I Am My Own Wife

IF the new musical "Zhivago" is embraced, its four creators say, it will be in no small measure because they were willing to give it a four-week test run last summer when the artistic engine was still prone to sputter and cough. The stage adaptation of Boris Pasternak's "Dr.

When the La Jolla Playhouse rose from its proverbial ashes in 1983, the phoenix it had become was the oddest bird the sleepy seaside community had ever seen. The place people remembered as a frothy summer theater founded by local boy Gregory Peck reopened after a two-decade hiatus with Peter Sellars' roiling production of Bertolt Brecht's "The Visions of Simone Machard."

Signaling a possible breakthrough for a new generation of composers whose bona fides are not in theater but in rock, "Spring Awakening," a musical hailed for bringing a fresh and authentic rock edge to a 19th century German tale about teenagers' sexual angst, received 11 Tony nominations Tuesday. Right behind with 10 was another new musical with an unorthodox approach: "Grey Gardens," about two off-kilter relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

IF fortune smiles on "Most Wanted," a musical about a fame-hungry serial killer who saves his last bullet for himself, the theater world may have on its hands another testament to the power of drag queens. For nearly six years, off and on, three respected theater pros -- Mark Bennett, Jessica Hagedorn and Michael Greif -- have been grappling with its risky, unorthodox material.

The Los Angeles Times on Monday won five Pulitzer Prizes, the second most in the 87-year history of the awards, while the New York Times was awarded the Public Service medal for its reporting on death and injuries among American industrial workers. The Los Angeles Times won prizes in the breaking news, national reporting, editorial writing, criticism and feature photography categories -- bringing to 35 the overall number the paper has received since earning its first in 1942.

FOR much of the summer, behind the manicured lawns and privets of the privileged, gossip insatiably centered on the distinguished Astor family as the grandson of Brooke Astor, the 104-year-old doyenne of American society, sued his father over his grandmother's alleged mistreatment.

Now is the summer of our discontent. If you'd like a little theatrical relief from all that's ailing America's body politic, Anne Bogart and SITI Company are probably not your ticket. FOR THE RECORD: Tragedian's name: The subheadline in an earlier version of this online article misspelled the name of ancient Greek tragedian Euripides as Euripedes. Their new adaptation of Euripides' "The Trojan Women," which begins previews Thursday at the Getty Villa's outdoor amphitheater, aims to rekindle the original political intent of a play that drives home an unrelentingly dark vision of what war does to victims and victors alike.

Directors don't laugh. According to the conventional view, directors get better results by withholding laughter in rehearsal. Yet during rehearsals for last season's revival of W.S. Gilbert's satire "Engaged," no one laughed longer or more loudly than director Doug Hughes. "I don't fake it, I just don't stifle it," he said recently, with another laugh. While acknowledging that the "withholding Svengali" approach works for many directors, he finds it an uncomfortable fit.

It's just "flowers." But when Claire Danes says the word, it doesn't sound anything like that. It's more like FLAW-ehrz. Or maybe it's closer to flahrz. "I didn't" comes out as Idin. "Meddle" is mehtl. If you didn't have the words printed in front of you, you could be forgiven if you hadn't a clue what the 28-year-old actress was trying to say.