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

POP / ROCK

Backstreet Boys Cancel U.S. Tour

A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys has entered rehabilitation for depression and alcohol abuse, forcing the group to postpone the rest of its U.S. and Canada tour dates. The other four members of the boy band--Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell--announced the news Monday on MTV’s “Total Request Live.” All four were choked up discussing the troubles of their 23-year-old bandmate, as were teenage members of the live studio audience. Richardson said McLean, a native of West Palm Beach, Fla., would enter rehab for 30 days for “depression, anxiety and his excessive consumption of alcohol.” Littrell said McLean had come to them asking for help Sunday. “We figured this was the best for him. It’s all about him being healthy.” The group was scheduled to perform Aug. 16 at the Forum in Inglewood.

THE ARTS

Wijnbergen Takes Carmel Position

Willem Wijnbergen, the former executive vice president and managing director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was named Monday to take charge of the Carmel Bach Festival, beginning Sept. 1. As executive vice president and managing director, Wijnbergen will have overall operational, financial and administrative responsibility for the annual three-week celebration of Baroque music, according to festival president Lamont Wiltsee. Since his discordant departure from the Philharmonic in 1999, Wijnbergen has been president of BC&DG;, a management and marketing consulting firm in Los Angeles.

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Spoleto Festival Salutes Menotti

Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Renee Fleming were in Spoleto, Italy, over the weekend to celebrate the 90th birthday of composer Gian Carlo Menotti, founder of the town’s arts festival. Fleming, the New York Metropolitan Opera’s resident star soprano, thanked Menotti for launching her international career at the Spoleto festival. Menotti, elegantly dressed in a blue suit and carrying a walking stick, gently chided her. “If I knew you were going to stay away from Spoleto for so long, I wouldn’t have let the Paris Opera steal you,” he said. Menotti founded the annual Festival of Two Worlds in 1958, and it has become a showcase for promising artists and cutting-edge music and dance.

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Art Dealer Gets Suspended Sentence

A French court has given a New York-based art dealer an eight-month suspended jail sentence for his purchase of a masterpiece looted by the Nazis from a Jewish family during World War II. The court in Nanterre, just north of Paris, found Adam Williams guilty of receiving stolen goods and ordered him to return the 17th century Flemish painting to the heirs of its original owner. Williams, a British citizen who at the time of the purchase in 1989 worked for Newhouse Galleries in New York, said at his trial in May that he had bought the work in good faith from Christie’s auction house. His attorney said he would appeal last Friday’s ruling.

TELEVISION

‘Sopranos’ Actor Appears in Court

Robert Iler--who plays Anthony “A.J.” Soprano, son of Tony Soprano in HBO’s “The Sopranos”--appeared briefly in a New York court Monday, but the 16-year-old actor was not immediately indicted on charges that he and two other teenagers robbed two Brazilian tourists of $40 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Assistant District Attorney Robert Wallack told Manhattan Criminal Judge Judith Levitt that there had been no grand jury action on the case. Levitt ordered the parties to return to court on July 18, by which time grand jury activity should be complete. Iler and the other two teens pleaded innocent last week to two counts of second-degree robbery. Iler also pleaded innocent to a marijuana possession charge.

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New Host for ‘Change of Heart’

Changes are in store for “Change of Heart,” the syndicated relationship show that airs weekdays on KCAL-TV Channel 9. As it heads into its fourth season, the show has moved its base from Los Angeles to New York and will sport a different host when new episodes begin airing in September. Comedian Lynne Koplitz, a single New Yorker, will take over the hosting chores from Chris Jagger, who’d been with the show from its start. Producers said the changes are intended to “bring a whole new attitude and flavor to the show.”

QUICK TAKES

The AMC Media 6 in Burbank and the Edwards Irvine Spectrum in Irvine are among the seven North American theaters announced Monday that will play the sci-film “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” in a digital format. The Columbia Pictures release opens Wednesday. . . . Uma Thurman will receive the actor award at the Independent Feature Project’s 2001 Gotham Awards on Oct. 1. The ceremony, also honoring Robert De Niro, will air on Bravo Oct. 5.