Bill Sawyer

Theater is rife with backstage stories often more dramatic than anything the audience sees. But there may be few more heart-rending openings than "Babes," the tangy homage to 1940s Mickey and Judy MGM musicals, which swings back to life tonight at the Matrix Theater. The production, which originated at the Cast Theater where it ran for 15 weeks last fall and winter, has been revived, refurbished and recast.

Theater is rife with backstage stories often more dramatic than anything the audience sees. But there may be few more heart-rending openings than "Babes," the tangy homage to 1940s Mickey and Judy MGM musicals, which swings back to life tonight at the Matrix Theater. The production, which originated at the Cast Theater where it ran for 15 weeks last fall and winter, has been revived, refurbished and recast.

Re Robert Koehler's Dec. 3 article " 'Normal Heart' Stirs Up the Heartland," on the protests surrounding the production of "The Normal Heart" on the campus of Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo.: The Rev. Kenneth Gillming and the warrior sheep of his Citizens Demanding Standards warn us to "come back to morals, or the country is in deep trouble." The kind of morals the Reverend seems to tout are ones where you: --Burn people's houses if you disagree with their taste in theater.

Two men from the Air Force Space Division in El Segundo, one an amateur artist who specializes in pencil drawings, have painted a mural during their lunch hours and days off as a memorial to the crew of the space shuttle Challenger. Tech. Sgt. Don Anthes and 2nd Lt. Scott Payne have been working on the mural since last month. It will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Friday.

Award-winning composer and lyricist Brian Shucker has died of the complications of AIDS. Earlier this year, Shucker, 33, received awards from Dramalogue and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for his score of "Babes," a reflection on the Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland "kiddie musicals" of the 1940s. Much of the lyric writing and composing of "Babes" was done as Shucker struggled with his illness, friends said.

April theater brings a happy mix of old-time comedians, modern-day Marlboro men, yuppies, contract players, chanteuses and priests--plus a famous dead rock star and famous dead writer. The openings include: Today: Obie winner Bradley Rand Smith focuses on a disparate group of modern-day cowboys and Indians in "Mojave," a lab production at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A. Charles Otte directs.

Two men from the Air Force Space Division here, one an amateur artist who specializes in pencil drawings, have painted a mural during their lunch hours and days off as a memorial to the crew of the space shuttle Challenger. Tech. Sgt. Don Anthes and 2nd Lt. Scott Payne have been working on the mural since last month. It will be dedicated Friday at 10 a.m.

Col. William E. Sawyer is busy. It is two days before the Air Force's traveling theatrical troupe is to arrive in San Pedro to put on their "Tops in Blue" show at the Warner Grand Theater. The commander of Ft. MacArthur is scurrying about, trying to see to it that civilian dignitaries and higher-ups from the Air Force Space Division in El Segundo are given proper seats in what he expects to be a standing-room-only house. That the troupe is coming to San Pedro at all is Sawyer's doing.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is covered with names. Now there are faces, stories and songs to go with those names. "Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens," now playing at the Attic Theatre in Hollywood, uses a series of monologues to give voice to 30 people whose names make up the AIDS quilt. The monologues are interspersed with songs by four characters representing a chorus of loved ones.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is covered with names. Now there are faces, stories and songs to go with those names. "Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens," now playing at the Attic Theatre in Hollywood, uses a series of monologues to give voice to 30 people whose names make up the AIDS quilt. The monologues are interspersed with songs by four characters representing a chorus of loved ones.

Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier), one of the targets of the FBI investigation into state Capitol political corruption, is conducting an almost non-existent reelection campaign. With less than a month to go until Election Day, Hill's campaign headquarters is an empty office on Whittier Boulevard, with no furniture, signs, bumper stickers and no volunteers stuffing mailers into envelopes. Telephone calls are recorded on an answering machine; recent ones from a reporter were not returned.