Morning Report - News from Feb. 1, 2000

STAGE

New ‘Blood’ in La Jolla: La Jolla Playhouse’s new artistic director, Anne Hamburger, has announced her first play picks. Mark Wing-Davey will stage Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” June 4-July 2. David Grimm’s new drama “Sheridan,” about English playwright Richard Sheridan, is scheduled for July 23-Aug. 20, to be directed by Mark Brokaw. And “Lifegame,” Improbable Theatre’s improvisational production from London, conceived by Keith Johnstone, will have its U.S. premiere June 11-July 9. At each performance of “Lifegame,” a cast of seven plus a musician and a lighting director will improvise a new drama based on the answers to personal questions asked of a pre-selected audience member.

MOVIES

DGA’s No. 1 Man: Steven Spielberg will receive the Directors Guild of America’s highest honor, its Lifetime Achievement Award, at the DGA’s 52nd annual awards ceremony on March 11. Spielberg, who announced this year’s DGA film nominees last week, has previously scored nine DGA nominations himself, including three feature film directing wins, for “The Color Purple,” “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” The lifetime achievement prize, formerly known as the D.W. Griffith Award, honors distinguished career achievement in motion picture directing. Previous honorees include Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen and Orson Welles. For more on the DGA’s top award, see A1.

TELEVISION

Puppetry Deja Vu?: If Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show looked at all familiar to anyone who’s seen Disney’s theatrical production of “The Lion King,” there’s a reason: All of the show’s extravagant puppets were the work of Michael Curry, the Oregon-based designer who, with director Julie Taymor, created the much-touted puppets for the Broadway musical. Unlike Taymor’s, Curry’s work with Disney goes beyond the theater world, however. He’s also done the “Mulan” parade at Disneyland and the “Tapestry of Nations” parade at Epcot, portions of which were in the Super Bowl halftime show. For Super Bowl ratings, meanwhile, see today’s Sports section.

POP/ROCK

Yoko’s Fears: After a recent knife attack on former Beatle George Harrison, Yoko Ono has admitted that she lives in fear for herself and the two sons of her murdered husband, John Lennon. “Knowing that our close friend and his family have been subjected to a violent incident, I am, naturally, most concerned about the safety of Julian and Sean,” Ono told Britain’s Sunday Independent newspaper. Mark David Chapman, who shot and killed John Lennon outside his New York City apartment building in 1980, becomes eligible for parole in December.

What a Career!: They must have short memories in Britain. The British record industry, grateful for the sales generated by the Spice Girls, is giving the girl group a lifetime achievement award on March 3. After all, the quintet-turned-quartet’s debut album, “Spice,” came out way back in 1996. It’s unknown, meanwhile, whether Geri Halliwell--the Spice Girl formerly known as Ginger, who left the group in mid-1998--will reunite with her former bandmates to accept the award. . . . In other Spice news, Victoria “Posh Spice” Adams, who has denied reports that she battles anorexia, has admitted that she has consulted a doctor over her recent weight loss.

RADIO

Remembering Black Leaders: Actor-comedian Arsenio Hall will host KFWB-AM’s (980) daily Black History Month feature honoring “inspirational” black leaders. “KFWB Remembers” begins today with a look back at “The Tuskegee Airmen--The First African American Combat Pilots in WWII.” The monthlong feature will air weekdays at 6:28 a.m., 1:28 and 5:28 p.m., and on weekends at 7:37 a.m., 12:37 and 4:37 p.m. Topics for the rest of this week include “Marian Anderson--Opera Singer” (Wednesday), “Black Soldiers in the U.S. Civil War” (Thursday), “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.--The March on Washington” (Friday).

QUICK TAKES

Multiple nominees Santana, the Backstreet Boys, TLC and Ricky Martin are the first performers announced for the 42nd annual Grammy Awards, airing Feb. 23 on CBS. . . . Pedro Almodovar won best director and best film trophies for “All About My Mother” in Spain’s Goya cinema awards Sunday. The movie, a front-runner for the best foreign-language film Oscar--also picked up a best actress honor for star Cecilia Roth. . . . Mary Wilson tells “Access Hollywood” on today’s broadcast that a Supremes reunion “will happen this summer” with an initial 30-date concert tour. Diana Ross has also talked recently of a possible Supremes reunion with Wilson and Cindy Birdsong. . . . Fox is beating CBS to the punch with the networks’ dueling dramatizations on the unsolved mystery of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. Fox has scheduled its hourlong movie, “Getting Away With Murder: The JonBenet Ramsey Story,” for Feb. 16. Meanwhile, CBS’ four-hour miniseries, “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town,” is set for Feb. 27 and March 1. . . . NBC has named producer Steve White as executive vice president for movies, miniseries and special events. . . . Macy Gray, Eminem, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears and the group Semisonic will compete in the category of best international newcomer at the Brit Awards, taking place in London on March 3.