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

ART

Beach House: A new form of public art will make its debut in Marina del Rey on Sunday with the unveiling of the first project from Beach Art Inc., a Culver City organization that bills itself as “the official open-air art museum of L.A. County beaches.” The inaugural project, a lifeguard tower at Mothers’ Beach (near Palawan and Admiralty ways) designed by Venice artist Rip Cronk, is painted in primary colors to resemble a children’s playhouse built of alphabet blocks. The work is the first in a series of 30 new lifeguard towers planned by Beach Art Inc. for L.A. County beaches; the next five are scheduled for sites in Venice and are being designed by artists Lita Albuquerque, William Crutchfield, Sergio Premoli, Sandra Rubin and Terry Schoonhoven.

TELEVISION

Seinfeld the Stand-Up: NBC’s million-dollar man, Jerry Seinfeld, will do a turn for cable’s HBO next year. Seinfeld will tape a stand-up performance on Broadway that will air in August as an “HBO Comedy Hour.” It will mark his second stand-up special in 11 years.

‘Working’ Well: NBC’s “Working,” starring Fred Savage (“The Wonder Years”), premiered with solid ratings Wednesday, but the network is faltering with its two other new Wednesday night comedies, “The Tony Danza Show” and “Built to Last.” “Working” drew a respectable 14.6 million viewers, compared to 15.1 million for ABC’s “Ellen” in the same 9:30 p.m. slot. But Danza’s sitcom and “Built to Last” finished a distant fourth from 8 to 9 p.m., prompting speculation that NBC may soon make schedule changes.

STAGE

Grand Opening: Movie and TV producer-director Garry Marshall’s new 120-seat theater at Riverside Drive and Rose Street, near the Burbank Studios, has been dubbed the Falcon Theatre and will open with the Mark Taper Forum’s annual New Work Festival on Nov. 13. Since the festival began 10 seasons ago, it has used the small Taper, Too stage in the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, but that space is being refurbished. Only 99 of the Falcon’s seats will be used, thus allowing the festival to operate under Actors’ Equity’s 99-seat Theater Plan.

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Gurney’s ‘Labor’: The first production of A.R. Gurney’s “Labor Day,” a sequel to “The Cocktail Hour,” will open the Old Globe Theatre’s 1998 season, Feb. 12 through March 15, in San Diego. It will be followed from April 2 to May 3 by a new revue, “What the World Needs Now . . . ,” incorporating Burt Bacharach-Hal David hits, conceived by “Cats” choreographer Gillian Lynne and Kenny Solms and with book by Solms, direction by Lynne and a set by “Carousel” designer Bob Crowley. Scheduled in the smaller Cassius Carter Centre Stage are David Ives’ “All in the Timing” (Feb. 7 to March 15), Tim Firth’s “Neville’s Island” (March 28 to May 3) and Jeffrey Hatcher’s “Scotland Road” (May 16 to June 21).

POP/ROCK

Cuban Politics: Gloria Estefan, a longtime hero of the Cuban American community, is now defending herself against some hard-line former exiles who are alleging that she is soft on communism. The backlash comes after the Grammy-winning singer defended a Miami arts official who was fired for saying Cuban artists should be allowed to perform in the city. “As an American, I am frightened to see one of our most basic liberties being trampled on in the march for political gain,” Estefan wrote in the Miami Herald. “As a Cuban American, I am embarrassed that non-Cubans might think that we are all narrow of mind.” Estefan, who came to the United States at age 2, said she and her husband, record producer Emilio Estefan, remain vehemently anti-communist and wouldn’t attend a concert by a Cuban performer, but they still respect others’ rights to do so. Miami radio host Tomas Regalado was among those chiding Estefan this week for appearing to “sympathize with the communists.”

MOVIES

‘Blackout’ Attempt: A Chilean Roman Catholic group is threatening to stage protest marches unless Chile’s Cannes at Plaza Vespucio film festival cancels a screening of director Abel Ferrara’s new film “The Blackout.” The religious group, which in June obtained a court injunction blocking the screening in Chile of Martin Scorsese’s 1988 movie “The Last Temptation of Christ,” objects to the Ferrara film’s depiction of lesbian sex. The film, screened so far only at festivals, stars Matthew Modine, Beatrice Dalle, Claudia Schiffer and Dennis Hopper in the story of a film star attempting to break a drug habit.

QUICK TAKES

National Geographic’s feature films division has bought the rights to Jacques Cousteau’s life story and plans to make a theatrical movie about the late undersea explorer. Although no timetable is in place, National Geographic said it is already “in talks with several A-list directors.” . . . Radio star Howard Stern has filed a $1.5-million lawsuit against a Beverly Hills film production company, saying it reneged on a deal to feature him in “Jane,” a movie with actress Melanie Griffith that was never made. Executives at the company, Ministry of Film Inc., declined to comment. . . . Country singer Hoyt Axton--in a wheelchair after suffering a debilitating stroke last year--pleaded guilty in Montana on Wednesday to drug charges stemming from a search of his home that yielded more than a pound of marijuana. Sentencing for Axton, 59, is Nov. 19.