POP/ROCK - June 29, 1993

Overdose a ‘Fabrication’: A lawyer for Whitney Houston on Monday denied a published report that the pop singer was treated at a hospital after overdosing on prescription diet pills. The story in Monday’s New York Post reported that Houston, 29, spent 90 minutes Thursday at Miami Beach’s Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was diagnosed as having acute heart arrhythmia, apparently brought on by diet pills. “It is a total fabrication,” said the lawyer, Sheldon Platt. “She has never taken a diet pill in her life. She’s outraged. She’s hurt.” The hospital also denied the report, saying there was no record of such a visit. The Post article, which drew national attention, had said Houston was apparently frustrated by the pounds she put on during her recent pregnancy and became even more upset after a chance encounter last month with a svelte Janet Jackson.

* It’s Not Easy Being Don Henley: Rocker Don Henley was met with a chorus of boos Sunday when he dedicated the tune “It’s Not Easy Being Green” to President Clinton during an appearance at Milwaukee’s Summerfest. “Well, it’s a damned-if-you-do and a damned-if-you-don’t job,” responded Henley, an environmental activist and former drummer with the Eagles. “I think Congress and media should at least share some of the blame.”

OPERA

* Verdi Fest: London’s Royal Opera House announced plans Monday for the biggest-ever international Verdi festival with all 28 of the Italian composer’s operas staged over six summers. Starting in June, 1995, and ending in 2001--the centennial of Giuseppe Verdi’s death--the festival will feature tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras as well as conductors such as Sir Georg Solti and Bernard Haitink. The event will start with a revival of “Stiffelio,” with Carreras and Domingo alternating in the lead role opposite soprano Catherine Malfitano. Although most performances will be performed under the Royal Opera’s auspices, many will be co-productions with other companies in England and abroad.

STAGE

* Watching Riot Redux: Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams was in Sunday’s matinee audience for “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,” Anna Deavere Smith’s one-woman show at the Mark Taper Forum examining the Los Angeles riots. Smith gave Williams a thumbs up during the curtain call. Williams’ predecessor, Daryl Gates, who is prominently depicted in the show, has not been to see it, a Taper spokeswoman said. Williams could not be reached for his reaction to the performance.

* ‘Angel of Music’ to ‘Sound of Music’: Dale Kristien, who has played Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera” since it opened at the Ahmanson Theatre four years ago, will play Maria von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” at Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Dec. 15-19, after an earlier run of the same production in Phoenix. “Phantom” closes Aug. 29.

TELEVISION

* Conference on Aging: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Motion Picture and Television Fund are among the co-sponsors of “Age Has a Future: Maturity and the Media,” a Sept. 11 conference aimed at raising awareness of problems with how aging is portrayed on television. CBS Entertainment President Jeff Sagansky will receive an award at the event recognizing his network’s quality programming for older adults. The conference is an outgrowth of a recent UCLA survey of television academy members that concluded that the industry does “a poor job depicting the interests of the elderly and is plagued by age discrimination and outdated notions of older adults.”

* MTV Alternative: Alternative music fans will have a new outlet in September with the premiere of a new syndicated Friday night series, “Music Scoupe.” The show premieres locally on Fox at 12:30 a.m. Sept. 18. Dave Kendall, formerly with MTV’s alternative music program, “120 Minutes,” will host.

QUICK TAKES

* Oscar show favorite Jack Palance will by honored by the Friars Club with one of the organization’s infamous X-rated roasts on Wednesday. Steve Allen will preside as “Roastmaster”. . . “Jurassic Park” screenwriter David Koepp will talk about the evolution of the hit film’s script at a UCLA Extension screenwriters program Aug. 9. . . . “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper” star Mark Curry will host the second annual “Jim Thorpe Pro Sports Awards” special airing at 9 p.m. July 12 on ABC.

* Quotable: “I consider myself and still consider myself the hippest man on the planet.”

--Singer Barry Manilow, interviewed on tonight’s “Entertainment Tonight.”