Ian Mckellen

British stage and screen veteran Ian McKellen, most widely known in recent years as Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, will perform a solo show, "A Knight Out in Los Angeles With Ian McKellen," Saturday and Sunday at the Freud Playhouse at UCLA.

The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "King Lear," featuring Ian McKellen in the title role, will play at UCLA in October. It's a touring production that plays in repertory with Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull." Both are directed by Trevor Nunn and feature the same cast of 23 actors. They'll be staged Oct. 19 to 28 at Royce Hall as part of UCLA Live. * From a Times staff writer

While I look forward to hearing the newly restored Royce Hall auditorium, I think it is misleading for Nicolai Ouroussoff to refer its previous acoustic incarnations only as "mediocre," "a flop" and "inferior" ("The Rebirth of Royce Hall," March 19). It is true that spoken-word events, such as Ian McKellen's production of "Richard III," suffered enormously. However, many have considered its acoustics for musical events to be among the best in California--after all, even though their live performances take place elsewhere, up until the Northridge earthquake, the Los Angeles Philharmonic chose Royce as its venue for recordings.

"Wild Honey" opened on Broadway Thursday night to a set of wildly mixed reviews. The New York Times' Frank Rich, who had seen the London version, mostly didn't like it. "Retooled, with new and mostly inadequate performances, 'Wild Honey' isn't the production it once was," he wrote. "Ian McKellen's bravura provides everything except, perhaps, the thing that matters most--sustained laughter. . . . But the Daily News' Howard Kissel was charmed.