Moscow Ballet Tour Adds 1 Dancer, Subtracts 2

The Moscow Classical Ballet has announced that veteran Kirov ballerina Tatiana Terekhova will dance with the company on its first U.S. tour, which begins in El Paso this week. The company is scheduled to dance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center next week, Oct. 4-9, and Oct. 11-16 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. The company also announced that Alla Khaniashvili-Artyushkina and her husband, Vasily Artyushkin, both of the Bolshoi and scheduled as guest artists with Moscow Classical Ballet on this tour, have withdrawn to cover injuries among Bolshoi principals. The announcement came 10 days after Moscow Classical Ballet reported that Bolshoi ballerina Ekaterina Maximova was forced to cancel her appearances because of a foot injury. No casting has been released as yet, so whether Terekhova will dance Maximova’s roles is unknown.

Gladys Knight and the Pips’ concert Thursday at the Celebrity Theatre has been postponed because Pips member Merald (Bubba) Knight has broken his arm, according to a theater spokesman. No new date has been scheduled. Information: (714) 999-9536.

Rafael Lima’s “Parting Gestures,” which received a staged reading in August at South Coast Repertory as part of the Hispanic Playwrights Project, will get a reading today at the Los Angeles Theater Center with an eye to possible development.

The autobiographical play about a mother-son relationship is already scheduled for production at Circle Repertory in New York City. Lima said Tuesday he hopes that the LATC reading will lead to a West Coast production.

Meanwhile, the Columbia Pictures deal for a TV option on Lima’s “El Salvador,” playing at the Gnu Theatre in North Hollywood, is back on track after what Lima termed “a misunderstanding.” The playwright had told The Times that Columbia dropped its option after he said he was willing to script a pilot based on the play but would not write the rest of a series. Lima said Tuesday he has changed his mind.

“The deal is on,” he said. “I’m talking to Columbia. . . . It looks real promising, and I’m very excited that they’re considering the play again.”

“El Salvador,” which has received lavish critical praise, is a serio-comedy about journalists covering the country’s guerrilla war. James Veres, a vice president of dramatic development at Columbia, confirmed that talks are continuing.

Acoustical modifications of the orchestra shell at the Orange County Performing Arts Center are continuing on schedule, according to Center spokesman Richard Bryant. The results of the work, designed by the same three men responsible for the Center’s original acoustics, should be audible tonight at 8 p.m., when the St. Louis Symphony will perform under the sponsorship of the Orange County Philharmonic Society. Working with musicians familiar with the hall, Dennis Paoletti, Jerald Hyde and Harold Marshall made the modifications, aimed at enabling the musicians to hear one another. Remaining modifications, now being planned, will focus on performances when the orchestra is joined by vocal ensembles, Bryant said.

Costa Mesa has awarded $21,766 to the Master Chorale of Orange County in recognition of the group’s community service programs. For the last three years, the chorale has performed for groups of developmentally disabled people throughout the county. The grant will be used for outreach programs and general operating support.

“Open Portraits,” a self-portrait photography program for AIDS sufferers organized by Mary-Linn Hughes at Laguna Shanti in Laguna Beach, will receive a $9,500 award through the California Arts Council’s Artists in Residence grant program, if the amount can be matched through donations from other sources. The money would pay part of Hughes’ salary for her 10-month residence at Laguna Shanti, a nonprofit agency that provides emotional support, education and creative enrichment to people with AIDS, their families and friends, and others with life-threatening illnesses. Hughes, of Huntington Beach, is the sole Orange County artist being honored by the CAC program this year.

The grant also would pay for the services of guest artists. Laguna Shanti intends Hughes’ collaborative classes to be a model for therapeutic sessions in painting, drawing, writing and theater.

Kaye Ballard will replace Rose Marie in the musical revue “4 Girls 4” scheduled for Oct. 9 at the Performing Arts Center. Marie withdrew from the show for health reasons, according to a Center spokesman. The revue also stars Helen O’Connell, Margaret Whiting and Kay Starr. Information: (714) 556-2787.

Members of the Pacific Symphony will begin meeting with their union today to discuss a basic contract agreement that was approved by the orchestra’s board of directors Monday night. The musicians, members the American Federation of Musicians Local 7 in Santa Ana, are expected to ratify the agreement Monday, according to an orchestra spokesman.