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

THEATER

Broadway Critics Assess New ‘Producers’ Stars

So, after all the hoopla about replacing Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in Broadway’s smash hit “The Producers,” how good is the new cast?

Lane’s role, the morally ambiguous producer Max Bialystock, is now played by Brad Oscar, who previously played a Nazi playwright in the show and was Lane’s stand-in during the initial run. USA Today’s Elysa Gardner said Oscar “has risen to the occasion with his wry, rueful persona and utter command of Borscht Belt-based comic timing.”

The New York Times’ Ben Brantley and Variety’s Charles Isherwood were mixed in their reaction. Oscar “sings and dances with flair and knows his way around a joke,” Isherwood wrote, but he is “more pallid and less lovable” than Lane.

Steven Weber, a former star of TV’s “Wings” who plays Bialystock’s geeky sidekick, Leo Bloom, has “a charmingly goofy presence,” Isherwood said. But Brantley and Gardner were less impressed, with the latter calling Weber’s performance “relatively flat.”

‘Music Man’ Cast Now Wants to Go Union

Actors’ Equity has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of the cast of “The Music Man,” currently at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, after “a substantial majority” of cast members signed cards requesting Equity representation, according to union officials.

The NLRB has scheduled a hearing for May 13 in New York.

The touring “Music Man” has been the subject of Equity protests at 12 previous stops because of its cast’s non-Equity status. The union suspended protests when the show opened Tuesday in Costa Mesa because of the ongoing campaign to persuade the cast members to sign the cards that were required for the NLRB petition. But since the tour’s band is also nonunion, the musicians’ union did distribute leaflets at the opening.

The production is the first national tour based on the recent Broadway revival of “The Music Man,” and first national tours traditionally use union talent. The show’s producer, Dan Sher, could not be reached for comment Friday.

‘Spider-Man’ Being Readied for Stage Too

For those who can’t get enough of “Spider-Man,” the movie, there’s a Spider-Man play on the way. The Marvel Comics superhero is due to make his theatrical debut this fall in “Spider-Man Live,” in a 40-city tour of the United States.

The production, which is expected to coincide with the video release of the movie, is scheduled to launch in Las Vegas in October, with a possible earlier date at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, USA Today reports.

POP/ROCK

Rolling Stones Ready to Announce Tour

The Rolling Stones have called a press conference in New York for Tuesday to announce U.S. dates for the group’s 40th anniversary concert tour.

It’s expected the tour will start in late summer or early fall, probably on the East Coast. The shows will add a major boost to a year already heavy with superstar ‘60s and ‘70s rockers on the road, including Paul McCartney, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Eagles.

“It’s great news,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry-tracking publication Pollstar. “They’re the reigning champs of the concert business. Any year they tour it’s a great year.”

The Stones’ 1994 tour grossed $121.2 million, the highest-grossing rock concert tour ever, according to Pollstar. “The expectation is that they’ll be doing indoor arenas--that’s what we heard some time ago,” Bongiovanni said. “They’ll probably follow the model they used the last time, which was playing indoors and keeping ticket prices high. You can have higher ticket sales at stadiums, but the overhead can eat you alive. The Stones will be grossing stadium-level money working indoors with a fraction of the overhead.”

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and company plan to literally drop in on Tuesday’s New York City press conference, arriving by blimp.

TELEVISION

‘7th Heaven’ Paying Respects to Soldiers

Marine Staff Sgt. Dwight J. Morgan, a 24-year-old helicopter mechanic killed in a crash in Afghanistan, will be portrayed in Monday’s episode of “7th Heaven” on the WB.

Series creator Brenda Hampton thought that highlighting the real-life details of one of the more than three dozen military personnel who have died in the U.S.-led fight against terrorism would put a personal face on the loss for viewers.

“Those people who have volunteered to go over and who volunteer in our armed services ... , sometimes their deaths don’t seem real. They become merely news reports that we hear in passing,” Hampton said. “I randomly chose one person and decided it would be better to honor one then none.”

In the TV drama, a member of the family, Ruthie Camden (Mackenzie Rosman), becomes acquainted with Morgan through an e-mail correspondence school project. The rest of the family gets to know him through letters and photos, then must deal with news of his death. The names of other American personnel killed in Operation Enduring Freedom will be scrolled on screen at the end of the episode.

A Big Dose of ‘Reality’ on Fox This Summer

Television’s infatuation with unscripted series continues. Fox says it has three planned for summer, starting May 23 with yet another dating show: “I Want a Husband: Alaska.”

In that series, five women said to be in quest of mates will go to Alaska, where Fox said it will supply “dozens of rugged and handsome Alaskan men” for them to date and “narrow down their search for ‘Mr. Right.’”

On June 11, Fox will introduce “American Idol: The Search for a Superstar,” a contest among singing hopefuls in which viewers have a vote in who advances toward the prize of a recording contract. Also planned for a date not yet determined: “Celebrity Bootcamp,” with contestants undergoing military-type training.

Fox also plans to launch a newsmagazine this summer but didn’t offer any details about it, other than it would be produced for the broadcast network by cable’s Fox News Channel.

QUICK TAKES

Anthony Hopkins, 64, and his wife, Jenny, have divorced after 29 years of marriage.... Winona Ryder will be poking fun at her recent arrest on shoplifting charges in the next issue of W magazine, wearing a “Free Winona” T-shirt on the cover, according to imdb.com.... Steven Spielberg and historian Stephen E. Ambrose will executive-produce “Price for Peace,” NBC’s Memorial Day tribute to World War II heroes who fought in the Pacific. Tom Brokaw will host the project, which is being directed and produced by James Moll (“The Last Days”).... For the first time in 30 years, the 1964 Georgia O’Keeffe landscape “The Road Past the View II”--valued at $950,000--is going on sale. Medicine Man Gallery is showing it at the Los Angeles Antiques Show, held at Barker Hanger in Santa Monica Airport this weekend.... The Kronos Quartet, which postponed a May 31 performance at UCLA’s Royce Hall, is rescheduling it for Sept. 13. The program will remain the same.... Matthew Broderick, Victor Garber and Kristin Chenoweth are set to star in a TV remake of “The Music Man,” airing on ABC’s “Wonderful World of Disney” next season, Variety reports.... Will Smith and James Lassiter’s Overbrook Entertainment is making its first foray into TV syndication, teaming up with Studios USA Domestic Television to produce a pilot for a half-hour daily newsmagazine called “Good News,” focusing on inspirational people.... Composer Danny Elfman will receive the BMI Award for Outstanding Career Achievement at the group’s May 15 gala.