, there’s Vaclav Havel’s “Largo Desolato” (Feb 13) and Wallace Shawn’s polemical “Aunt Dan and Lemon” (March 20).

On the Taper’s main stage, check out Lanford Wilson’s newest play, “Burn This” (Jan. 22), followed by Jean-Claude Van Itallie’s “The Traveler” (March 5), about coming to grips with stroke-related aphasia.

Los Angeles Theatre Center may score with “Come Back Little Sheba” with Tyne Daly (April 24) and the West Coast premiere of Milan Kundera’s “Jacques and His Master” (June 12).

At Costa Mesa’s South Coast Rep, look for the Craig Lucas/Craig Carnelia musical play “Three Postcards,” (Jan. 6), and “Cold Sweat” (March 3), commissioned by SCR.

The Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood has confirmed Herb Gardner’s “I’m Not Rappaport” in June and Catalina Productions brings “Bent” to the Coast Playhouse Feb. 15.

ART

Los Angeles County Museum of Art will open new galleries in the Hammer wing in March. Then, in late spring, the museum will complete its internal rearrangement with a new installation of ancient art in the Ahmanson Building.

April looks big at LACMA with the arrival of “Treasures of the Holy Land: Ancient Art from the Israel Museum” (April 12-July 5) and “Avant-Garde in the ‘80s,” a sprawling international survey of contemporary art (April 23-July 12).

The Museum of Contemporary Art will punctuate its year-long “Individuals” show with mid-career surveys of works by Francesco Clemente (Feb. 10-March 29), David Salle (April 21-June 14), Elizabeth Murray (July 28-Sept. 20) and Donald Sultan (Nov. 24-Jan. 10, 1988).

RESTAURANTS

If you’re hungry, 1987 promises to be delicious. For late-night appetites, the stunning new Kate Mantolini steak house at Wilshire and Doheny will open in January and stay open 24 hours a day; Michel Richard moves beyond pastries at Citrus, which will debut in West Hollywood; Joachim Splichal moves out of the stratosphere as tries his hand at affordable food at Santa Monica’s Firehouse this spring.

The most interesting new menu is bound to be Lydia Shire’s at the Four Seasons Hotel, opening late February. L.A. has never seen a menu even remotely like this one, which includes dishes like broiled skate ribs and braised goat pastries.

JAZZ

Prospects for 1987 on the Southland jazz scene indicate that all the major events of previous years will be duplicated and a few new items added.

The Playboy Jazz Festival, set for June 13-14, probably will involve a tribute to Lionel Hampton, who will be celebrating his 60th year in show business. Other likely starters: Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan and the Count Basie Orchestra.

Major concerts set for early 1987 include one featuring Mel Torme, Dave Brubeck, Carmen McRae and the Louie Bellson orchestra, Feb. 5 to 8 at the Pantages Theatre; and Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams and the Basie band, March 19 to 22 at the Wilshire Theatre.

L.A. FESTIVAL

September’s Los Angeles Festival brings to town more of the international theater, music and dance that packed houses here during the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival. Due Sept. 3-27 are 30 companies from 10 countries.

Canada’s “Le Cirque du Soleil” kicks off the festival, probably in a big top on Pershing Square downtown. Among other major attractions: Peter Brook’s “Mahabharata,” a 12-hour presentation (with two food breaks), in English, of India’s 4,000-year-old sacred books; Ingmar Bergman’s American stage debut directing Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” in Swedish. There also will be French contemporary dance troupes, an “electronic opera,” and a “whimsical tribute” to composer John Cage. A concurrent “Fringe Festival/Los Angeles” modeled after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will take place all over town and is expected to include everything from theater to video.

DANCE

Blockbuster ballet again promises to dominate, starting Feb. 7, when Maurice Bejart’s controversial Ballet of the 20th Century returns to Royce Hall, UCLA, reportedly with guest artists Marcia Haydee of the Stuttgart Ballet and Eric Vu An of the Paris Opera Ballet.

American Ballet Theatre opens a new production of Marius Petipa’s “The Sleeping Beauty,” staged by Kenneth MacMillan, March 3-8 in Shrine Auditorium.

The Joffrey Ballet reconstructs the original, lost Vaslav Nijinksy choreography of “Le Sacre du Printemps” (1913) during the company’s September season at the Music Center.

“Rudolf Nureyev and Friends” dance March 28 in Shrine Auditorium, but so far the exact friends and repertory are a mystery.

The mighty Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow is scheduled to appear at the Pavilion for three weeks in August, detente permitting.

MUSIC

One of the big promises is Chicago Symphony’s visit to the Music Center Pavilion and the Orange County Performing Arts Center in February. Other orchestras due to reach Southern California in the first half of the year include the Vienna and Warsaw Philharmonics, the Gewandhaus Orchestra from Leipzig and the Orchestre National de France.

Hollywood Bowl, summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, begins a 10-week season beginning July 8, opening night offering a Beethoven program to be conducted by Gunther Herbig, with Alfred Brendel as piano soloist. The Philharmonic fall season opens Oct. 22.

New York City Opera returns with three productions (Jan. 13-25) in Orange County. The touring national company of “Porgy and Bess” plays Orange County (Feb. 11-15), then the Wiltern Theatre (Feb. 19-March 1).

Grand opera arrives in September via Los Angeles Music Center Opera: Puccini’s “La Boheme,” Prokofiev’s “Fiery Angel” and Rossini’s “Cenerentola” in the Pavilion. December will see Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” with the Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in the pit, and Verdi’s “Macbeth.”

POP MUSIC

The big pop music event of 1987 will be the release of the Michael Jackson album. Everyone’s dying to know how he’s going to follow “Thriller,” which has sold 38.5 million copies worldwide--more than any other album. “Thriller” was released in December, 1982.

Jackson’s been in the studio most of 1986 with Quincy Jones, who also co-produced “Thriller.” There’s still no official release date for the record, but Epic Records says it will be out in late winter or spring.

Next year may also see U2 achieve pop superstardom. The Irish band’s mushrooming popularity should spill into the pop mainstream with the release of its next album in March and its summer tour should be one of the year’s biggest.