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

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Orchestra Kept Afloat: A 12-day hunger strike by 20 musicians has kept an endangered orchestra from Eastern Germany afloat. Members of the Thuringia Philharmonic ended the strike on Monday after the state of Thuringia pledged $2 million and the city of Suhl pledged $872,000 for the 75-member group. The musicians began the hunger strike on April 3 after government officials decided that they could not support the orchestra after July 31. Numerous public donations made during the hunger strike will be used to promote cultural projects in Suhl, the orchestra said.

ART

Headed to the Whitney: In an ongoing effort to disperse its contemporary art collection, the Los Angeles-based Lannan Foundation has given 18 works by sculptor Tom Otterness to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The most important work is “Tables,” composed of three over-sized picnic tables and benches, fabricated of steel. More than 100 tiny bronze figures and animals placed on the table tops enact a complex narrative about human struggles and moral dilemmas. The gift includes four preparatory studies and a drawing of “Tables,” as well as 12 other drawings.

TELEVISION

KMEX’s ‘Special Contribution’: Spanish language station KMEX-TV Channel 34 has been voted the 1997 Los Angeles Area Governors Emmy Award by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Board of Governors. The annual award recognizes “individuals, shows or organizations that have made a special and unique contribution to Los Angeles area television.” Previous recipients include Gene Autry, Stan Chambers, Jerry Dunphy, Vin Scully and KCET-TV Channel 28. KMEX will receive the award during the 49th annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards on May 31 at Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

STAGE

Different ‘Show Boat’: The “Show Boat” cast that will perform at Orange County Performing Arts Center Aug. 26-Sept. 21 will be very different from the one that played recently at the Ahmanson Theatre. The Costa Mesa cast will include Tom Bosley as Cap’n Andy and Karen Morrow as Parthy. Gretha Boston, who won a Tony as Queenie on Broadway but did not appear in L.A., will return to the role in Costa Mesa. Others are Sarah Pfisterer as Magnolia, John Ruess as Ravenal, Debbie deCoudreaux as Julie, Andre Solomon-Glover as Joe, Greg Zerkle as Steve, and husband and wife Kirby and Beverly Ward as Frank and Ellie.

POP/ROCK

Music Studies: Continued research by UC Irvine neurobiologist Dr. Gordon Shaw on his hypothesis that children given piano keyboard training will do better at difficult math than children given computer training was one of nine projects nationwide to receive funding from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in its 1996-97 grants, the academy announced Monday. Other projects funded by NARAS include a two-hour National Public Radio documentary about John Coltrane, a Michigan State University study measuring the effects of music therapy on senior citizens and an “Index to CD and Record Reviews” being compiled by the University of Cincinnati.

PEOPLE WATCH

True to the Bard: Actor Patrick Stewart, best known in America for his role as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” was honored by the Washington Shakespeare Theater over the weekend for his pre-Trek days as a noted player in Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company. Stewart opens in Washington on Nov. 11 in the title role of Shakespeare’s “Othello” with an otherwise all-black cast.

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Good News/Bad News: Actor Tony Randall became a first-time dad at age 77 when daughter Julia Laurette Randall was born early Friday. Randall was with his wife, Heather Harlan Randall, 27, during the delivery. . . . Only a couple of weeks after Billy Bob Thornton collected his “Sling Blade” writing Oscar with fourth wife Pietra Dawn Thornton at his side, Mrs. Thornton has filed for divorce. She is seeking sole custody of the couple’s two sons, ages 3 and 2. The couple were married in 1993.

QUICK TAKES

Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins will narrate “Cold War: A Television History,” a 24-hour CNN documentary series scheduled to premiere in 1998. Turner Original Productions is producing the project in collaboration with British producer Jeremy Isaacs. . . . ABC’s “NYPD Blue” will steal a page from the headlines on April 29 in an episode dealing with the shooting of a “cocky rap artist.” Unlike the recent shootings of real-life rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., however, the rapper on “NYPD Blue” doesn’t die. . . . NBC’s “Dateline NBC” has received two merit awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. The awards recognized a two-part report that documented the exploitation of child workers in Southeast Asia, and a series on scams perpetrated by the secretive South Carolina-based group Irish Travelers.