Quick Takes: Ansel Adams’ son to get photos

The bankrupt Fresno Metropolitan Museum has agreed to return six Ansel Adams photographs to his son, who objected to the items being sold to pay creditors.

Adams’ attorney, Rene Lastreto, said the famed nature photographer never intended for private collectors to hang those prints in their living rooms.

The move is intended to settle a lawsuit by Michael Adams and his wife, Jeanne, who gave the prints to the museum but maintained they did not give permission for their sale.

The museum closed in January after going $4 million into debt.

—Associated Press

CBS mulls over subs for soap

CBS is developing several new daytime offerings to take the place of the long-running soap “As the World Turns,” including a “View”-style talk show fronted by “Early Show” co-anchor and “Big Brother” host Julie Chen.

Chen — who has been on maternity leave since she and her husband, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, had a son in September — will tape a pilot for the talk show in early May, according a person familiar with the discussions. Other possible candidates for the program, which is being conceived of as a mom-oriented take on topical subjects, are actresses Sara Gilbert and Lisa Rinna and Bethenny Frankel of “Real Housewives of New York City.”

It’s unclear how the talk show would affect Chen’s post on “The Early Show,” which she has co-hosted since 2002.

CBS also is piloting several other talk shows and game shows as candidates to replace “As the World Turns,” which is slated to end in September after 54 years on the air.

—Matea Gold

Geffen sets its ‘Love’ casting

Caroline Aaron, who played Woody Allen’s sister in two movies, and Natasha Lyonne, who played Allen’s daughter in another film, will share the stage at the Geffen Playhouse in the West Coast premiere of “Love, Loss and What I Wore,” written by Nora Ephron and her sister, Delia.

The cast of the comedy, based on the book by Ilene Beckerman, already includes Rita Wilson, Carol Kane (another Allen alumna) and Tracee Ellis Ross.

“Love, Loss” is set to open May 13 at the Geffen’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater. The play features anecdotes about romance and fashion, and will be staged in the style of “The Vagina Monologues,” with the performers sitting side by side with copies of the script in hand.

—David Ng

Tonys announce lifetime honors

Alan Ayckbourn and Marian Seldes will receive 2010 Lifetime Achievement Tony Awards.

The playwright and actress will be honored during the Tony ceremony June 13 at Radio City Music Hall. The announcement was made Wednesday by the Tony Awards Administration Committee.

Ayckbourn is the author of more than 70 plays, including “The Norman Conquests,” a trilogy that was revived on Broadway last season, winning a 2009 Tony for best revival.

Seldes, a five-time Tony nominee, won the award in 1967 for her performance in Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance.” She made her Broadway debut in 1947 in a production of “Medea,” starring Judith Anderson, and later appeared in hits such as “Equus” and “Deathtrap.”

David Hyde Pierce will also be honored, receiving the Isabelle Stevenson Award, which is given to a member of the theater community for philanthropic efforts. Pierce, a Tony winner for his performance in the musical “Curtains,” has worked extensively in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

—Associated Press

Broad Stage expands dates

The Broad Stage in Santa Monica keeps growing. Its third season, due to be announced Thursday, will be its biggest yet, with dozens of theater, classical, jazz and popular music acts featuring artists such as F. Murray Abraham, Joshua Bell, Branford Marsalis and Alan Cumming.

Dale Franzen, director of the Broad, says the venue also is introducing new dance, environmental film and children’s classical music series and will experiment with converting the 99-seat Edye Second Space — the companion to the 499-seat main stage — into a “21st century cabaret.”

“Our first year was abbreviated and in our second we were fleshing out,” Franzen says. “This will be the year when we are closer to being who we are going to be.”

The 2010-11 season begins in October but the Brand also will present several preseason shows — including the new musical “Daddy Long Legs” in June and an evening with Cumming in July— as part of what Franzen calls “a small foray into the summer market.”

—Karen Wada

Finally

The Danish Dance Theater has canceled Friday night’s show at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, citing European airport closures due to the Iceland volcanic eruption. It will not be rescheduled. Ticket refunds are available at the point of purchase.