Here’s Who’ll Be Who

Movies

ADRIAN LESTER

Actor, 27

What he’s done: Lester, raised in Birmingham, England, is a veteran of the London stage, appearing in such productions as “Six Degrees of Separation,” for which he was nominated for the London Critics Circle Award as most promising newcomer, as well as “Sweeney Todd,” “Antigone,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Fences.” He received the 1996 Olivier Award for best actor in a musical for his role as Bobby in “Company.”

Outlook for ‘98: Lester plays Henry Burton, an idealistic African American who joins the campaign staff of candidate Jack Stanton in “Primary Colors,” based on the best-selling novel set against the backdrop of an American presidential campaign that some believe was closely patterned after President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. The movie, scheduled to open in March, is directed by Mike Nichols and stars John Travolta. Lester said he is in virtually every scene in the film, either taking part in the action or observing it. As an Englishman, however, he knows very little about the American system. “What I know about American politics you can put on the head of a pin,” he said, laughing.

JOHN LASSETER

Vice president of creative development at Pixar Animation

Studios, director and animator, 40

What he’s done: Lasseter received an Oscar for special achievement for the 1995 Disney blockbuster “Toy Story,” the first feature-length computer-animated film. Lasseter, who got his start in 1979 at Disney’s animation department, also wrote and directed numerous short films and television commercials at Pixar, including the 1986 Oscar nominee “Red’s Dream” and the 1989 Oscar winner “Tin Toy.” Lasseter designed and animated the stained-glass knight in the 1985 film “Young Sherlock Holmes.”

Outlook for ‘98: Look for the shelves of toy stores to be filled next Christmas with creatures from Lasseter and Pixar’s latest computer-animated opus, “A Bug’s Life.” Described by Disney as an “epic of miniature proportions,” the comedy follows the “ant-ics” of a misfit young ant who tries to save his colony from a group of greedy grasshoppers lead by the evil Hopper, voiced by none other than Kevin Spacey. “One of the great things about computer animation,” Lasseter says, “is that every step of the way you see something new. I feel lucky to be able to come to work every day and look at things and say, ‘Oh, my, look at that. That’s amazing.’ ”

PETER RICE

Senior vice president of production at 20th Century Fox, 30

What he’s done: Rice, born and raised in England, first worked at Fox as a summer intern in the marketing department. After college, he returned to Fox, where he cut promotion reels for ShoWest before going to work in the acquisitions department. He became a production executive in 1994, working closely with such cutting-edge filmmakers as Danny Boyle (“A Life Less Ordinary”), Richard Linklater (“The Newton Boys,” due in March) and Baz Luhrmann (“William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet”).

Outlook for ‘98: Rice is closely involved with some of Hollywood’s most original filmmakers, including Ang Lee, who is doing a project at Fox; Bryan Singer, who is adapting the “X Men” comic book; and Luhrmann, who is planning a modern-day musical. “Peter is in the protection racket--he protects creativity,” Luhrmann says. “It was an enormous struggle to convince the studio to make ‘Romeo & Juliet.’ But Peter fought for us all the way.” Rice, who is also working with Hong Kong director John Woo on a new film, says he tries to create a mutually respectful environment: “You can’t abuse your power by saying to a filmmaker do this or do that. I’d rather challenge them by saying, ‘How can we do this better? Is there another solution to the problem?’ That’s what collaboration is all about.”

SCARLETT JOHANSSON

Actress, 13

What she’s done: Johansson says she has known since age 3 that she wanted to be an actress. “I don’t know where it came from,” she says. “At 3, I told my mom I had a fire in my brain to act.” In the past five years, she has appeared in such films as “North,” “Just Cause,” “If Lucy Fell,” “Manny and Lo” and, currently, the comedy sequel “Home Alone 3.”

Outlook for ‘98: Her performance as an injured girl in Robert Redford’s “The Horse Whisperer,” due in May, will give Johansson her biggest opportunity to date. She plays a 14-year-old who is emotionally and physically scarred because of a riding accident. The movie was shot over six months in New York and Montana. “It was a very stressful shoot,” Johansson recalls. “But we were working with the best. Bob is a great guy. He’s very sweet and down to earth. I discovered new things about myself being in isolation so long.” Also this year, Johansson will appear in the independent film “Island Girl,” in which her character befriends a writer visiting an aging resort, and in the Phoenix Pictures comedy “Dick,” about Richard Nixon and Watergate. “I have very high expectations of myself as an actress, and I’ll probably die trying to make them,” she says. “I want to write and direct as well as act, but acting is my passion.”

STEFAN SIMCHOWITZ and BEAU FLYNN

Film producers, both 27

What they’ve done: Both producers learned the film business from the inside: After graduating from Stanford, the South African-born Simchowitz (above, left) spent a year at the American Film Institute’s producing program. Flynn, a graduate of New York University Business School, broke into the business as an assistant for producer Scott Rudin. After forming Bandeira Entertainment, they made “johns,” a film by Scott Silver that premiered at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. They returned to Sundance in ’97 with Mark Waters’ “The House of Yes,” which Miramax released this fall. In October, the duo signed a two-year first-look deal with DreamWorks that gives them an opportunity to develop more commercial projects. Flynn says he grooms the filmmakers while Simchowitz focuses more on business and foreign sales: “We complement each other, even in our film tastes. Stefan will take me to see the classics, like Jean-Pierre Melville films, while I take him to see John Hughes movies.” Flynn says. Bandeira’s films have all been with first-time directors, prompting Flynn to joke that he can’t wait to work with someone who’s already been behind a camera.

Outlook for ‘98: Their ’98 film slate includes “Life During Wartime,” starring Stanley Tucci, David Arquette and Kate Capshaw, and “Little City,” a romantic comedy with Jon Bon Jovi, Annabella Sciorra and Josh Charles. They are currently finishing “Judas Kiss,” a high-tech kidnapping thriller starring Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman. “We try to stay one step ahead,” Flynn says. “We’d much rather start a new trend than follow an old one.”

CLAIRE FORLANI

Actress, 24

What she’s done: This half-Italian blue-eyed actress grew up in London, moving with her parents to San Francisco in 1993. Determined to break into Hollywood, she got off to a fast start, appearing in a TV miniseries about the Kennedys before making her feature film debut in Kevin Smith’s 1995 “Mallrats.” Forlani played artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s waitress girlfriend in Miramax’s 1996 film “Basquiat.” The same year, she had a small but memorable role as the estranged daughter of convicted criminal Sean Connery in “The Rock.” After being fired from this year’s action-thriller “Deep Rising” for arguing with the director over her character’s development, she was blunt: “He was smart to fire me,” she says. “I didn’t want to be there.” It didn’t seem to hurt her career trajectory, though. She played the suicidal girlfriend of Beat poet Neal Cassady in this year’s “The Last Time I Committed Suicide,” with Keanu Reeves.

Outlook for ‘98: Forlani nabbed the coveted female lead opposite Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins in Universal’s “Meet Joe Black,” due in the fall. She plays Hopkins’ daughter, who turns the head of the grim reaper, played by Pitt. Recently, Forlani told Details magazine that she had a problem with Hopkins in their first scene. “He only does three or four takes,” she said. “I turned to him and said, ‘You’ve done 100 films and won an Oscar and I haven’t done anything. You’re going to do as many takes as I do.’ But when we hit take 30, he was looking at me like, ‘Can’t you just remember your [expletive] lines, sweetheart?’ ” Also upcoming for Forlani is the independent film “Elements,” a love story about two entangled couples that also stars Rob Morrow.

Television

JOHN WELLS

Television producer, 41

What he’s done: As executive producer of “ER,” Wells has spent four years presiding over the writing and production of television’s top-rated program. Despite cast changes and additions, the series has managed to stay its course, remaining a ratings juggernaut while continuing to take creative risks, including the live episode that kicked off the current season. His credits also include the acclaimed ABC drama “China Beach.”

Outlook for ‘98: The question now is whether Wells can do it again. NBC is betting heavily that he can, having committed to multiple series the producer will create or oversee. Wells is currently shepherding along a handful of projects as candidates for next season, including one about young staffers who run the White House and another with “ER” creator Michael Crichton. As much as NBC could use another hit, Wells would be the first to acknowledge that “ER” may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone involved. In a 1996 interview he described himself as “the guy standing next to the tree that was struck by lightning.” Before “ER,” he produced “Angel Street,” a 1992 police show starring Robin Givens that CBS yanked after two episodes.

RICHARD CRONIN

President and chief executive of Fox Kids Network and the Fox Family Channel, 43

What he’s done: In 13 years at the MTV Networks, Cronin oversaw Nick at Nite and the launch of its spinoff channel TV Land, turning reruns of old series into one of television’s hippest franchises. His recent recruitment by Fox to oversee children’s programming has resulted in a bitter dispute between the two parent companies, with MTV (owned by Viacom) suing Fox parent News Corp., alleging that it hired Cronin illegally.

Outlook for ‘98: Working with new boss Haim Saban, chairman of Fox Kids Worldwide, Cronin will take on his former Nickelodeon comrades in what is becoming a dizzyingly crowded field vying for children’s TV viewing time. The challenges at Fox include turning the Family Channel--which News Corp. acquired for $1.9 billion--into a children’s network and keeping Fox on top in the Saturday morning race, where the network faces tough competition from ABC, which is offering a lineup of Disney-animated programs. Disney also will join the cable fray by launching another kid-oriented cable network, Toon Disney, in April. Saban’s “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” demonstrated the merchandising and licensing bounty that a children’s hit can offer, making the stakes for Cronin considerably higher than mere child’s play.

PAUL REUBENS

Comedian and actor, 45

What he’s done: As the creative force behind “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” Reubens was responsible for a landmark children’s program. The last few years, however, have been spent staging a gradual comeback from an image-deflating 1991 indecent exposure arrest in a Florida adult theater. In addition to a recurring stint as the network president’s weasel-like nephew on “Murphy Brown,” Reubens has appeared in such movies as “Dunston Checks In” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Outlook for ‘98: In the first true starring vehicle since his arrest, Reubens will seek to reinvent the prime-time variety program for NBC in the fall. The form-breaking series, which is still being developed, will feature various acts, with Reubens playing a new fictional character who hosts the show. Whether America is ready for what’s being characterized as a grown-up version of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” remains to be seen, as will NBC’s resolve in trying a risky project that--given its hard-to-define concept--could qualify for many merely as “Might-See TV.”

JOEL GROVER

Investigative reporter for KCBS-TV Channel 2’s Special Assignment Unit, 38

What’s he done: Grover, who has been at KCBS for a year, made waves in local government circles and the media during November with his investigation of the Los Angeles County Health Department and unsanitary restaurant conditions. Grover also did a number of other investigative pieces, including a report that exposed internal fraud at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Outlook for ‘98: Grover will be heading up eight to 10 major investigations, with his next report due in February. For competitive reasons, he and station officials declined to discuss the subject matter of the investigations, saying only that they will be “putting a microscope on government agencies and whether they are doing a good job. We will also look at serious consumer issues and consumer protection.” KCBS will be giving Grover a higher profile, featuring him in promos that will air on the station.

LOWELL “BUD” PAXSON

Chairman of Paxson Communications Corp., 62

What he’s done: Paxson, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based entrepreneur who has been in the broadcasting business for 40 years, co-founded the Home Shopping Network in 1982, the year he began selling can openers on the air of one of the TV stations he owned. He sold his interest in HSN and his Silver King TV station group to mogul Barry Diller in 1990, and he recently sold a group of radio stations for $633 million. He still owns 72 UHF stations that collectively reach 60% of the country.

Outlook for ‘98: Paxson plans to create a seventh TV network by putting reruns of “Touched by an Angel,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “I’ll Fly Away” and other family programming on his UHF stations. The network, called Pax Net, will launch in August. Although fellow upstarts WB and UPN have yet to turn a profit, Paxson is confident that he can make money through the lucrative local advertising market. “Are we a network? Yes,” he said recently. “But our economic model is the independent station.” The 6-foot-6 Paxson acknowledges that he doesn’t have “the Wall Street charisma of Barry Diller,” but he’s betting millions on his Main Street approach to creating a TV network.

Theater

MOISES KAUFMAN

Artistic director, Tectonic Theater Project; author and director of “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde,” 34

What he’s done: Very few people had heard of Moises Kaufman (pronounced Moy-SES) or his Tectonic Theater Project until last February. That’s when “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” opened off-off-Broadway, and Kaufman--who both wrote and directed this riveting drama--instantly became the name everyone had to learn to pronounce.

Outlook for ‘98: Interweaving original trial transcripts, letters and biography, Kaufman tells the heartbreaking tale of the fall of Wilde in an astonishingly fluid way. West Coast audiences will see the play in February at the Mark Taper Forum.

TOM HULCE

Actor; co-director of the eight-hour stage version of “The Cider House Rules,” 44

What he’s done: Hulce, best known as the man-child Mozart in the 1984 film version of “Amadeus,” was nominated for a Tony for “A Few Good Men” and co-starred in the film “Parenthood” and the TV version of “The Heidi Chronicles,” among other projects.

Outlook for ‘98: Hulce was the linchpin in putting together the ambitious two-part, eight-hour stage version of John Irving’s 1985 novel “The Cider House Rules.” While being interviewed by a director about a possible film adaptation of the book, Hulce found himself talking nonstop about the story and only then realized he was in the grip of a powerful passion. He asked playwright Peter Parnell and director Jane Jones to read it, and the three banded together to create this epic work, which premiered earlier this year at the Seattle Rep. It comes to the Mark Taper Forum in June.

TIMOTHY DANG

Artistic director, East West Players, 39

What he’s done: Dang, artistic director of East West Players since 1993, is also a director and actor. He won an Ovation Award for his 1994 staging of “Sweeney Todd” at East West.

Outlook for ‘98: He’s at the helm of the country’s oldest Asian American theater as it moves closer to the big time with its new mid-sized (220-seat) home at the Union Center for the Arts in Little Tokyo, scheduled to open with “Pacific Overtures” in late February. After the opening, Dang has scheduled four world premieres in a row, including two musicals. It’s an especially challenging endeavor considering the financial straits the theater is in--a shortfall in production money last summer resulted in the layoffs of the entire staff except Dang.

Music

RONALD COPES

New violinist in the 50-year-old Juilliard String Quartet, 47

What he’s done: Long a familiar local chamber music player, Copes was a member of the Los Angeles and Dunsmuir piano quartets while also serving as professor of violin at UC Santa Barbara for 20 years.

Outlook for ‘98: With last summer’s retirement of founder and leader Robert Mann from the Juilliard String Quartet, the world’s most celebrated chamber music ensemble takes on a new identity. Copes has entered into the second violinist chair while Joel Smirnoff moves up to first. Whether the Juilliard maintains its famous electricity will be the question when the new version of the ensemble is heard for the first time locally on March 8 at Caltech.

ROBERT WILSON and PHILIP GLASS

Director, 56, and composer, 60, who together reinvented American opera in 1976 with “Einstein on the Beach”

What they’ve done: The great American theater artist of his generation, Wilson has brought a completely new vision to the stage picture, especially when it comes to the use of light. Glass has written a vast amount of music that breaks down just about every barrier--crossing over from popular to classical music, from theater to concert music to film scores. And he has become one of America’s best-known composers in the process.

Outlook for ‘98: Wilson and Glass join forces for a new kind of music theater work that will open the renovated Royce Hall at UCLA in May. No one yet seems to be able to say exactly what “Monsters of Grace” will be--its title is a slip of the Wilson pen (originally “Masters of Grace”). But then, after two decades, no can say exactly what “Einstein on the Beach” is either. We do know this: The upcoming work will involve a newly invented technique of computerized imagery and 3-D film; it will include live performers; it will incorporate lyrics by Rumi, the 13th century Turkish poet. And it will be a big risk.

WILLEM WIJNBERGEN

Newly appointed managing director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 39

What he’s done: Wijnbergen comes to Los Angeles with the kind of resume you can’t invent. Managing director for the last five years of Amsterdam’s great Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (which he rescued from deficit), he has also been a concert pianist, assistant conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and an executive for Procter & Gamble.

Outlook for ‘98: Wijnbergen fills big shoes, those of Ernest Fleischmann, who has run the Philharmonic with brilliant (if not always well-liked) vision since 1969. The new man’s first directive will be to make sure that the Walt Disney Concert Hall gets built and to assert the orchestra’s control over the theater. He will also be expected to get an endowment started for the orchestra. And, as music director Esa-Pekka Salonen’s choice, Wijnbergen will be looked to as the support man for implementing Salonen’s personal--and likely futurist--conceptions of the ways the orchestra can be a vital part of 21st century society.

MAGNUS LINDBERG

Finnish composer with rising international reputation, 39

What he’s done: A sleekly modernist composer with a background similar to Esa-Pekka Salonen’s, Lindberg first started writing music of striking virtuosity--resplendent with complex timbres, breathtaking in the sheer speed of events (Buster Keaton’s technically dazzling tricks are an inspiration) and stimulating in complex forms. Now every venturesome festival in Europe is after him for new work.

Outlook for ‘98: America is just beginning to discover Lindberg, and it is hardly surprising, given the long friendship between him and classmate Salonen, that Los Angeles should be on the cusp of that discovery. Although the New York Philharmonic played a recent Lindberg piece this fall, his appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in March will offer something much more substantial. Not only has the orchestra commissioned a major new work, but it will also devote a Green Umbrella Concert to a program of Lindberg’s music, with the composer conducting.

MITSUKO UCHIDA

Japanese pianist with near cult-like following, 49

What she’s done: First attracting attention in the early ‘80s for bringing a new immediacy and freshness to recordings of Mozart piano sonatas, Uchida has since proved to be one of the liveliest musicians of her generation in a wide variety of repertory. In 1996, for instance, she impressively tackled a thorny new piano concerto by Harrison Birtwhistle when she appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez, but she also offered a transcendental account of Schubert’s B-flat Piano Sonata in a recital at the Ojai Festival that people are still talking about.

Outlook for ‘98: Uchida is the surprise choice to be artistic director of the Ojai Festival in June, tapped by Ernest Fleischmann, who begins running the festival after his retirement from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. No programming has yet been announced, but expect the unexpected. Uchida is not only an imaginative and impulse-driven performer, but she has the reputation for an equally imaginative mind.

Dance

ALTYNAI ASYLMURATOVA

Kirov Ballet principal, 37

What she’s done: Asylmuratova, the most internationally acclaimed Kirov Ballet principal of her generation, was born in Kazakhstan near the Chinese border; she graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg in 1978 and joined the Kirov the same year. Asylmuratova came to prominence in the West as the young hopeful in the 1983 documentary “Backstage at the Kirov” and tours that followed. She is especially identified with leading roles in “Swan Lake,” “La Bayadere” and “Sleeping Beauty.” She has danced her Kirov classical repertory with American Ballet Theatre, the Royal Ballet and other major companies.

Outlook for ‘98: At the Orange County Performing Arts Center, June 9 to 14, Asylmuratova stars in Roland Petit’s “Charlot Danse Avec Nous” as a guest with the Ballet National de Marseille, above left, with Luigi Bonino. Drawn from the films of Charlie Chaplin, her roles in this 6-year-old, full-evening vehicle include the urchin from “The Kid,” the blind flower seller from “City Lights” and even the Little Tramp himself. “Everything I do is a dance,” Chaplin once said, and here Russia’s reigning classical ballerina puts that statement to the test.

DERICK K. GRANT

Lead dancer in “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk,” 24

What he’s done: The Boston native began dance training as a child at the Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts and later moved to L.A. for further study with his uncle, Paul Kennedy, and Kennedy’s company, Universal Dance Designs. Grant is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award for Upcoming Young Dancers and is known locally for three years as a soloist in the popular L.A.-based Jazz Tap Ensemble.

Outlook for ‘98: An original company member of “Noise/Funk” at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York, Grant became choreographer-dancer Savion Glover’s second understudy on Broadway and his surrogate in the show’s 14-city 1997-98 national tour (Glover left the show in July to pursue other projects). The tour stops at the Ahmanson Theatre in L.A. from March 4 to April 26. The phenomenal Glover is a hard act to follow, but the reviews have been positive. “With Derick K. Grant dancing the Glover segments,” wrote Variety after the opening night of the tour, “there has been no drop-off in quality, post-New York.”

ANGELIN PRELJOCAJ

Artistic director and choreographer of Ballet Preljocaj, 40

What he’s done: Preljocaj, French-born, of Albanian origins, studied both classical and modern dance in France and the United States, returned to Europe and almost immediately began winning choreography prizes at major arts festivals. He has also worked in Japan and in film. He is increasingly well known in the U.S. through his provocative commissioned works for the Lyon Opera Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and New York City Ballet and won a choreographer-creator 1997 Bessie Award for “Annonciation.” “A choreographer of fierce dramatic impact,” Anna Kisselgoff wrote in the New York Times after his company appeared at the American Dance Festival in 1995.

Outlook for ‘98: On Sept. 17-19, Ballet Preljocaj opens the 1998-99 UCLA season in Royce Hall with “Romeo and Juliet,” a revision of his controversial full-evening 1989 dance drama to music by Prokofiev and Goran Vejvoda. In place of Shakespeare’s antique Verona, Preljocaj has created an Eastern European police state defined, in his words, by “a privileged and controlling class (Juliet’s family) as well as a fairly miserable and exploited population (Romeo’s environment).” Don’t expect star-cross’d lyricism; this is a world in which balconies are for snipers, not lovers.

Art

CHARLES RAY

Artist, 44

What he’s done: In 1986, Ray made a diabolical sculpture that looks like a big, solid, waist-high black cube--except for the disorienting fact that, on closer inspection, its top surface shivers in the light. “Ink Box,” which in reality is not a solid cube at all but instead an empty box filled with jet-black printer’s ink, turned a hermetic, quintessentially Modern sculptural form into an unexpected, oddly sinister threat. It also marked a definitive turning point for the artist, who has since created one of the quirkiest bodies of work by any sculptor of his generation.

Outlook for ‘98: In June, a retrospective exhibition of Ray’s sculpture since 1973 will premiere at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art. The show, organized by Paul Schimmel, chief curator of L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art, travels to MOCA on Nov. 15.

Architecture

ESHERICK HOMSBY DODGE & DAVIS

San Francisco-based architectural firm

What it’s done: EHD&D; is best known for its design of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a much-loved 165,000-square-foot structure on the Monterey Bay in Northern California that focuses on local sea life. More recently, the firm completed a major aquarium in Mission, Fla.,and is now working on preliminary designs for smaller aquariums in Dubuque, Iowa, and Portland, Maine. EHD&D; designed the $117-million Long Beach Aquarium as a joint venture with the Los Angeles office of the architectural firm Hellmuth, Obata and Kassanbaum. It will open in June.

Outlook for ‘98: If the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s strong geometric concrete forms were meant to function as a backdrop for its tanks and sea life, Long Beach will be a whole new kettle of fish. Clearly influenced by the work of Los Angeles-based architect Frank O. Gehry, Long Beach’s swooping forms will evoke the arched body of a gigantic fish or the powerful movement of ocean tides. The building’s pumps and mechanical plant will be exposed in order to echo the grinding machinery of the nearby port. But the differences between old and new are not just formal: The 157,000-square-foot aquarium will allow visitors to explore how the aquarium works as well as view the life it supports.

DANIEL LIBESKIND

An enfant terrible of architecture’s so-called avant-garde, 51

What he’s done: Libeskind--a Polish-born American citizen who now lives in Berlin--seems to relish his outsider status. This year, he won a competition for a major addition to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. The design, which evokes a series of faceted cubes spiraling up alongside the existing facade, has been mocked in the British press as “a cross between an enormous crystal and a Victorian toilet.” Britain’s Millennium Commission has refused to fund it, but the museum’s director is determined to see it built.

Outlook for ‘98: His first major project, Berlin’s Museum of Jewish History, will be completed early this summer. It is the most provocative of a slew of projects now under construction in Berlin as Germany rebuilds its former and future capital. The museum will be both an archive and a memorial to Berlin Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, and its forms mirror the terrible subject of its contents. For Libeskind, the theme of the museum is not history but its absence--in particular, the annihilation of Jewish culture. His aggressive zigzagging design--with a series of interior voids--is meant as a metaphor for that loss. It should prove to be a powerful architectural work.

Pop Music

THE VERVE

English rock group: singer-guitarist Richard Ashcroft, 26 (below); bassist Simon Jones, 25; drummer Peter Salisbury, 26; guitarist Nick McCabe, 26; guitarist-keyboardist Simon Tong, 25.

What it’s done: The quintet’s third album, this year’s “Urban Hymns,” established it, along with Oasis and Radiohead, at the forefront of a group of bands that has helped make Britain once again the creative center of rock. One reason is songwriting: Ashcroft’s songs convey a winning and distinctive form of optimistic melancholy as he writes about the struggle to move forward when you are still haunted by the memory of past disappointments. Both the “Urban Hymns” album and the single “Bitter Sweet Symphony” were among the premier contemporary pop works of the year.

Outlook for ‘98: Thanks to massive airplay on college and alternative-rock radio stations in recent weeks, the Verve has positioned itself nicely for an Oasis-like invasion of the States. The group’s brief, year-end series of showcase concerts generated glowing reviews and huge word of mouth. The band is scheduled to return here in the spring for the first leg of an extended North American tour.

LEE ANN WOMACK

Country music singer-songwriter, 31

What she’s done: Kept her given name. She considered changing it to distinguish herself from country wunderkind LeAnn Rimes, but decided to remain true to herself. Her Decca Records debut album, “Lee Ann Womack,” spawned a No. 1 country single, “The Fool,” and has been slowly racking up sales without even beginning to exhaust its potential. Daughter of a part-time country disc jockey who often took her to the studio and let her choose records for him to play, Womack has a great ear for material and sings each song with the command of a more soulful Deana Carter.

Outlook for ‘98: With a new single, “You’ve Got to Talk to Me,” still skipping up the charts and a growing number of high-profile endorsements (she’s being championed by Loretta Lynn and Vince Gill, among others), Womack’s star is only going to rise. She’s currently looking for songs and plans to record an album for fall release before joining George Strait on a 20-date stadium tour that kicks off in March.

DIANA KING

Singer-songwriter whose hybrid musical style mixes such elements as reggae, soul, R&B; and hip-hop, 25

What she’s done: The Jamaica native cracked the Top 40 recently with her version of the Bacharach-David standard “I Say a Little Prayer,” but that’s just the icing on “Think Like a Girl,” her new album for the career-building Work Group record label. At her best, King blends reggae and R&B; in fresh and interesting ways in songs about relationships--from the self-affirmation of “Love Yourself” (which protests domestic abuse) to the confrontation of “L-L-Lies,” her new single.

Outlook for ‘98: Though the production on “Think Like a Girl” is a bit slick, King delivers onstage with punch. Promoting the new album, she will tour the world during the next six months, reaching the U.S. in February. And the Work Group knows how to develop acts. Its 1997 breakthroughs: Fiona Apple and Jamiroquai.

Jazz

CHARLIE HUNTER

Guitarist, 29

What he’s done: Hunter’s eight-string-guitar playing has established him as an important young jazz guitar virtuoso. Interfacing his instrument with synthesizer samples (sometimes creating jazz organ-like sounds), using the extra two strings to create bass lines, he is a virtual one-man band. More than that, however, his style, manner and attitude have endeared him to a younger audience. His playing incorporates everything from punk rock and hip-hop to funk, rock and jazz. “Growing up in Berkeley,” Hunter says, “we were exposed to all kinds of music, from the Dead Kennedys to Parliament to Art Blakey.” Hunter likes to describe his music as “anti-acid jazz.” His Blue Note Records--”The Charlie Hunter Trio,” “Bing, Bing Bing,” “Ready . . . Set . . . Shango!” and “Natty Dread”--have offered a far-ranging tour through an eclectic musical universe.

Outlook for ‘98: A new album featuring remarkable young vibist Stefon Harris is scheduled for March. The inclusion of some pop tunes by Steve Miller and Ronnie Foster, as well as a major follow-up tour, could be the triggers that will finally thrust Hunter into the spotlight, although his progress may have been slowed by the unexpected death in a freak traffic accident of a longtime associate, saxophonist Calder Spanier.

RADIO

BEAU BENNETT

Program director at KXTA-AM (1150), 38

What he’s done: This born-and-bred Texas radio manager arrived in L.A. in late February, exactly two weeks before the March 10 debut of the all-sports format on what is now KXTA-AM (102.7). His ticket was Jack Evans, an executive with the station’s parent company, Jacor, with whom he had worked for seven years at a rock station in Denver. Evans had been program director while Bennett was music director and assistant program director.

Outlook for ‘98: Bennett’s challenge is to prove that an all-sports station can succeed here the way Jacor’s XTRA-AM (690) has in San Diego. The format has failed in the past on stations such as KMPC-AM (710) and KMAX-FM (107.1), but Bennett sees a major-league difference for KXTA: the arrival this spring of the Los Angeles Dodgers. After 24 seasons at KABC-AM, the baseball broadcasts will be moving to KXTA for five years. With KXTA’s rights to UCLA football and basketball, Bennett thinks he’s got the goods to keep sports fans coming back for the talk shows hosted by Jim Rome, Joe McDonnell and others. A signal boost in February from 15,000 to 50,000 watts won’t hurt either.

* WAIT, THERE’S MORE

Buildings to watch and 1997’s class of Faces to Watch. Pages 81-81