Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

TELEVISION

Reeve’s Lineup: Christopher Reeve will have a lot of big names to instruct when he makes his directorial debut. Actors Glenn Close, Bridget Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Sean Leonard and David Strathairn have been cast in the HBO NYC drama “In the Gloaming,” a one-hour film that will mark Reeve’s first directorial effort. The cable movie, about a young man dying of AIDS who returns home to his family, begins production next week. . . . Meanwhile, cable’s TBS Superstation will spotlight Reeve’s acting career Wednesday when it airs three of his films back to back, beginning at 5:05 p.m. The films are “Superman III” (1983), “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” (1987) and “The Great Escape II: The Untold Story” (1988).

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Thumbs Up: “Spin City,” ABC’s new series about a political aide (Michael J. Fox) in the New York City mayor’s office, has won a ringing endorsement from a political aide in the White House. The setting is “a winner” and the characters “have it down. . . . I’ve seen them all,” George Stephanopoulos, an advisor to President Clinton, writes in the October issue of George magazine. “The show captures the way politics, in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, is often an exercise in crisis management; the way the best-laid plans are upended by an offhand comment tossed off while hopping into the car, . . . the way the pager is your constant companion, your lifeline and your worst enemy.”

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It’s That Time Again: MTV began its cast search Thursday for the sixth season of “The Real World,” which will be set in Boston. The network is looking for seven 18- to 25-year-olds who are “socially conscious and interested in working with children,” since the 1997 cast members, in addition to living together in a loft, will be required to work part time at an after-school youth center. Applicants should send a 10-minute videotape of themselves describing why they would be right for the show to: Bunim/Murray Productions Inc., “The Real World” Casting, 6007 Sepulveda Blvd., Van Nuys, CA 91411. The deadline is Oct. 1. . . . MTV has also set Oct. 1 as the application deadline for prospective cast members for “Road Rules,” which follows the adventures of five 18- to 24-year-olds who travel around in a Winnebago guided only by a set of clues. Application tapes for “Road Rules” can also be sent to the Bunim/Murray address.

JAZZ

Torme Back in ICU: Jazz singer Mel Torme was back in an intensive care unit for treatment of a gastrointestinal problem unrelated to his Aug. 8 stroke, his spokesman said. Torme, who has remained hospitalized since the stroke and has been unable to speak, was in his eighth day of neurological rehabilitation when he was sent back to intensive care early Wednesday. Torme’s spokesman said doctors expect to move the 71-year-old singer out of the ICU and resume his rehabilitation early next week.

POP/ROCK

Georgian Hall of Fame: Country music stars Brenda Lee and Travis Tritt and crooner Connie Haines are set to perform Saturday at the grand opening of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, a $6.5-million facility in Macon, Ga., honoring the state’s artists from the musical fields of classical, gospel, rock, country, R&B; and jazz. Among 63 original Georgian Hall of Fame inductees are Lee, Little Richard, Lena Horne, Ronnie Milsap, Ray Charles, Johnny Mercer and Gladys Knight. The facility--which includes 43,000 square feet of exhibition space--opens to the public Sunday.

STAGE

Taylor Must Pay: A New York jury on Wednesday ordered Elizabeth Taylor to pay actress Cicely Tyson more than $600,000 for firing her from a theater production. In 1983, Tyson was under contract to Taylor’s production company to act in both stage and screen versions of “The Corn Is Green,” but New York critics panned the theater version, and Tyson was fired soon after the show’s opening for taking a night off to attend a Washington tribute to her then-husband, Miles Davis. Tyson had claimed in her suit that she was “improperly terminated” and that Taylor still owed her $607,000 on her contract. Taylor did not attend the three-day trial and testified by videotape. Her lawyer said an appeal was likely.

QUICK TAKES

Cable’s Turner Network Television is co-producing “Big Guns Talk: The Story of the American Western,” a four-part documentary on the western film genre, set to premiere next July. . . . The Michelle Pfeiffer-Robert Redford love story “Up Close and Personal,” which drew disappointing results at the box office despite its high-profile stars, is a hit on home video. The movie entered the Video Software Dealers Assn.’s VidTrac rental charts at No. 1 last week, beating out three other new releases: Steve Martin’s “Sgt. Bilko” (No. 3), Janeane Garofalo’s “The Truth About Cats Dogs” (No. 5) and “Muppet Treasure Island” (No. 6). . . . Nicholas Guest has withdrawn from the Pasadena Playhouse production of “Sleuth,” opening Sunday, because of production requirements for his role in the TV series “USA High.” His understudy Darrell James will replace him. . . . A former personal assistant to Kirk Douglas has sued the actor’s youngest son, Eric Douglas, claiming he beat her during a June visit to his father’s Beverly Hills home. In the Santa Monica Superior Court complaint, Lorraine McManus claims she suffered head, neck and back injuries after Eric Douglas “violently attacked, grabbed and hit” her. Douglas, who has three previous assault convictions, could not be reached for immediate comment. . . . Actors Alec Baldwin, Alicia Silverstone and Dennis Leary are among 27 Hollywood personalities who have written to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, threatening to stop filming movies in the state because of a yearly event there involving the shooting of pigeons. The annual Hegins Labor Day Pigeon Shoot in Schuylkill County, which Baldwin called “a slaughter,” draws thousands of spectators each year.