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

STAGE

‘Capeman’ Goes Thud: Paul Simon’s “The Capeman,” one of the most expensive shows in Broadway history, will close March 28 after just 68 regular performances, making it also one of Broadway’s most resounding flops. The $11-million musical, based on a 1959 Puerto Rican gang killing in New York, went through several directors during its short life and was severely drubbed by critics when it opened Jan. 30. The show was also targeted by victims’ rights advocates angered that Simon built a show around a convicted murderer. The flop comes despite the production’s stellar pedigree: Simon, a Grammy winner, wrote 38 new songs for the musical and had promised to reinvigorate a form of entertainment that he claimed had become stale; Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Wolcott, who wrote the book, helped write some of the lyrics; dance world wunderkind Mark Morris did the choreography and was one of the directors; and popular actor and salsa singer Ruben Blades was one of the stars. Reflecting on the closing, Simon said: “What I enjoyed the most apart from the creative process was the intensity with which the audience, in particular the Latino audience, responded to the play.”

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Composing Detour: Esa-Pekka Salonen has announced that he will take a sabbatical from conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the calendar year of 2000 to compose an opera. “If I don’t do it now, I don’t know that I ever will,” the orchestra’s 39-year-old music director said. The opera will be directed by Peter Sellars, Salonen’s regular collaborator, and will premiere in 2001 at the summer festival at Aix en Provence in France, with the L.A. Philharmonic as the orchestra. The opera will then be given by L.A. Opera in 2002. Salonen says that he is not yet ready to reveal details other than that the libretto will be in English. Although Salonen will not conduct during 2000, he will continue his Philharmonic administrative duties, such as helping to plan future seasons. Meanwhile, guest conductors, some with mini-residencies, will fill in for him on the podium.

TELEVISION

In the ‘Public Interest’: An Arkansas federal judge ruled in favor of the producers of HBO’s Emmy-winning documentary “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders of Robinhood Hills,” who were sued for $10 million by the mother of one of three 8-year-old boys slain in Tennessee five years ago. Pamela Marie Hobbs had claimed that the filmmakers invaded her privacy and inflicted emotional distress by airing graphic scenes in the documentary, which relied, in part, on taped police footage. The judge ruled that the footage was a “public record of legitimate public interest.”

Cable Premieres: CNBC hopes to continue the Olympics fervor with “The Olympic Show,” a half-hour weekly series focusing on Olympic personalities past and present, premiering tonight at 7. Other new midseason offerings premiere next week, including “Mysteries & Scandals,” a half-hour series on “the lore of some of Hollywood’s most tragic figures,” Mondays at 9 p.m., and “New Attitudes,” a late-night magazine series hosted by Suzanne Whang (“Fox After Breakfast”) and former Miss America Leanza Cornett, to be seen weeknights at 11 on Lifetime.

POP/ROCK

Tale of Two Brothers: Liam Gallagher of Oasis was released on bail Friday after being charged in Brisbane, Australia, with assault for allegedly head-butting a British fan and breaking his nose after the man snapped pictures of the singer outside a hotel. Attorney Terry O’Gorman said Gallagher vigorously denies the charge and will plead innocent. Oasis was scheduled to perform at the Brisbane Entertainment Center Friday night. Meanwhile, a tape of eight unreleased songs composed and played by Liam Gallagher’s brother and bandmate, Noel Gallagher, in his pre-Oasis days, will be sold April 30 by Christie’s London auction house. The 30-minute cassette is expected to fetch up to $10,000.

QUICK TAKES

Academy Award-nominated director and screenwriter Atom Egoyan will introduce his film, “The Sweet Hereafter,” and take questions from the audience during a 7:30 showing tonight at the Westside Pavilion’s Samuel Goldwyn theaters. . . . Ellen DeGeneres will receive the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Creative Integrity Award during ceremonies tonight at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Last year, DeGeneres presented the same award to k.d. lang. . . . The Orange County band Save Ferris will perform a free show for hometown fans Sunday at noon in the parking lot of Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. . . . “Luis Bravo’s Forever Tango” will play at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on June 23-28, followed by a June 30-July 12 run at UCLA’s soon-to-reopen Royce Hall (the OCPAC engagement replaces the musical “Footloose” which will be rescheduled to accommodate the production’s New York opening). Meanwhile, RCA Victor has just released a two-disc musical set from “Forever Tango’s” Broadway production. . . . “Riverdance,” which has already taken in more than $3 million in advance sales for its April 10 engagement at the Pantages Theater, has extended the stint by two weeks, through May 17. . . . San Francisco Symphony Executive Director Peter Pastreich, 59, has announced plans to step down next spring after a two-decade run at the orchestra’s helm. He said he wants to write and spend more time with his family in France.