Quick Takes: A K-Mozart comeback for classical fans

Classical music fans in the L.A. area will have a second radio station to listen to starting next week with the return of K-Mozart.

Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters said Monday that after more than three years of struggling to attract listeners to a talk and then a “retro music” format at KGIL-AM (1260), it would return the station to its previous incarnation as classical outlet KMZT beginning Monday. The programming also will be heard on KKGO-FM 105.1 HD2 and at https://www.KMozart.com.

KUSC-FM (91.5) has been the area’s only classical station since the demise of KMZT in October 2007.

KMZT’s on-air personnel will include, starting April 18, David Benoit, who will host weekdays from 2 to 5 p.m. Though better known as a jazz pianist, Benoit is also a composer and conductor: He serves as music director of the Asia America Symphony Orchestra.

—Lee Margulies

Ken Burns eyes Vietnam War

Having already done the Civil War and World War II, Ken Burns is working on a documentary about the Vietnam War.

PBS said the 10- to 12-hour film by Burns and longtime partner Lynn Novick will be broadcast in 2016.

Burns said his film will tell the human stories of Americans and Vietnamese affected by the war, along with those of Americans who protested against it. Four decades after the war’s end, most people have opinions about it but few truly know its history, he said.

—Associated Press

Beyonce’s father not her manager

Beyonce will no longer be managed by her father, Mathew Knowles.

Beyonce’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, said Monday that the Grammy-winning singer and her father have parted ways “on a business level.”

Knowles has managed his daughter since she made her debut as a teen in the multiplatinum-selling group Destiny’s Child in the late 1990s and throughout her superstar career as a solo artist.

Beyonce said in a statement that she is grateful for the role her father has had in her career. “He is my father for life, and I love my dad dearly,” she said.

—Associated Press

It’s ‘Sunshine’ for Van Dyke boys

In December, Dick Van Dyke canceled his appearances in his musical memoir “Step in Time” at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood after he suffered an injury to his Achilles tendon. The 85-year-old actor apparently has recovered because he is set to appear in a stage production of Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys,” alongside his brother, Jerry Van Dyke, at the 99-seat Malibu Stage Company.

The production will be a fundraiser for the theater and will run for five performances April 13 to 17.

The Van Dyke brothers will play Al Lewis and Willy Clark, former vaudeville partners who have come to despise each other in their old age.

Simon’s comedy premiered on Broadway in 1972 and received Tony nominations for best play and costar Jack Albertson. The 1975 movie version won an Oscar for George Burns.

—David Ng

Fallon to voice backlot tours

Visitors to the studio tour at Universal Studios Hollywood this spring are in for a surprise: One of their guides will be Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC’s “Late Night” show.

Not in person, of course. Fallon has taped commentary, jokes and other material that will be shown on video monitors aboard the trams as they wend their way through Universal’s backlot. His bits will be integrated with the traditional spiel from the live tour guides.

Actually, the arrangement shouldn’t come as a complete surprise: NBC and Universal are part of the same company, NBCUniversal.

—Lee Margulies

Baryshnikov to auction artwork

A 19th century painting of St. Petersburg that Mikhail Baryshnikov purchased decades ago will be auctioned to help benefit new works at his Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City.

“Old art should make new art,” the ballet dancer and actor said Monday.

“View of St. Petersburg” by Petr Petrovich Veresh-

chagin is to be sold at Sotheby’s on April 12 as part of the auction house’s Russian art sale, where it is expected to fetch $300,000 to $500,000.

Baryshnikov said he recently donated the painting to the center’s foundation so it could sell it to raise money for new programming from theater directors, musicians and choreographers. He is the center’s artistic director.

—Associated Press