TELEVISIONL.A. Trip Pays Off: Los Angeles ratings...

TELEVISION

L.A. Trip Pays Off: Los Angeles ratings for Monday night’s “Late Show” broadcast, which began David Letterman’s week-long run here, were up 86%, increasing from an average 215,275 viewing households to 400,512. Meanwhile, rival Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” L.A. ratings fell 20%, reaching 165,211 homes instead of the usual 205,262. That helped boost Letterman 14% in overnight ratings for the nation’s top 31 markets, while Leno dropped 6%. . . . Letterman didn’t cite ratings in his “Top 10 Reasons We’re Doing ‘Late Show’ in Los Angeles,” however. Among those that did make the list: 9) Wanted to be closer to my nephews Lyle and Erik; 7) We’re hoping to see Jack Nicholson go nuts on the freeway with a nine iron; 6) Madonna is in New York; 3) I had to come clean Johnny Carson’s pool; 2) Wanted to be first to get speeding ticket on newly reopened Santa Monica Freeway; and 1) Three words: It’s bitchin’, dude.

STAGE

Dunaway’s Debut Set: Faye Dunaway and Rex Smith will begin performing their roles in “Sunset Boulevard” on July 5, it was announced Tuesday. Current stars Glenn Close and Alan Campbell leave the show on June 26; the interim week will feature standby Karen Mason as Norma and understudy Amick Byram as Joe. The week’s delay is caused by Dunaway’s work on the film “Don Juan de Marco and the Centerfold.”

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Passion for ‘Passion’: Critics liked “Passion,” the new Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical that opened on Broadway Monday, but some stopped short of a full embrace. It’s “easily the worthiest” original musical of the season, wrote David Richards of the New York Times, “but its adult ambitions, more than its achievements, are what command admiration.” Linda Winer-Bernheimer of Newsday praised Sondheim’s “ravishing” and “gorgeously knit” score but labeled Lapine’s book “overripe foolishness.” Clive Barnes of the New York Post dubbed the musical “the most thrilling piece of theater on Broadway,” while Howard Kissel of the Daily News wrote that “with a great cast, (the show) suffers only when the music stops.” . . . “Passion” is already ahead in New York’s Drama Desk Award competition, winning 11 nominations, more than any other show. “Beauty and the Beast” got 10.

PEOPLE WATCH

Breaking Up: Singer Paula Abdul has filed for divorce from her husband, actor Emilio Estevez, citing irreconcilable differences in the two-year-old marriage. “It’s with tremendous reluctance and great sadness that I’ve taken this action,” Abdul said in a statement. “I have great affection and both personal and professional respect for Emilio. I know that we’ll continue to be supportive of each other in the future and that our friendship will go on.” Estevez was not available for comment.

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Babs, Live and Memorex: Barbra Streisand, who opened her five-city U.S. tour in Washington Tuesday, is set to release a special edition CD-5 and cassette-single of her new song, “Ordinary Miracles,” which she premiered at her New Year’s Eve concerts in Las Vegas. Written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Marvin Hamlisch, the song, which hits stores Tuesday, appears in both a live version recorded in Vegas and a new studio version.

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Burkhardt Memorial: A memorial tribute for artist Hans Burkhardt, who died at his Los Angeles home April 22 at the age of 89, will be held Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Gallery, 357 N. La Brea Ave. Two Burkhardt exhibitions, “Black Rain” and “Pastels: Selected Works,” will remain on view at the gallery through May 31.

EVENTS

Disappointing ‘Fanfest’: The country-music “Fanfest ‘94” at Pomona’s Fairplex facility sold an estimated 20,000 tickets for its four-day run last week, fewer than half the 50,000 that organizers hoped for. But Fanfest Inc. President Bob Alexander, blaming the low turnout in part on inclement weather, said Monday that the organization plans to stage the event again next spring. “We intend to learn from our mistakes,” Alexander said, referring to long lines at autograph booths and performances that ran behind schedule.

QUICK TAKES

Former “Hill Street Blues” star Betty Thomas will make her feature film directing debut with Parmount Pictures’ big-screen version of “The Brady Bunch,” produced by Alan Ladd Jr. Casting was not announced. Thomas has won Emmy and CableAce awards for directing HBO’s “Dream On.” . . . Country singer Willie Nelson, 61, was arrested on a misdemeanor drug charge Tuesday morning after police found him sleeping in his Mercedes-Benz along a road near Waco, Tex. Police said they found “less than 2 ounces of marijuana in the car.” . . . Former KIIS-FM (102.7) deejay William (Brother Bill) McKinney has filed a $2-million racial discrimination lawsuit against the station, charging that he lost his job there two years ago because he is black.