Mark Lamos

Citing unspecified health issues, Paul Newman will not direct the fall production of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" at Connecticut's Westport Country Playhouse, the theater's artistic directors announced Friday. Newman, 83, will be replaced by Mark Lamos, a former artistic director of Hartford Stage, who has directed extensively across the country and in New York.

Citing unspecified health issues, Paul Newman will not direct the fall production of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" at Connecticut's Westport Country Playhouse, the theater's artistic directors announced Friday. Newman, 83, will be replaced by Mark Lamos, a former artistic director of Hartford Stage, who has directed extensively across the country and in New York.

"Now we'll go outside," says the director. The actors at the table look at each other. It's about 10 degrees in the sun today--and there's no sun. Is this how they rehearse in Russia? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The director is Yuri Yeremin, artistic director of Moscow's Pushkin Theatre. Last winter Yeremin invited the Hartford Stage Company's artistic director, Mark Lamos, to Moscow to direct his company in an American play, O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms."

"Now we'll go outside," says the director. The actors at the table look at each other. It's about 10 degrees in the sun today--and there's no sun. Is this how they rehearse in Russia? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The director is Yuri Yeremin, artistic director of Moscow's Pushkin Theatre. Last winter Yeremin invited the Hartford Stage Company's artistic director, Mark Lamos, to Moscow to direct his company in an American play, O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms."

Eight years ago, a relatively unknown young actor named Mark Lamos was hired out of the East to direct the inaugural season of the California Shakespearean Festival. It happened in Visalia, a pit stop on the way to Sequoia National Park, a city about as uncelebrated as he was. The festival lasted two enchanted summers and offered two plays each and Lamos directed them all. Sublimely. His name was never unknown again.

Eugene O'Neill's classic "Desire Under the Elms" --the first play directed by an American (Mark Lamos) in the Soviet Union--played to a sold-out audience on a Moscow stage Wednesday night. Lamos, artistic director of the Hartford Stage Company of Connecticut, received a standing ovation. The 870 people at the performance applauded politely in rhythm for the Soviet actors, and then rose to applaud energetically for Lamos.

What's happening the next few weeks: * The Whitney Museum of American Art today opens "The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000." Only the first half of the show, examining the years 1900-1950, will be presented now, with the second half to follow in October. In all, 1,400 works--from painting to design to material on dance and film--will explore the changing American character in the 20th century through the eyes of artists. 945 Madison Ave. Open Tues.-Wed., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thurs.

What's happening: * "Magritte," an exhibition of 65 works by Rene Magritte including "Le Fils de l'homme (The Son of Man), right, examines his signature style as a forerunner of Pop and Conceptual art, is on view through Sept. 5 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 3rd St. (415) 357-4000. * The Judah L. Magnes Museum is hosting "Telling Time: To Everything There Is a Season," which focuses on rituals and tradition for marking time in Jewish culture.

Glasnost may have its positive side when it comes to promoting world peace and understanding, but it can wreak havoc with theater schedules. Mark Lamos, who was supposed to direct "Lulu," Frank Wedekind's turn-of-the-century play for the La Jolla Playhouse this season, had to cancel when he flew to Moscow last month to become the first American to direct a play in the Soviet Union.

Early on in "Compleat Female Stage Beauty," which opened Saturday at the Old Globe, Shakespearean actor Edward Kynaston is horrified to learn that King Charles II is about to lift the ban on women appearing on stage. Kynaston had become a superstar by playing female roles and is in the midst of a triumphant run as Desdemona in "Othello" when his world starts to crumble. "A woman playing a woman?" he wails. "What's the trick in that?"

Eight years ago, a relatively unknown young actor named Mark Lamos was hired out of the East to direct the inaugural season of the California Shakespearean Festival. It happened in Visalia, a pit stop on the way to Sequoia National Park, a city about as uncelebrated as he was. The festival lasted two enchanted summers and offered two plays each and Lamos directed them all. Sublimely. His name was never unknown again.

Verdi's fourth opera, "I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata," has faults of exuberant youthful genius, but they hardly merit the drubbing several East Coast critics gave the work when the Metropolitan Opera staged it for the first time in December. The production, by stage director Mark Lamos and set designer John Conklin, on the other hand, is another matter.

"In comedies there are no heroes," says a young woman in Arthur Miller's supposedly funny "Resurrection Blues," at the Old Globe. That she herself is portrayed in somewhat heroic terms indicates the conflicting missions of this recent play by America's greatest living playwright. Miller calls the play a satire, but most good satires are merciless. In "Resurrection Blues," Miller takes mercy on his characters; he even suggests that one of them might be divine.