ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

THE ARTS

New Cultural Affairs Manager: Margie Johnson Reese, director of the Office of Cultural Affairs in Dallas since 1995, will replace Adolfo V. Nodal as general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, effective Jan. 22. In Dallas, Reese was responsible for the implementation of the Dallas Cultural Policy, overseeing a $12.2-million budget and managing the city’s Public Art Program, including a collection valued at $20 million. Nodal, who has held the position since 1987, announced his resignation in June, saying: “Twelve years is enough.” During Nodal’s tenure, the city’s cultural affairs budget grew from $3.5 million to $16 million.

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Investigation Continues: Police in Sweden have detained eight people, including two lawyers, in connection with the theft last month of two Renoir paintings and another by Rembrandt from Stockholm’s National Museum. A 42-year-old Russian said to have criminal connections is thought to have masterminded the $20-million theft of the canvases, which have not been recovered. The seven other suspects are Swedes. The Swedish national news agency, TT, reported that the lawyers are suspected of acting as go-betweens in an effort to obtain ransom for the paintings.

POP/ROCK

It’s a Beautiful Tour: U2 will launch a U.S. arena tour March 24 in Miami that includes an April 23 stop at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, tour organizers say. Billboard magazine reports that the Irish band, whose “Beautiful Day” was nominated last week for best song and best record Grammys, is planning about 80 shows, the first 50 in North America. Tickets for the Pond tentatively go on sale Jan. 21, but that date may be changed, organizers say, and more Southern California shows may be added. PJ Harvey will open shows in North America. Prices will reportedly range from $45 for general admission floor tickets to $130 for the best reserved seats. Unlike U2’s last two stadium tours, the tour will have a more stripped-down presentation.

MOVIES

Formidable Pairing: Director Milos Forman (“Man on the Moon”) and producer Saul Zaentz (“The English Patient”), whose previous two collaborations resulted in multiple Oscars--including best picture and best director for both “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus,” are teaming again. The two said Monday that they will make a drama about the life and times of iconoclastic Spanish painter Francisco Goya, who died in 1828. Filming is slated for 2002 in Spain; Michael Weller (“Hair,” “Ragtime”) is writing the script. No casting has been announced.

TELEVISION

Kids’ Fare: Fox has announced plans for “Los Luchadores,” a live-action Latino superhero series that will join the network’s Saturday morning children’s lineup Feb. 3. The show is built around a wrestler named Lobo Fuerte and also features a crime boss “who happens to be a Chihuahua.” . . . Kids WB’s animated Saturday morning series “Jackie Chan Adventures” will also begin airing weekday afternoons in the fall. Meanwhile, Kids WB will premiere a new animated Saturday morning series, “The Zeta Project,” a spinoff of “Batman Beyond,” on Jan. 27.

More Tube Notes: Singer David Crosby is recording a new version of the theme song for the WB’s Wednesday night series “Jack & Jill.” It will premiere with this week’s episode. . . . “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace” will have its world television premiere on Fox--before any cable or pay-per-view outlet--on April 29. . . . Fox has picked up 18 more episodes of its animated prime-time series “Futurama.” . . . NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” scored its highest ratings in two years during the Christmas week, with an average of 7.3 million viewers.

QUICK TAKES

Despite reports that a Madonna-Britney Spears duet is in the works, Madonna’s publicist says the project is just in the talking stages. “It’s nowhere near being a reality; it’s one of many things Madonna is thinking about in the future,” spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said Monday. . . . Beck is remaking David Bowie’s song “Diamond Dogs” for director Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming Nicole Kidman film “Moulin Rouge.” . . . Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Whistle Down The Wind” closed Saturday after a 2 1/2-year London run. . . . Singer Joan Osborne and Canadian fiddler Natalie McMaster will join the Chieftains for their Jan. 21 shows at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

Quotable: “I’m still very presentable, but I just can’t keep up with Mick.”

--Rocker Rod Stewart, 55, in the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, comparing his sex appeal to that of 57-year-old Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger.