OUT OF THE WOODS: In the bankruptcy...

OUT OF THE WOODS: In the bankruptcy era, University High School in Irvine is so financially strapped that its theater students are raising their own funds to put on a production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”--without using school money. And Sondheim himself is helping out. . . . He has agreed to waive his share of any royalty fees, a savings of at least $1,000. Says theater arts director Dan Trevino: “He was extremely gracious about it. But the whole world knows our county is bankrupt.” The school’s Sondheim musical runs May 4-6 and May 11-13.

HAPPY MART? On CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday night, critics of Wal-Mart assailed the department store chain as too big and too competitive, accusing it of ruining small-town Main Streets. But the show’s producers didn’t interview anyone here. The new Wal-Mart in Anaheim is running strong. And today, Wal-Mart opens its second Orange County store, at Foothill Ranch Towne Center. . . . Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez predicts: “It will bring vital economic benefit to the region.”

FOR THE YOUNG: Law professor Anita Hill has insisted on a low profile since moving to Laguna Beach last year, on leave from the University of Oklahoma to write a book. But she makes her first speaking engagement May 18 at a local Planned Parenthood fund-raiser in Newport Beach. It may be her last too. . . . Hill, who gained fame during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings, reportedly will leave the county soon to return to teaching. Hill’s speech topic: “Social Change and the Education of Young Girls.”

HURRICANE BOB? Rep. Robert K. Dornan’s long-shot presidential candidacy drew some friendly comments recently from Newsweek’s George F. Will, who suggested in a column that Dornan (R-Garden Grove) will at least make the race fun. “Full of vinegar, running for the sheer fun of a brawl,” Will says of Dornan. “Verbal napalm comes trippingly from (his) tongue . . . Here comes the hurricane.”