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

POP/ROCK

New Concert Site: Sunset Boulevard’s Hollywood Athletic Club, founded in 1924 by Hollywood figures including Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino, plans to open next month a new live music stage with a 2,000-square-foot dance floor and room for 1,500 concert-goers. In an announcement Thursday, the club said it will feature a variety of national and local acts, with initial performers to include Pancho Sanchez, Everett Harp, Billy Vera & the Beaters, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Toledo and Dr. Loco’s Rockin’ Jalapeno Band. The expansion also will include a private gallery on the second level for invited guests. The Hollywood Athletic Club has most recently been known for its billiards setups, and has been named “America’s Best Pool Hall” by Billiards Digest for two years in a row.

PERFORMING ARTS

‘King,’ More ‘Riverdance’ and ‘Dreamgirls’: Broadway/L.A. has announced a 1997-98 season including the Los Angeles premiere of the touring version of Broadway’s current “The King and I,” to feature Hayley Mills, in July 1998. Also on the list: the same “West Side Story” revival seen last year in Orange County and Pasadena (June 17-29), “Tango x 2” (Sept. 16-28), “Dreamgirls” (Nov. 25-Dec. 14) and “Peter Pan” with Cathy Rigby (Aug. 4-16, 1998), which is already scheduled for this November at Rigby’s home base, La Mirada Theatre. All Broadway/L.A. productions will play the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood except “Dreamgirls,” which will go to the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills (to be followed by a week in San Diego). Several special events also were announced, including a Liza Minnelli concert engagement June 12-14 and the return of “Riverdance” in April 1998, both at the Pantages.

TV & RADIO

Courting KSCA Listeners: Beginning Monday, KCRW-FM (89.9) will end the 7 p.m. rebroadcast of Warren Olney’s hourlong “Which Way, L.A.?,” replacing it with the urban music hour “Metropolis.” In a letter sent Thursday to subscribers who have expressed dismay, General Manager Ruth Seymour noted that most of Olney’s listeners hear him live at 1 p.m. And, she said, the 7 p.m. shift aims to attract listeners disenfranchised by KSCA-FM’s (101.9) shift last month from adult album alternative music to Spanish-language music. “KSCA’s audience is now looking for a home,” the letter said. “Twenty-three percent of them have already been listening to KCRW. Another 77% are turning the dial to see what’s available.” Seymour, who called KSCA’s audience “extremely compatible” with the KCRW listener profile, noted that KCRW attracted 2,000 new subscribers this winter “largely because of [the KSCA] audience and its interest in ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’ and ‘Metropolis.’ ” KCRW already has announced plans to add former KSCA program director Mike Morrison on weekends from noon to 2 p.m., starting April 5.

Undergoing Treatment: Pat Paulsen, the comedian known as much for his presidential campaigns as for his Emmy-winning work on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment in Mexico. “I would like to encourage families to seek out alternative forms of treatment, as I have done, and not give up hope,” Paulsen, 69, said in a statement. Paulsen’s publicist, who described the comedian’s condition as “serious,” said Paulsen would appreciate words of encouragement from fans, via mail (P.O. Box 10, Tujunga, CA 91043) or e-mail (pp4pres@primenet.com).

MOVIES

And the Booby Prize Goes To: A USC student who arranged bleacher seats for 375 students to watch Monday night’s Oscar arrivals has been ordered to repay a $10-per-person fee she charged for the seats, which according to Academy Award rules, must be available free of charge. “It’s a huge misunderstanding--huge--and it’s going to be corrected immediately,” said Joe DiSanti, director of security and special services for ABC, which worked with the student, Candy Powell, to arrange the student seating. DiSanti said that Powell, who told the students the money would go either to charity or to cover her expenses, has been ordered to repay the students by today. Powell could not be reached for comment, but DiSanti said the student has told ABC that she collected the money to cover her recruiting expenses.

QUICK TAKES

Lary Simpson, a former entertainment lawyer and brother of the late producer Don Simpson (“Crimson Tide,” “Dangerous Minds”), has formed his own production company and taken over development of three projects that had originated with his brother’s (and Jerry Bruckheimer’s) Simpson-Bruckheimer Films. Among the proposed movies is “Blood of the Lamb” about a priest and scientist who try to clone Jesus Christ from the Shroud of Turin. . . . Paul Friedman, the No. 2 executive at ABC News, will return to executive producing duties at “World News Tonight With Peter Jennings,” a post he previously held from 1988 to 1993, on April 7. Friedman had been expected to leave the network after being passed over when David Westin was named president of ABC News. . . . Citing exhaustion, singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt has canceled the final 13 U.S. tour dates, including an April 5 show at the Roxy. Tickets may be refunded at the point of purchase.