Quick Takes: Pasadena Playhouse announces partial lineup

Playhouse sets musical

Having recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Pasadena Playhouse on Monday announced a partial lineup for late 2010 and early 2011.

“Dangerous Beauty,” a new musical based on the 1998 movie of the same name, will open at the theater in January. It tells the story of Veronica Franco, a celebrated poet in 16th century Venice who is forced to become a courtesan when her family fortune is lost.

The Playhouse will host two holiday shows from other companies. The Intimate Opera Company will mount a production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” starring mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman, Dec. 16 to 18, and Pasadena Dance Theatre will present “The Nutcracker Ballet” Dec. 24 to 31.

—David Ng

$10 tickets for one day only

Days after Live Nation executives confessed that concert ticket prices are too high, the company unveiled a new low-priced ticket promotion Monday.

The good news: Fans of the Jonas Brothers, Wolf Parade and dozens of other acts can snare $10 tickets to upcoming Southern California shows for one day only — Tuesday.

The bad news: If you’ve already paid, say, $57.98 for two Wolf Parade tickets for July 31 at the Wiltern, you’re out of luck.

With the concert business facing a slow summer, Live Nation has said that North American concert attendance is down 3%, and sales at its Ticketmaster division are trending down 11%.

—Todd Martens

MTV assists U.N. project

MTV drama programs about HIV and AIDS shown to young people in Kenya, Zambia and Trinidad and Tobago had a dramatic affect on attitudes toward the disease, a study released Tuesday said.

A United Nations-backed project used MTV dramas to convey messages about the risks of HIV infection from having unsafe sex, multiple partners and injecting drugs and also to give information about testing, treatment and overcoming stigma.

“The results have shown a really positive change in terms of attitudes, knowledge and the sense among young people that they understand the risks and can take action to address them,” said Susan Kasedde, a specialist in HIV prevention among adolescents at UNICEF, the U.N. children’s fund that backed the project.

—Reuters

‘Damages’ goes to DirecTV

DirecTV, which already saved “Friday Night Lights” from a premature death, is doing it again with “Damages,” the Glenn Close legal drama.

The satellite provider said Monday it is teaming up with producer Sony Pictures Television to bring back the series after FX opted out of a fourth season.

DirecTV has ordered 20 new episodes — two seasons consisting of 10 episodes — to be produced early next year. The company also has acquired the rights to the show’s first three seasons that ran on FX.

The partnership is unlike DirecTV’s current deal for “Friday Night Lights,” in which the episodes first air on DirecTV and then are broadcast on NBC. New episodes of “Damages” will air only on DirecTV.

—Yvonne Villarreal

Public to see soldiers’ art

About 300 paintings by U.S. servicemen and women will be unveiled to the public for the first time at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center in September.

The paintings have been selected from about 15,000 collected by the U.S. Army since the 1840s. They are stored at the Pentagon in Washington; most have never been on public display.

“Art of the American Soldier” focuses on the duties, sacrifices and everyday lives of troops, and covers every conflict from World War I to Afghanistan.

—Reuters

Finally

Rehab casting: The fourth installment of VH1’s”Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew” will feature Tiger Woods’ alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel, former supermodel Janice Dickinson, Jason Wahler of “The Hills,” 1970s teen idol Leif Garrett and “Party of Five” TV actor Jeremy London.