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

POP / ROCK

The Ultimate Las Vegas Showgirl?

French Canadian crooner Celine Dion plans to return to the stage in 2003, performing 200 nights a year in a $65-million, 4,000-seat amphitheater at Las Vegas’s Caesars Palace that is being built to resemble the Roman Colosseum. Dion’s Las Vegas show--designed by Franco Dragone, creator of three Cirque du Soleil shows--is scheduled to begin in March 2003 and run “for a minimum of three years,” according to Los Angeles-based Concerts West. Dion, 33, stopped performing last year after having difficulty getting pregnant; she gave birth to her first child, a boy, in January. The new Caesars Palace theater--with a planned 22,000-square-foot stage in the center of the Colosseum--is being built to replace the hotel-casino’s famed 1,000-seat Circus Maximus, which was demolished in September.

Country Singers Get Trial Break

Country singers Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney got a respite from their trial on charges resulting from a post-concert fray with Buffalo, N.Y.-area police when the presiding judge was hospitalized Thursday in critical condition with breathing problems. The trial, which was to have begun its fourth day of testimony, was adjourned until Monday, when the condition of Orchard Park, N.Y., Town Judge Edmund Brown Jr., who underwent lung surgery in December, will be reevaluated. Prosecutors said that a mistrial would be declared and a new trial begun if Brown, 66, is unable to return to work. McGraw, 34, is charged with assault and other charges and faces up to a year in jail for allegedly grabbing an Erie County sheriff’s deputy from behind as the officer tried to pull Chesney from a police horse. Chesney, 33, is charged with a lesser disorderly conduct violation for allegedly ignoring commands to get off the horse.

TELEVISION

Peers Perform in Steve Allen Tribute

Actor-comedians Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Rodney Dangerfield and Dom DeLuise are among those scheduled to perform in a “Gala Tribute to Steve Allen” on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Glendale’s Alex Theatre. Art Linkletter will emcee the event, which is also to feature performances by Norm Crosby, Shecky Green, Rich Little, Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis Jr., Louis Nye, the Steve Allen Big Band and Las Vegas singer George Bugatti. Tickets are $20 and up.

French Aim to Tame Reality Show

French TV regulators, citing the need to preserve human dignity, have ordered changes in “Loft Story,” a racy, staged, unscripted series that has set ratings records in the country. The High Audiovisual Council also ordered the station airing the show to change the game’s rules to ease the psychological burden on participants, including giving daily timeouts to contestants, who were being filmed 24 hours a day, and asking them to choose whom to keep, rather than voting someone off. The moves came after public protests labeling the show “trash TV,” as well as a demand from France’s culture minister for regulators to step in. Critics say the program’s contestants--who share a house north of Paris--resemble guinea pigs whose mating for money degrades everyone’s dignity.

THEATER

Pop Star Resuscitates ‘Jane Eyre’

A closing notice for Broadway’s “Jane Eyre” came down suddenly Wednesday when pop singer Alanis Morissette gave $150,000 to keep the ailing musical running for at least another week. A production spokesman said that Morissette is a close friend of “Jane Eyre” composer Paul Gordon and “a huge fan” of the show, which is nominated for five Tony Awards, including best musical. However, another troubled musical, “Seussical,” looks certain to make good on its notice to close on Sunday. Based on the stories of Dr. Seuss, “Seussical” received only one Tony nomination, for actor Kevin Chamberlin.

QUICK TAKES

Jerry E. Mandel, 61, will continue as president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center through July 2005. Roger T. Kirwan, the center’s board president, said Mandel’s original five-year contract was extended a year before it expired, in part to ensure continuity for a $200-million expansion campaign. Some $80 million has been raised to date toward a new 2,000-seat concert hall expected to open in 2005. . . . A 1964 Andy Warhol silk screen from his “Large Flowers” series garnered the top price at Christie’s New York sale of postwar art Wednesday, going for $8.4 million, well above its pre-sale estimate of $3 million to $4 million. Warhol’s 1962 “Orange Marilyn” drew the sale’s second highest price: $3.7 million. All but 10 of the auction’s 59 works sold. . . . NBC’s “Law & Order” attracted its biggest audience in the show’s 11-year run on Wednesday, with an estimated 21.5 million viewers, while the season finale of lead-in “The West Wing” delivered that show’s second-biggest audience yet: 20.7 million viewers. . . . Talk-show host Montel Williams, actress Teri Garr, philanthropist Nancy Davis and several top medical experts will take part in a free panel discussion Saturday on the latest medical treatments and research for multiple sclerosis. The 10:30 a.m. panel will be at the Century Plaza Hotel.