AT the end of the last season of `` The Wire , '' another battle in the drug war came to an unceremonious close .

As an experiment the police in the show 's grim Baltimore neighborhood had decided to try drug legalization within a circumscribed area , which locals started calling Hamsterdam .

But within weeks , political blowback forced the experiment 's cruel end .

Hamsterdam 's seedy row houses were torn down , leaving an equally inhospitable pile of rubble .

Amid the destruction Juan Donovan Bell saw an opportunity .

One half of Darkroom Productions , a local Baltimore hip-hop production team , he had been avidly following `` The Wire '' since its first season .

`` These communities they depict , I live there , '' he recently said over the telephone from his West Baltimore studio .

He said the show had done a good job of depicting the city 's drug gangs , police officers and politicos , but it had all but ignored the city 's music .

So he began work on a mixtape album to showcase local rappers .

`` I knew the mixtape would blow up if I called it ' Hamsterdam , ' '' Mr. Bell said .

`` I was like , ' If you look at the show for entertainment , do n't forget about us . '

`` He shot the cover photograph around the corner from where the Hamsterdam episodes were filmed , as the original location was unavailable : '' When they tore the houses down , that was real . ``

`` Hamsterdam '' became one of the more acclaimed hip-hop records to come from Baltimore last year , and one of the first to receive attention outside the city .

It caught the ear of David Simon , the creator and an executive producer of the series .

`` I put it in my car 's CD player and drove around with it for three days straight , `` he said recently in a phone interview .

`` I 'd been so frustrated about not being able to be authentic in the past .

The music they 're listening to , it should be hip-hop , and it should be the hip-hop they 're listening to in Baltimore . ``

When the show 's fourth season begins tonight , Baltimore 's rap scene -- by no definition a national powerhouse -- will have its biggest showcase to date .

Darkroom contributes several songs featuring several unsigned rappers , most notably Tyree Colion , Mullyman and Diablo .

`` The amount of people in Baltimore in the last five years who 've received record contracts , `` Mr. Bell said , '' you can count on one hand , with fingers left . ``

No national rap star has emerged from Baltimore , despite all this grass-roots activity , largely because a distinctive local black sound -- Baltimore club , or house , a thrusting , occasionally lewd form of dance music -- already existed .

-LRB- Last season `` The Wire '' used a few songs from DJ Technics , a local club-music figure .

The context was `` quite tasteless , the way it was supposed to be , '' DJ Technics said jokingly .

He contributes more club tracks this season . -RRB-

`` The Wire '' has already invigorated the city 's musicians .

`` Even though it 's fictional , the show has influenced rappers in Baltimore , `` said Blake Leyh , the show 's music supervisor .

`` And by using this music , there 's a sense in which these different worlds are feeding back on each other now . ``

Mr. Simon added : `` I think the show gave Baltimore a certain pride .

It was coming out of their ghetto .

Forget West Philly , forget East New York .

When it comes to drug trafficking , we 're the first string .

There 's perverse pride in that . ``

In one scene this season two members of the show 's primary drug crew , trying to figure out whether the new corner boys are from a rival New York set , ask about a popular Baltimore song by Young Leek .

The guy they are interrogating replies , in an unprintable fashion , that he has never heard of it , and he is thanked for his candor with a bullet in the head .

UNLIKE most television shows , on which pop music is used to provide broad emotional prompts , `` The Wire '' uses songs only as source music , as it would be heard by the characters themselves .

`` We 're adding to the credibility of the moment , `` Mr. Simon said .

`` We 're not trying to cue people as to what to think .

The perfect song that comments on the action , that 's never on the jukebox when the moment actually happens . ``

And so the uses of Baltimore hip-hop this season helps firm `` The Wire 's `` grip on naturalist storytelling .

`` The attempt , '' Mr. Leyh said , `` is to make everything as real as possible .

Our concern is verisimilitude .

The cumulative effect of all of these choices adds up to something very powerful . ``

Inspired by the attention now being paid to their city and their work , the Darkroom producers are at work on a second volume of `` Hamsterdam , '' as well as a documentary about the city 's rap scene .

In a dark pun on Baltimore 's nickname of Charm City , they are calling it `` Harm City Exposed . ''

`` The streets is a monster here , '' Mr. Bell said .

`` It can swallow up anyone .

That 's why I want to get this door kicked down soon , because a lot of people do n't have any options . ``

-LRB- Mr. Colion , one of this season 's most prominently featured artists , wo n't be able to see how his work is used on the show : he 's currently behind bars . -RRB-

Using this music , Mr. Leyh said , `` is one more way ' The Wire ' can give back to Baltimore . ``

Already , the artists attached to the `` Hamsterdam '' project are beginning to receive major-label interest .

`` This is for us , '' Diablo said , `` and we need to make sure that it counts .

Our only problem has been getting heard , and now we getting heard . ``

In the final scene of the final episode of this season , one of the show 's young characters drives down a quiet street , Mullyman 's song `` The Life , the Hood , the Streetz '' blasting from the window of his stolen car .

From Mullyman 's `` Still H.I.M. '' mixtape , it was one of the bigger Baltimore rap records of the past year , but in this new context portends a whole new life and meaning for the song and its author .

`` In Baltimore your hood is your whole world , '' Mullyman said .

`` ` The Wire ' inspired me , let me know we had a voice I did n't know we had .

It showed me I might be sitting on oil . ``

THE NEW SEASON -- TELEVISION .

Summary: Article discusses how TV series The Wire will feature music from Baltimore 's rap scene , using songs only as they would be heard by the characters themselves .

Summary: Baltimore rap music scene described .

Summary: Photos .


THE singer-songwriter Marisa Monte has one of those supple , knowing voices that make Brazilian pop so inviting .

After a decade in which she became one of Brazil 's top stars , Ms. Monte stopped touring in 2001 to catch her breath , have a child and re-examine her music .

She did n't disappear .

`` Tribalistas , '' the album she made in 2002 in a two-week collaboration with fellow Brazilian songwriters , Carlinhos Brown and Arnaldo Antunes , won a Latin Grammy award and sold a million copies in Brazil .

Now she 's back with two very different albums , being released this week by the Metro Blue / Blue Note label in the United States : `` Infinito Particular '' and `` Universo ao Meu Redor . ''

-LRB- They 're already hits in Brazil . -RRB-

And on Nov . 14 she will come to the Beacon Theater as part of her first American tour since 2000 .

`` Universo ao Meu Redor '' is about heritage : the sambas that Ms. Monte grew up hearing and studied more deeply when she produced an album for the Velha Guarda da Portela , the old guard , or elder members , of the long-running Portela samba school in Rio de Janeiro .

-LRB- Her father is one of the school 's directors . -RRB-

She sings borrowed sambas -- reaching back as far as the 1940 's and including some that have been widely sung but never recorded -- along with a few of her own songs , and she 's backed largely by acoustic instruments in cozy but untraditional arrangements .

It 's samba carried inward .

`` Infinito Particular '' is even more pensive .

It features her own songs in settings that wrap her and a small band in an aura of orchestration and electronics .

Both albums are wonderfully introspective , and it should be illuminating to hear what she does with the songs when she brings them to the stage in November .

THE NEW SEASON -- MUSIC .

Summary: Jon Pareles article profiles Brazilian singer-songwriter Marisa Monte .

Summary: Describes her two just-released very different albums .

Summary: Photo .


LISTENING to Young Jeezy is an immersive experience .

Not just because he plunges listeners into a world of crack-trade narratives and gun-busting threats and grim late-night parties where no one ever seems to relax .

-LRB- Though he does that , and does it brilliantly . -RRB-

But also because he finds musical ways to suck in his listeners .

He gravitates toward slow tempos , so he can sink into the beats , and so listeners have no choice but to slow down and sink with him .

And his constant ad-libs -- `` Yeeeah '' and `` Ha-haaa ! '' and `` Thaaat 's riiiight `` and all the rest -- cleverly blur the line between sense and sound .

Last year , after an impressive run on the mixtape circuit , Young Jeezy released `` Let 's Get It : Thug Motivation 101 `` -LRB- Island Def Jam -RRB- , a major-label debut that felt like a momentous event .

He sounded utterly untouchable when he growled , `` You better call your crew , you gon ' need help / Whole car strapped , and I ai n't talking seat belts . ``

The album yielded a handful of hits , most notably `` Soul Survivor , '' a collaboration with Akon .

Maybe more important , the album established Young Jeezy as one of hip-hop ` s most unimpeachable stars : an Atlanta upstart not even narrow-minded New York listeners could deny .

A pop hitmaker who still sounded great on mixtapes .

And you can hear Young Jeezy 's influence in Rick Ross , the Miami rapper who clearly patterned his recent major-label debut after `` Let 's Get It . ``

Now , barely a year later , Young Jeezy is gearing up for his second proper album .

He has plenty of motivation : his friendly -LRB- so far -RRB- Atlanta rival T I . released an impressive CD , `` King , '' earlier this year .

And his recent collaborations and mixtape contributions suggest he has n't lost a step .

In `` I Do This , '' he rhymes , `` S550 , yeah , the brand-new Benz / Bought two the same color , I call ' em Siamese twins . ''

Now the only question is : Will his plan -- to release the album on Halloween -- hold firm .

Young Jeezy may seem immovable , but major-label hip-hop release dates are anything but .

THE NEW SEASON -- MUSIC .

Summary: Kelefa Sanneh article discusses Young Jeezy , one of hip-hop ` s most unimpeachable stars .

Summary: Barely a year after releasing his first album , he is gearing up for second one .

Summary: Photo .


A JAZZ concert season can suggest comparisons to a course curriculum , a museum catalog or a tasting menu .

The new season at Merkin Concert Hall was designed with yet another model in mind .

It aspires to the gritty , unofficial quality of a mixtape .

That may sound slightly out of character for Merkin Hall , which has earned a reputation for avant-gardism of a cool and cerebral disposition .

But for Brice Rosenbloom and Simon Rentner , the season 's producers , it makes sense .

Certainly it fits their profile .

Mr. Rosenbloom has booked music at Makor and the Knitting Factory , and Mr. Rentner has a background in radio production .

Their commitment to eclecticism comes across as matter-of-fact , even when it carries a whiff of youthful pretension .

DJ Spooky was one source of inspiration for their programming concept , Mr. Rentner said in a recent phone conversation .

The 45-concert season began on Sept . 2 with a tribute to New Orleans jazz and soul .

Its closing jazz event , on May 7 , pairs the Ron Carter Nonet and the Aaron Goldberg Trio .

Both concerts fall under Chamber Jazz , a six-concert subscription series that will also include the free-jazz pianist Cecil Taylor -LRB- Oct . 12 -RRB- and the Mingus Orchestra -LRB- Nov . 30 -RRB- .

The hall 's No Minimum series no longer heeds its original dual-piano premise : its first installment on Oct . 9 will feature the pianist Robert Glasper with , separately , the guitarist Lionel Loueke and the bassist Meshell Ndegeocello .

The Zoom : Composers Close Up series will include a Feb . 15 showcase for the Argentine composer Guillermo Klein .

And the first concert of the new Masters Reimagined program , on Sept . 9 , will feature the music of Hermeto Pascoal as performed by the Bobby Sanabria Big Band .

Though studded with stylish contemporary references -- like Radiohead and Björk , the subjects of an interpretive concert on Oct . 19 -- the season 's most promising feature has a historic tinge .

Reissue is a series that addresses repertory in a different fashion than Jazz at Lincoln Center , which once employed both Mr. Rosenbloom and Mr. Rentner .

On Sept . 16 Reissue pays homage to Don Cherry 's `` Symphony for Improvisers , '' with that album 's original bassist , Henry Grimes , and the trumpeters Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell .

On Nov . 14 it will salute Andrew Hill 's `` Passing Ships , '' with Mr. Hill leading an octet as well as his trio .

On Dec . 19 Miles Davis 's `` Bitches Brew '' will be revisited by Animation , led by the saxophonist and producer Bob Belden .

And on Feb . 19 , `` The Connection , '' by Freddie Redd , will be revived with the alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson filling in for Jackie McLean and , after a lengthy obscurity , Mr. Redd at the piano .

THE NEW SEASON -- POP MUSIC .

Summary: Nate Chinen article discusses highlights of 45-concert jazz season at Merkin Concert Hall , which aspires to gritty , unofficial quality of mixtape .

Summary: Photo .


THERE is nothing more exciting than the premiere of a new work that seems destined to stick with you from the moment it starts .

I may forever associate the 2005-6 season with the premiere of Peter Lieberson 's `` Neruda Songs , '' commissioned by James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra and performed at Symphony Hall .

That haunting , refined and emotionally revealing song cycle was like a love poem from Mr. Lieberson to his wife , the unforgettable mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson , who sang it sublimely in what would be one of her last performances before her death in July .

As I look ahead to the coming season , several intriguing premieres catch my interest , starting with Tan Dun 's ambitious opera `` The First Emperor , '' which was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and receives its premiere there -LRB- Dec . 21 -RRB- .

With Mr. Tan , an immensely skilled and eclectic composer , it 's hard to know what to expect .

He has written works that are baffling in their banality , like `` Red Forecast , '' a multimedia piece for soprano , orchestra , a battalion of percussionists , video projections and audio tracks .

The work is like some pretentious 60 's happening , with chanting , chaos , images of students rioting , a gaggle of voices .

Yet other pieces have been close to entrancing , notably `` Water Passion After St . Matthew . ''

Though though marred by exasperating stretches of meditative vamping , the work has some ethereal music and mesmerizing instrumental colors .

And Mr. Tan 's Oscar-winning score for the 2000 film `` Crouching Tiger , Hidden Dragon '' is a knockout from start to finish : arresting , brutal , yet somehow charming .

Mr. Tan 's new opera is set in the ancient court of Qin Shi Huangdi , the first emperor of China , a role conceived for Plácido Domingo .

Count on the production by the film director Zhang Yimou -LRB- `` House of Flying Daggers '' -RRB- to be elaborate and flashy .

How will it turn out .

Not knowing is part of the fun .

Perhaps the New York Philharmonic grew tired of reading about the excitement the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen has been generating with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at its stunning new home , Disney Hall .

Rather than just bring him here to conduct , the New York Philharmonic commissioned Mr. Salonen , an accomplished composer , to write a new piano concerto for Yefim Bronfman , which receives its premiere in New York -LRB- Feb . 1-3 -RRB- , with Mr. Salonen conducting .

As a consolation prize the Los Angeles Philharmonic gets first dibs on recording the concerto .

On a smaller scale , the eminent pianist Peter Serkin , whose passion for contemporary music is as intense as it was during his young rebel days as a member of the uncompromising quartet Tashi , is scheduled to give the premiere of a new chamber work by the British composer Oliver Knussen .

Despite having written some bracing and ingenious scores , Mr. Knussen has had a woeful record of meeting deadlines .

This work was supposed to have had its premiere when Mr. Serkin presented his Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall several seasons back .

This time the delayed premiere by Mr. Serkin and the Zankel Band is to take place at Zankel Hall -LRB- April 13 -RRB- , with Mr. Knussen conducting .

This season at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is the first planned completely by the ensemble 's new artistic directors , the pianist Wu Han and the cellist David Finckel .

They have devised many programs that intriguingly mix old and new works .

But I 'm looking forward to an all-Leon Kirchner concert .

The society took part in commissioning this towering American composer to write his String Quartet No . 4 .

One way to present its New York premiere would be as part of a varied program that might place the new work in a larger musical context .

Instead the society will present the Orion String Quartet performing all four Kirchner quartets at Alice Tully Hall -LRB- March 7 -RRB- .

They will be played in order , starting with the first , composed in 1949 .

Here is a chance to follow Mr. Kirchner 's exploration of the quartet genre over a span of nearly 60 years .

Out of town , admirers of the elegant composer Kaija Saariaho are looking forward to her 60-minute oratorio , `` La Passion de Simone . ''

The work will have its premiere in Vienna this fall , and the Los Angeles Philharmonic will give the American premiere -LRB- Jan . 12-14 -RRB- .

James Levine , who continues to champion tough-guy modernists , presents the premiere of Charles Wuorinen 's Eighth Symphony with the Boston Symphony at Symphony Hall -LRB- Feb . 15 -RRB- .

Those who find Mr. Wuorinen 's music too off-putting in its complexity should hear Mr. Levine perform his works .

In recent years Mr. Levine 's palpable excitement for the music has come through in stunning accounts of daunting Wuorinen scores .

On the other end of the contemporary-music spectrum John Adams has fashioned the `` Doctor Atomic '' Symphony from his engrossing and courageous opera `` Doctor Atomic , '' which had its premiere last season in San Francisco .

David Robertson , who is galvanizing audiences as music director of the St . Louis Symphony , conducts the premiere in St . Louis -LRB- March 16 -RRB- , then brings it to Carnegie Hall -LRB- March 31 -RRB- .

As always with premieres from searching composers , do not assume anything .

THE NEW SEASON -- CLASSICAL MUSIC .

Summary: Anthony Tommasini article notes some classical music and opera premieres scheduled for upcoming season , including Tan Dun 's The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera .

Summary: Photo .


GUSTAVO DUDAMEL has quickly come a long way from his boyhood in Barquisimeto , Venezuela , when he used to conduct toy soldiers .

He has attracted glowing praise from Simon Rattle , Claudio Abbado and Daniel Barenboim , and a reputation as a rising star of the podium .

And he 's still just a tender 25 .

Mr. Dudamel is one of five musicians selected here as artists on the cusp of promising futures .

He is a product of one of the classical music world 's most extraordinary phenomena : Venezuela 's youth orchestra system .

Financed by the government and the Inter-American Development Bank , it has yielded scores of youth orchestras and trained hundreds of thousands of players , many from poor neighborhoods .

Mr. Dudamel conducts its jewel , the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra .

He was also recently appointed the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Sweden .

He appears in America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic -LRB- Jan . 4 to 6 -RRB- , conducting Rachmaninoff 's Third Piano Concerto -LRB- with Yefim Bronfman as soloist -RRB- , Kodaly 's `` Dances of Galanta '' and Bartok 's `` Concerto for Orchestra '' .

And with the Chicago Symphony -LRB- April 5 to 7 and 10 -RRB- , leading Bruch 's First Violin Concerto -LRB- with Pinchas Zukerman -RRB- and Mahler 's First Symphony .

But he will be a busy guest conductor in Europe , appearing with a dozen orchestras , including the City of Birmingham Symphony , the Philharmonia of London , the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Vienna Symphony .

He has also been entrusted with Mozart 's `` Don Giovanni '' at La Scala Opera in Milan , Italy .

Deutsche Grammophon , meanwhile , is about to release his recording of Beethoven 's Fifth and Seventh Symphonies with the Bolívar youngsters .

In the vocal realm , it will be a big season for Eric Owens , 36 , a Philadelphia-born bass-baritone who took part in two of the most important opera events last season .

He won praise for his portrayal of Gen . Leslie Groves in John Adams 's `` Doctor Atomic '' at the San Francisco Opera .

But raves came with the title role of Elliot Goldenthal 's `` Grendel '' at the Los Angeles Opera and the Lincoln Center Festival .

Some critics described the part as perhaps the most demanding bass-baritone role in the repertory .

Mr. Owens was `` consistently charismatic , theatrically and vocally , '' Peter G . Davis wrote in New York magazine .

Others said he dominated the opera .

This season Mr. Owens continues his close association with Mr. Adams .

He will sing in the premiere of Mr. Adams 's new opera , `` A Flowering Tree , '' inspired by Mozart 's `` Magic Flute , '' at Peter Sellars 's New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic -LRB- Nov . 14 , 16 , 17 and 19 -RRB- .

Other performances of the work are scheduled with the Berlin Philharmonic -LRB- Dec . 21 and 22 -RRB- and the San Francisco Symphony -LRB- March 1 to 3 -RRB- .

Mr. Owens will sing other Adams works with the Boston Symphony -LRB- Dec . 7 to 9 -RRB- and the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall -LRB- April 27 -RRB- , and he makes his debut at the Netherlands Opera with a run of `` Doctor Atomic '' in June .

He also has appearances with the Houston , Cincinnati and Alabama Symphonies .

Compared with the celebrity glow of globe-trotting opera stars like Mr. Owens , contemporary composers like Michael Gandolfi lead low-key lives .

A self-effacing 50-year-old from Cambridge , Mass . , and a friend of the much more famous composer Osvaldo Golijov , he started out in rock and jazz .

Like many of his peers , he now survives by teaching -LRB- at the New England Conservatory and the Tanglewood Music Center -RRB- and winning foundation grants .

His primarily tonal music , sometimes motored by Minimalism , is suffused with rhythmic vigor and vivid images .

And he has a welcome humorous streak .

One work is titled `` Budget Cuts : A Septet for Three Players and Conductor . ''

Examples of his work will appear on programs by the American Composers Orchestra -LRB- Oct . 13 , Zankel Hall -RRB- and Boston Musica Viva -LRB- Feb . 4 , Tsai Performance Center in Boston -RRB- .

Most notably his `` Impressions From ' The Garden of Cosmic Speculation , ' '' a work still in progress , will be conducted by Robert Spano with the Houston Symphony -LRB- March 16 to 18 -RRB- , the New World Symphony in Miami Beach -LRB- April 21 -RRB- and the Atlanta Symphony -LRB- May 24 to 26 -RRB- , where Mr. Gandolfi is in residence .

Back to performers .

The cellist Alicia Weilerstein , 24 , has been performing for nearly 20 years .

She would probably have had an even bigger career by now if not for the small matter of college .

She graduated with a history degree from Columbia in 2002 , an unusual stop-off for most virtuosos .

Ms. Weilerstein also has a penchant for chamber music , performing in the Weilerstein Trio with her parents .

One of her first major dates this season is a trio concert with Maxim Vengerov , violinist , and Lilya Zilberstein , pianist , at Carnegie Hall -LRB- Oct . 14 -RRB- .

She performs the Elgar Concerto with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall -LRB- Jan . 11 and 13 -RRB- and with the Baltimore Symphony -LRB- June 8-10 -RRB- , and drops in for a slew of dates in places like Kalamazoo , Mich .

Poughkeepsie , N.Y.

Toledo , Ohio .

Helena , Mont .

And Wichita , Kan .

Among the crop of emerging young pianists , Simone Dinnerstein , 33 , has done it the hard way .

Praised for her intelligent and sensitive music making , Ms. Dinnerstein has won no major competition and lives with her schoolteacher husband and 4-year-old child in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn .

She raised the money for her first recording , Bach 's `` Goldberg Variations , '' on her own .

She played the work -- a brave choice -- at her New York debut in 2005 , winning positive reviews .

In January she was taken on by her first major manager , Columbia Artists .

In October the Delos label will release her recording of the Beethoven cello sonatas with Zuill Bailey , and her career generally gathers steam in the 2006-7 season .

Highlights include a performance of Liszt 's Piano Concerto No . 1 and Totentanz at the Bard Music Festival -LRB- Oct . 27 -RRB- in Annandale-on-Hudson , N.Y. , and a recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art -LRB- Nov . 19 -RRB- .

Just as important may be a performance for an audience of one : an audition next month for Christoph Eschenbach , the music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra .

THE NEW SEASON -- CLASSICAL MUSIC Correction : September 17 , 2006 , Sunday An article and picture caption last Sunday about five classical music artists poised for breakthroughs misspelled the given name of one .

She is Alisa Weilerstein , not Alicia .

The article also misstated the date she graduated from Columbia .

It was 2004 , not 2002 .

Summary: Article profiles five musicians who are poised for a breakthrough and briefly describes their careers : conductor Gustavo Dudamel , bass-baritone Eric Owens , composer Michael Gandolfi , cellist Alicia Weilerstein and pianist Simone Dinnerstein .

Summary: Photos .


HERE 'S the bottom line about opera : Whatever the story , the music or the length , a performance rides on the quality of the singers in the principal roles .

Verdi 's `` Don Carlo '' is a large and ambitious piece involving love triangles , political intrigue , the Spanish Inquisition and even a mysterious ghost .

But the main difficulty in staging it is that it has six lead parts , each requiring a major singer .

So it is rare to see a truly satisfying `` Don Carlo , '' yet this season the Metropolitan Opera is making a strong bid to provide one on Nov . 30 .

Patricia Racette , Johan Botha , Olga Borodina , Dmitri Hvorostovsky , René Pape and Samuel Ramey onstage , and James Levine in the pit : the lineup is worthy of an opera gala in both star power and sheer musical ability .

The one question mark is Ms. Racette : not whether this intelligent and moving artist will provide a committed performance , but what her lyric instrument will make of a role calling for a strong Verdi soprano .

Still , when a singer as fine as Ms. Racette is your question mark , you are in good shape .

`` Don Carlo , '' the story of the impetuous , weak crown prince of Spain -LRB- the underrated Mr. Botha -RRB- who defies his authoritative father , Philip II -LRB- the breathtaking Mr. Pape -RRB- , was written on the generous scale of French grand opera , and it underwent numerous reworkings after its 1867 premiere -LRB- including translation into Italian -RRB- as Verdi tried to get it right .

Some of the difficulties were there from the beginning : to tailor the complex role of Princess Eboli to the voice of its first performer , Verdi ended up creating two unequal arias , one frilly , one dramatic .

Ms. Borodina is one of the few singers alive who , with her languid , sensual voice , can hope to do justice to both .

Some scenes simply proved intractable , like the discussion in Act II in which the Marquis of Posa speaks truth to the wrongheaded power of the autocratic Philip , a scene Verdi struggled with for years .

The Met has found a way to curb its long-windedness .

When Mr. Hvorostovsky , the heartthrob baritone with the never-ending breath support , and Mr. Pape are onstage together , any opera lover would be happy to watch , and listen , all night .

THE NEW SEASON -- CLASSICAL MUSIC .

Summary: Anne Midgette article on difficulties of producing Verdi 's opera , Don Carlo .

Summary: Says Metropolitan Opera is making strong bid to solve them with good singers for all six leads .

Summary: Photo .


OF the few weeds that crop up in the well-mowed lawn that is the New York Philharmonic 's coming season , one of the more welcome is native to the Midwest .

David Robertson , left , taking a week off from his music director 's job at the St . Louis Symphony , will conduct music by Kaija Saariaho , Debussy and Sibelius -LRB- Dec . 14 to 16 -RRB- .

He 's not a completely unfamiliar species : the Philharmonic is a co-commissioner of Ms. Saariaho 's `` Adriana Songs , '' a cycle extracted from her recent opera `` Adriana Mater '' with new connective tissue to join the various sequences .

On the other hand , it takes visitors like Mr. Robertson to do the kind of heavy thinking that brings these three composers together in such a provocative way .

Ms. Saariaho represents an interesting merger of Finnish music 's gray , stony aesthetic with a deep involvement in the `` spectral '' movement and its slow-moving clouds of carefully calculated overtones .

`` Adriana Mater '' -- a story of rape and vengeance but , most of all , motherhood -- offers moments of sonic violence uncharacteristic of her earlier work , but the songs will also turn to dream sequences and Ms. Saariaho 's dramatically conciliatory ending .

The Irish mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon will be the soloist .

Debussy 's `` Martyr de St . - Sébastien '' conceals his later , leaner and more ascetic style inside a lumbering multimedia vehicle crushed by its own hyperactivity .

When Kurt Masur did a cut-down version with the Philharmonic a few years ago , spectacle was eliminated , but the arm-waving excesses of d' Annunzio 's texts were inescapable .

Mr. Robertson performs further liposuction by presenting what he calls `` Symphonic Fragments . ''

If Debussy 's elusiveness has made its mark on Ms. Saariaho 's music , Sibelius 's `` Night Ride and Sunrise '' helps show the door she first came through .

Brief , curious , obsessive , complex , with strings at a gallop , it is wintry in tone , a little hard-hearted and not easy to perform .

`` La Mer , '' Debussy 's great essay on orchestral beauty , should warm us up at the end .

After hearing this work , subtitled `` Day in the Life of the Sea , '' Erik Satie said that he liked the part at about half-past 10 .

We should be on our way home by then .

THE NEW SEASON -- CLASSICAL MUSIC .

Summary: Bernard Holland article on David Robertson , who will conduct the New York Philharmonic in works by Saariaho , Debussy and Sibelius .

Summary: Photo .


My state does not mandate paid maternity leave , and federal law does n't cover a business as small as where I work .

Fortunately , my generous employer offers eight weeks of paid leave and an additional four unpaid .

I am not sure I will return to work after that .

May I still accept this offer .

If I accept but do not return , must I refund the money .

Name withheld , New Mexico Maternity benefits are not an advance payment on future work .

They are better seen as compensation already earned , akin to health-care benefits or accumulated vacation days .

There is nothing dishonorable in your not returning or unseemly about your current uncertainty .

Having a child , particularly a first child , is a life-changing experience .

You can not be sure how it will affect your feelings about the job .

But your employer is operating out of personal generosity -- and a desire to keep employees happy and on the job -- rather than legal compulsion .

-LRB- Where maternity leave is guaranteed by law , the issue is simple : comply .

There is no requirement that you return to work or refund money if you do not . -RRB-

So you should discuss the matter with your employer , to ensure that both of you clearly understand the situation and that both of you gain the peace of mind of knowing you have behaved openly , honestly and fairly .

It may be that , learning of your indecision , your employer will amend the offer , even asking you to repay part of the money if you do not come back .

That would be an unwise business decision -LRB- or perhaps a contract issue -RRB- , however : the policy is a model of decency and justice .

But you should not behave deceitfully , particularly toward an employer who behaves so well toward you .

UPDATE : A week after having her baby , the letter writer told her boss she was on the fence about returning to work .

The boss changed the offer to two weeks of paid leave instead of eight .

Once a week I pick up donated bakery items and deliver them to the food bank to be distributed to needy families .

One morning I helped myself to a box of doughnuts .

The following week I took some cookies for my grandson .

Then it was a pecan pie , etc.

Is this wrong .

There seems to be plenty of food for the needy .

Marjorie S . Desimone , Lansdowne , VA .

I see where this is going : first you swipe a few doughnuts , then it 's a whole pie and before you know it you 're shooting it out with the cops at a Sara Lee factory .

It 's an old , old story .

Here 's one way to think about it .

Suppose you were collecting cash for this same charity : would you help yourself to a few bucks if there were still `` plenty '' for the needy .

If it 's wrong to take a wad of $ 10 bills , why is it right to take a wad of doughnuts .

-LRB- Do they come by the wad .

-RRB- I admire your work for the food bank , but you should stop skimming pastry .

Here 's another way to think about it : If you did n't know the answer , you would n't have asked the question .

It is often said that if you feel uneasy about your conduct , you 're probably doing wrong .

But is that so .

The proddings of the conscience are unreliable .

Some people have a hypersensitive conscience and feel guilty about nearly everything .

-LRB- Hence all those jokes that , in different versions , Jews and Catholics tell about themselves . -RRB-

Other people do appalling things and sleep through the night untroubled .

There 's no consistent calibration of the conscience .

Feelings are not a reliable substitute for thought .

That 's why therapists flourish .

And columnists proffering ethical advice .

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW : 9-10-06 : THE ETHICIST .

Summary: Randy Cohen Ethicist column on comments on whether you may take paid maternity leave if employer is not required to provide it and you are unsure about whether you will return to work after having child .

Summary: Also comments on whether a food bank volunteer may take the occasional box of doughnuts or cookies for herself .


In New York City , Bohemia is determined by real estate : artists gather in raffish neighborhoods where studio space is cheap .

The new outposts of culture and consumption they establish make the quarter desirable , thus raising the rents to prohibitive levels .

The artists then decamp for the next shabby enclave .

Starting in the 1960 's , what New Yorkers meant by `` downtown '' shifted from Greenwich Village to SoHo to TriBeCa to the Lower East Side .

But Manhattan is a narrow island , and the portion of it dense enough to sustain the feeling of self-enclosure that Bohemia requires is quite small .

And so , starting in the 1980 's , as rents skyrocketed , downtown began to migrate across the East River to Brooklyn .

By now , those portions of Brooklyn first colonized by fleeing artists have almost completed the cycle of embourgeoisement .

Williamsburg , the heart of Brooklyn 's gallery scene , has been thoroughly tamed by brasseries and boutiques .

The kind of artists who are n't yet showing in those galleries are now moving to deepest , darkest Queens .

But the middle-class householder geography of Queens offers too barren a soil for the rooting of a new Bohemia .

Fortunately , there is lots more Brooklyn available .

There is , of course , something wishful , or perhaps wistful , about this perpetual hunt for the urban El Dorado .

A place that can shift around so easily sounds less like a neighborhood than a mentality , or a species of nostalgia .

In most of America , after all , `` downtown '' simply means `` the city '' -- the place where things are close enough to one another that you can walk .

But in New York , where every square inch feels urban , downtown is a refuge from -- a repudiation of -- the conventionality of Midtown , and mid-everything .

Downtown is a concept , and perhaps an archaic one .

The idea of Bohemia arose with the bourgeois city , against which it defined itself .

In the Paris of `` La Bohème '' -- the Latin Quarter , circa 1830 -- the artist willingly courts starvation and disease as the price of freedom .

The poet Rodolfo may be giddy as he shovels his manuscript into the fire to keep warm , but it 's still the only source of fuel he has .

Life was scarcely less desperate -- or less delightful -- in the downtown Manhattan of 1910 , when the poet and propagandist John Reed , according to one biographer , `` ate in obscure foreign restaurants , talked with the girls who walked the street in ' Satan 's Circus `` ` and caroused with Spanish longshoremen .

Reed 's latter-day descendants are threatened not by penury but by gentrification .

How can Bohemia contend with the twin baby stroller .

The other day , walking around Fort Greene , one of Brooklyn 's current claimants to downtown cultural status , I stopped at an office building called 80 Arts .

In the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts , or MoCADA , which occupies the ground floor , an exhibition of major black artists had just come down .

I picked up some fliers from the counter .

One , issued by a company called Downtown Babies , advertised `` Creative Play and Music Classes '' and `` Themed Birthday Parties '' to be held at MoCADA .

Downtown Babies -- the end of Bohemia as we know it .

80 Arts had been gutted and renovated as part of a `` cultural district '' established by a `` local development corporation '' organized around the Brooklyn Academy of Music , the cultural mega-institution of Fort Greene .

Here was a planned Bohemia -- surely a contradiction in terms .

Indeed , many locals , and local organizations , had protested the development -LRB- as they are now even more loudly protesting the Atlantic Yards , a nearby mega-project featuring skyscrapers and a basketball stadium to be designed by Frank Gehry -RRB- .

But MoCADA owes its presence in Fort Greene to the cultural district .

Should the project be fully implemented , a new theater and public library will be built as well .

In short , downtown , or the idea of downtown , has become thoroughly implicated in the cultural and economic forces that it once resisted with every ounce of its scruffy integrity .

The misfits and longhairs and revolutionaries deemed unassimilable by mainstream culture in John Reed 's day are now considered `` edgy '' .

And edge , in turn , attracts sneaker stores and bistros and cultural entrepreneurs and even young couples with strollers .

The derrière-garde keeps catching up with the avant-garde .

The avant-garde falls prey to its own lurid appeal .

If Rodolfo 's artist pal Marcello were around today , his gallery opening would be catered by Absolut .

And so the Bohemias of yesteryear have gone the way of Reed 's Spanish longshoremen .

But is that so bad .

Take a walk in Fort Greene , an ethnically and economically mixed neighborhood with tree-lined blocks of fine brick homes .

A block away from 80 Arts , beyond the town house that the painter David Salle has lavishly rehabilitated , lies the lime-green Habana Outpost , an eco-friendly cafe where mothers push downtown babies on swings amid racks of folkloric skirts , priced to sell .

And then , moving up Fulton Street , once a commercial swamp , there 's the wine store and the soul-food restaurant and the beloved Cake Man Raven .

A few blocks away stands the Brooklyn Academy of Music , which has been irreproachably avant-garde since long before there was any money in it .

Fort Greene feels less like Bohemia than what the scholar Joel Kotkin calls an `` elite urban enclave '' -- a place suited to the sophisticated tastes of the `` knowledge workers '' who now propel New York 's economy .

But the wheel of development that brought in those young cosmopolites , and priced out a number of the area 's longtime , predominantly black residents , has not stopped turning : the Atlantic Yards project threatens to disrupt Fort Greene 's delicate ecology once again .

We want to preserve our precious and beloved utopias like paperweight worlds .

But the city -- at least this city -- will not permit it .

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW : 9-10-06 James Traub is a contributing writer for the magazine .

Summary: James Traub column on peculiar New York cycle by which one bohemian neighborhood after another is transformed from cheap place for artists to live , work and gather into elite urban enclave that they and other longtime residents can no longer afford .

Summary: Says downtown , or idea of downtown , has become thoroughly implicated in cultural and economic forces it once resisted with every ounce of its scruffy integrity .

Summary: Photos .

Summary: Graphs .


Q : In the 20-odd years since you opened your first restaurant , Union Square Cafe , in downtown New York , the area has gone from being a place to get a 25-cent cup of diner coffee into a foodie paradise .

Would you say New York is the restaurant capital of the country .

Absolutely .

For its variety , quality and hospitality , no other city comes close .

What are the up-and-coming food cities .

There are so many ! Both Portlands -- Maine and Oregon -- are obsessed with good food .

So are Seattle , Boston and Birmingham , Ala .

I 'd throw in Las Vegas , but the profusion of restaurants there is more about an obsession with money and restaurant brands than it is with the soul of good food .

Right .

They 're too addicted to celebrity chefs , not unlike the Food Network , with Emeril and Mario Batali and Rachael Ray and the rest .

Do you watch their various cooking shows .

No , because I generally do n't learn anything that I did n't already know about food .

And I 'm not even that smart .

Is it fair to say that your contribution to the New York scene is that you helped pioneer the comfort version of high cuisine .

Either that or the high-cuisine version of comfort food .

As a Midwesterner , I am always looking for the middle ground .

And I do n't mean that in a kind of wishy-washy , milquetoast way .

You like to present yourself as a well-scrubbed , earnest guy from St . Louis who came East and made New York dining less stuffy , less French , less attitudinal .

That 's me , although I am not sure about scrubbed .

How much do you worry about your competition , which in the restaurant business is known to be fierce .

When I first started , I worried hugely .

When I opened Union Square Cafe , that neighborhood did n't have the density that it now has , and every time someone would open , I literally felt like another dog had peed on my tree .

These days you are part owner of six restaurants downtown as well as of the Modern , your deluxe eatery at the Museum of Modern Art that is relatively uptown in geography and spirit and price .

The chef 's tasting menu is priced at $ 125 per person .

Down-to-earth is not limited to certain price points or architectural styles .

Or so you contend in your forthcoming book , `` Setting the Table : The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business , '' which , surprisingly , does n't have a single recipe in it .

What happened .

One big debate my publisher and I had editorially was recipes or not , and the answer was no .

Others have done narratives with recipes .

Do something fresh , they said .

So instead you decided to write a book on the hot new subject of hospitality .

Yes .

Show me three world-class art museums with equally good art and one of them will always have friendlier guards than the other two .

That 's the one I 'm the most likely to return to .

Have you ever been to Taco Bell .

I went last year for the first time ever .

I thought it was horrible .

Whatever I am going to get in terms of a lower-priced and quicker transaction would never , ever convince me not to spend twice as much time and twice as much money getting something made by someone with a more individual point of view .

But the price differential between Taco Bell and the Modern is not 2 to 1 .

It 's 50 to 1 .

Do you think that New York restaurants are overpriced .

The Modern is not relevant to my comment .

The value of dining at the Modern should be considered relative to dining at other luxury establishments of its ilk .

Who cooks in your house .

My wife , Audrey .

To her credit , it is always fresh and always has at least four colors on the plate , and the kids are never given a choice .

If they do n't want to experiment , they do n't eat .

What do you see as the next food trend in New York .

Two years ago , it was heirloom tomatoes .

Last year it was Meyer lemons .

It was watermelon this summer , watermelon as a replacement for tomato .

The only ingredient that does not go out of style is hospitality .

What about lettuce .

Lettuce never goes out of style .

You 've got a point .

I 'll have to crunch on that .

Deborah Solomon THE WAY WE LIVE NOW : 9-10-06 : QUESTIONS FOR DANNY MEYER .

Summary: Deborah Solomon interview with Danny Meyer , downtown restaurateur who has ventured uptown with Modern , restaurant at Museum of Modern Art .

Summary: Photo .


The International Astronomical Union all but threatened to go out on strike last month unless the rest of the solar system ejected an errant , puny member from the exclusive planets ' club .

Thus , on the vote of a few residents of the hegemonic planet Earth , Pluto -- a celestial body whose only crime was to dare to wander in orbit to the beat of a different drummer -- was stripped of its 76-year-old classification .

Pluto is now officially downgraded to a new category called dwarf planet , and all textbooks in all languages are ordered to refer to it with that adjectival derogation .

World media , except a few unscientific sentimentalists -LRB- and the fictional Lois Lane 's Daily Planet -RRB- are meekly complying .

The pejorative designation decreed by the stargazers ' union presuming to represent the solar `` Club of Eight '' is bottomed on dwarf star , defined as `` relatively small , with low mass and below-average luminosity . ''

-LRB- Our sun falls into that demeaning category , but even so , sunblock is recommended . -RRB-

The interest of language mavens in this astronomical rejiggering is the connotation of the words dwarf and planet .

Dwarf , as both noun and adjective , means `` shorter than the average for the species , '' sometimes `` malformed or disproportionate . ''

Because of cruel folklore portraying those affected by dwarfism as ugly Rumpelstiltskins , many with that genetic abnormality prefer to be called `` little people '' or `` of short stature . ''

Midget , though well proportioned , is used to describe objects like tiny cars and submarines , and many little people take offense when the word is applied to them .

The standard plural of dwarf is `` dwarfs , '' like Snow White 's Seven , though the novelist J.R.R. Tolkien has popularized dwarves .

Planet and planetary are rooted in the Greek planasthai , `` to wander '' -LRB- Pluto wandered too far -RRB- .

These words are gaining a political coloration .

A recent visit to Australia by Mikhail Gorbachev drew a headline `` Former Soviet Supremo in Brisbane to Promote Planetary Perestroika . ''

A Boston Globe article noted Colin Powell 's visit to the U.N. three years ago `` to convince the world of the planetary threat of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein . ''

But environmentalists have been gravitating the use of planet , substituting it for world , as others cool toward global .

`` Worried about a potential planetary crisis , '' William Broad wrote in The Times this summer , `` these leaders are calling on governments and scientific groups to study exotic ways to reduce global warming .

Roger Lewis of The Washington Post reported on `` green architecture '' at the National Building Museum , referring to `` atmospheric carbon dioxide and its planetary consequences . ''

And Al Gore 's book `` An Inconvenient Truth '' was subtitled `` The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It . ''

To my ear , many liberals are taking up the vogue use of planet and planetary while conservatives cling to world , worldwide and global -LRB- strategy , not warming -RRB- .

Marshall McLuhan would probably now be writing about a planetary village .

`` To save the planet '' connotes practical environmentalism , while `` to save the world '' connotes dreamy idealism .

`` The growing use of planetary , '' opines Tom Pitoniak , an editor at Merriam-Webster , `` might be a symptom of a changing worldview , of people getting more conscious of our situation in a multigalactic universe .

But there are still contexts where , if you use planetary , you 'll sound as if you 're in the realm of spaceships .

Newt Gingrich said , a few weeks ago , that we were in World War III .

If he had said that this was ` Planetary War III , ' you would have thought that aliens were landing . ''

To whom , then , would the melodramatic suicide note -- `` Goodbye , cruel world ! '' -- be addressed .

Though a planet is a physical world , the metaphoric world -- of ideas , of work , of entertainment -- is larger than the planet Earth .

If a dwarf planet were a person , Pluto would be in a world of hurt .

Evidence Some of our top intelligence officials are irritated at the way their analysts have been playing down reports from agents in the field of contacts between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran 's Revolutionary Guard .

Gun-shy after criticism about past analyses of a series of contacts between Saddam 's Iraq and Al Qaeda , they are said to be `` unwilling to make judgment calls .

. We 're not in a court of law , `` a source identified as '' a senior United States official `` told Mark Mazzetti of The Times .

`` When they say there is ' no evidence , ' you have to ask them what they mean -- what is the meaning of the term ' evidence ' .

`` -LRB- Guide to sourcemanship : `` a senior United States official '' is a political appointee over 30 .

`` A senior agency employee '' is a midlevel careerocrat looking out a Langley window and dreaming about a book contract .

No confidential informant is ever identified as `` junior , '' which would impugn the status of the source .

-RRB- The job of a rhetorician is to answer rhetorical questions .

I would sharpen the question , `` What is the meaning of the word evidence .

`` by adding '' and how is it different from proof .

`` Here 's an answer : First , forget the cliché modifier credible .

When it comes to evidence , what is believable to one analyst is incredible to another .

Evidence may be hard or soft , conflicting or incontrovertible , it may be unpersuasive or convincing , exculpatory or damning , but with whatever qualifier it is presented , the noun evidence is neutral : it means `` a means of determining whether an assertion is truthful or an allegation is a fact . ''

But here 's the rub that rubs so many intelligence analysts the wrong way : Evidence -- from tips , taps , tapes , testimony , confessions , weapons , documents , satellite photos and the like -- is not in itself proof .

Only the conclusion that experienced minds draw from a weighing of all the evidence can approach proof .

With that requirement for human judgment understood , intelligence analysts can take their best shot .

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW : 9-10-06 : ON LANGUAGE Send comments and suggestions to : safireonlanguage@nytimes.com .

Summary: William Safire column on term ` dwarf planet , ' new designation for Pluto , and trend among environmentalists to use terms ' planet ' and ` planetary ' instead of ` world ' .

Summary: Also comments on distinction between ` evidence ' and ` proof ' .


THE 80 's are back in the first part of the season , when three notable works from that decade will be on view .

Each represented a breakthrough for its choreographer .

Each has been infrequently seen since its debut .

Twyla Tharp 's 1981 `` Golden Section , '' right , to be performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at City Center in December , is the final part of a larger work , `` The Catherine Wheel , '' to music by David Byrne , the lead singer of that quintessentially 80 's group Talking Heads .

Ms. Tharp 's kinetic , whiplash movement , Mr. Byrne 's jerky , compulsive rhythms and Santo Loquasto 's reworking of his original sporty gold costumes turn the dancers into superheroes , raised to a higher plane through the sheer joy of movement .

While Ms. Tharp was first garnering critical plaudits for `` The Golden Section , '' a young Belgian choreographer , Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker , was completing a piece she had started during a year at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University .

Her `` Fase '' -LRB- 1982 -RRB- , set to four pieces by Steve Reich , started Ms. de Keersmaeker 's career .

A rigorously austere duet that will be performed during the Brooklyn Academy of Music 's `` Reich @ 70 '' celebration in October , `` Fase '' is minimal in its formal composition and rich in its effects .

Simple repetitive turns and steps show two women in swirling black dresses slipping in and out of phase with each other in a tour de force of timing and memory .

Ms. de Keersmaeker makes us hear the shifts of the musical rhythms and see the bones of her dance with a thrilling intensity .

The French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj was hardly unknown when he created his version of `` Les Noces '' in 1989 .

But the success of the work , to be performed by his company in November at the Joyce Theater , secured an international reputation for Mr. Preljocaj , who drew on his Albanian roots in his hard-driving vision of Stravinsky 's work .

Five men and five women fling five dummies in wedding dresses into the air as they enact the apparently deeply instinctive rituals of courtship , marriage , sex and death with a physical energy and a violence that are at once alarming and exciting .

Mr. Preljocaj 's chicly black-clad dancers do n't look like the peasants of Bronislava Nijinska 's 1923 original , but his piece indicates that in some ways nothing ever changes very much .

THE NEW SEASON : DANCE .

Summary: Roslyn Sulcas article describes three notable dance works from 80 's , each of which represented breakthrough for its choreographer , that will be revived in New York this season .

Summary: Photo .


AFTER the August doldrums , autumn offers more dance performances than one person could possibly attend , with various come-ons promising the sublime at each .

Yet within months -- or even weeks -- most fade from memory , as if they had never happened .

No , dance does n't last , but once in a while the memories do , and they keep audiences coming back .

Whether adding to the anticipation of premieres by favorite choreographers or sweetening the return of cherished works , these afterimages , as the critic Arlene Croce called them , become part of each new performance .

Twyla Tharp 's `` In the Upper Room '' -LRB- above , with David Hallberg and Paloma Herrera -RRB- returns for American Ballet Theater 's City Center season next month after last year 's smash run .

Driven by a propulsive Philip Glass score , it would seem too relentless to produce specific recollections : a furious blur of bodies fades in and out of billowing smoke that , for once , does n't read as a theatrical cliché .

But somehow , once this 39-minute blur slows and 13 dancers stand dripping and heaving before rapturous applause , distinct personalities have emerged -- for me , most memorably in Ethan Stiefel 's fist-pumping exultation .

It 's too soon to know if Mr. Stiefel , sidelined last winter with a knee injury , will dance in this grueling ballet .

But we can hope .

RoseAnne Spradlin cultivates an earthier physicality , one indelibly achieved with the unprettified , desperate bodies in her 2002 `` under / world . ''

`` Survive Cycle , '' in development for a November premiere at Dance Theater Workshop , will feature original video , music and a landscape of shredded clothing .

Unlike `` under / world , '' it includes no nudity , but I imagine moments of naked vulnerability to haunt the mind 's eye as that work still does .

As always in dance , you had to be there , and Barbara Milberg Fisher was .

A member of Ballet Society and New York City Ballet from 1946 to 1958 , she has written `` In Balanchine 's Company : A Dancer 's Memoir , `` coming Oct . 3 from Wesleyan University Press .

In the introduction , Ms. Croce writes : `` One feels that , for Barbara Milberg Fisher , nothing supersedes the memory of once having been part of a magic circle .

That memory is the treasure she imparts to us now . ``

THE NEW SEASON : DANCE .

Summary: Claudia La Rocco article describes two ballets and book that keep memories of dance performances alive .

Summary: Photo .


TALL , red-blooded words -- the kind that wrestle big ideas to the ground -- are storming the stages of New York .

Throughout their bracingly ambitious careers Tom Stoppard , August Wilson and David Hare have always insisted that conversation be something more exalted and exhausting than a mere after-dinner diversion .

Now Mr. Stoppard alone bids fair to make this the most dynamically verbal theater season since Shaw was a young thing of 70 .

-LRB- Shaw , incidentally , is fittingly represented by `` Heartbreak House , '' his rueful but energetic meditation on a social class paralyzed by world-annihilating war , in a revival from the Roundabout Theater Company . -RRB-

In `` The Coast of Utopia , '' the first installment of which , `` Voyage , '' begins performances on Oct . 17 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center , Mr. Stoppard has filled not one but three plays with the lives of the intellectual forebears of the Russian Revolution .

Their discussions and arguments , which span three decades of the 19th century and consume roughly nine hours of stage time , concern mind-quaking subjects like the dialectic of history , the path of nations , the impact of literature and even the limitations of their favorite weapons , words themselves .

When the trilogy was first produced at the National Theater of London , this talk teemed with such passion that I left -LRB- to my surprise -RRB- more energized than depleted .

The New York version is directed by Jack O'Brien , who propitiously proved his mastery of epic scope and towering language in the first-rate Lincoln Center Theater production of Shakespeare 's `` Henry IV . ''

With `` Utopia , '' whose three parts will open sequentially , Mr. O'Brien will be overseeing -LRB- gulp ! -RRB- more than 40 actors in 70 roles .

The ensemble includes Billy Crudup , Richard Easton , Jennifer Ehle , Josh Hamilton , Ethan Hawke , Amy Irving , Brian F . O'Byrne and Martha Plimpton , none of whom is likely to lapse into the automatic rhythms of `` yadda yadda yadda . ''

Mr. Stoppard 's contemporary , David Hare , is confining himself to only one play , of conventional length .

That 's `` The Vertical Hour , '' which begins previews at the Music Box Theater on Nov . 9 .

The British Mr. Hare , who dissected American realpolitik in his Washington docudrama `` Stuff Happens , '' continues to focus on these United States with his drama about an American academic -LRB- and former war reporter -RRB- who experiences culture shock while on vacation abroad .

If this all sounds a tad dry , you should know that the academic is played by the luscious -LRB- and brilliant -RRB- Julianne Moore .

The director is Sam Mendes , whose last collaboration with Mr. Hare , `` The Blue Room , '' was a concentration of commercial catnip that brought new life to the career of Nicole Kidman , whose brief appearance in the play buck-naked is still discussed by dirty old theatergoers .

A little less conversation has never been on the agenda for the characters of August Wilson .

Before he died last year , Mr. Wilson completed the most ambitious cycle of American plays ever written .

A chronicle of the African-American experience in the 20th century , the 10 plays are resonant with rich talk , both earthy and celestial , that considers nothing less than the history and destiny of a people .

In a season celebrating Mr. Wilson , the Signature is presenting three of these plays : `` Seven Guitars '' -LRB- which opened last month and runs through Sept . 23 -RRB- , `` Two Trains Running '' -LRB- Nov . 7 to Dec . 31 -RRB- and `` King Hedley II '' -LRB- next February -RRB- .

Lend them your ears , for in Mr. Wilson 's work , talk turns into unforgettable song .

THE NEW SEASON THEATER .

Summary: Ben Brantley article on plays ` that wrestle big ideas to the ground ' that are coming to Broadway this season .

Summary: Discusses The Coast Of Utopia trilogy by Tom Stoppard , The Vertical Hour by David Hare and three plays by August Wilson .

Summary: Photo .


THEATER has always been in the business of recycling and renovation .

Even ye olde Greeks were retelling oft-told tales .

But these days , as revivals seem to outnumber new plays , at least on Broadway , it is easy to point to their preponderance as evidence of the business 's superannuated condition .

And yet the ability to revisit classic -- or even just old -- works is one of the major glories of the theater .

Admit too that even stuffy old Broadway has a better track record when it comes to `` remakes '' than Hollywood , which can not manage even to improve on cheesy sitcoms when it goes foraging in the past .

Three notable productions this fall exemplify different approaches to the craft of theatrical restoration .

The Roundabout Theater Company tends to play it sensibly , safely and respectably .

The formula is simple : Take a classic , add a few stars and a director of stature , and mix .

This fall the company 's slate includes a welcome revival of Shaw 's twilight comedy-drama `` Heartbreak House , '' with a cast of reliable names like Philip Bosco , Laila Robins and Swoosie Kurtz as well as Lily Rabe , the daughter of David Rabe and Jill Clayburgh , who is displaying an impressive devotion to the stage at a time when most young actors have their sights set elsewhere .

The director is Robin Lefevre .

And the Roundabout deserves credit for its allegiance to Shaw , particularly as the 150th anniversary of his birth year comes to a close .

Another season , another Stephen Sondheim revival .

No reason to complain when they are exhilarating reconsiderations like John Doyle 's `` Sweeney Todd '' from last year , which boiled the ghoulish musical down to its firm bones and rattled them beautifully .

The satisfying partnership of Mr. Doyle and Mr. Sondheim returns this season with a new look at `` Company , '' from 1970 .

Mr. Doyle , who won a Tony for directing `` Sweeney , '' is once again using an economy of means to unearth new riches in a much-revived musical .

In literal terms that means that once again the cast is doubling as the orchestra .

But the presumption that Mr. Doyle 's unique musical methodology is merely a gimmick is refuted by this sleek , compelling production , which I saw at its premiere last season at the Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati .

Despite its treasured score , the rap on `` Company , '' in which the roving eye of a bachelor turning 30 traces the fault lines in the marriages of his friends , is that it has been permanently stuck in its period , as a sort of musical comedy answer to `` That 70 's Show . ``

But Mr. Doyle 's production , which stars a magnetic Raúl Esparza as the chronically unattached Bobby , cleanly ushers it into a timeless present tense without playing fast and loose with George Furth 's book .

`` My Deah , '' a new comedy by John Epperson , better known as the voiceless drag diva Lypsinka , typifies the reliable theatrical appeal of taking a fiendishly irreverent approach to a piece of antique dramaturgy -- in this case , Euripides ' revered `` Medea . ''

I attended a reading of Mr. Epperson 's spoof sometime around 210 B.C. , it seems to me , and have been baffled by its failure to be produced in New York .

Treading confidently a path forged by the respected auteurs Charles Ludlam and Charles Busch -LRB- possibly in similar heels -RRB- , Mr. Epperson sends up the original by transplanting it to the Deep South .

Lypsinka herself will not be appearing -- a voiceless Medea is inconceivable -- but Nancy Opel , a dab hand at low-down comedy , should be perfect casting for the title role , a woman who makes your garden-variety steel magnolia look like a shrinking violet .

The production , directed by Mark Waldrop , comes courtesy of the Abingdon Theater Company .

THE NEW SEASON THEATER .

Summary: Charles Isherwood article says that ability to revisit classic works is one of major glories of theater .

Summary: Productions of Shaw 's Heartbreak House , Sondheim 's Company and John Epperson 's My Deah , based on Medea , described .

Summary: Photo .


WELCOME to the new season .

Same as the old season .

And the season before that .

For most of its history , Broadway was like a train station .

Shows came and went .

Some big hits would stick around for a few years , then leave before too long .

But things have changed , or to be precise , stopped changing .

September is traditionally the time when the marquees light up with new titles , productions fresh from the road tryout or from a successful run at a smaller theater .

This year , however , 10 of the shows on Broadway have played more than 1,000 performances , 7 of them more than 2,000 .

-LRB- Several others , like `` Spamalot , '' `` Jersey Boys '' and `` The Color Purple , '' seem capable of joining the thousand-performance club before they 're done , whenever that will be . -RRB-

Half of the 10 longest-running shows of all time on Broadway -- `` The Phantom of the Opera , '' `` Beauty and the Beast , '' `` Rent , '' `` Chicago '' and `` The Lion King '' -- are still running , and two more -- `` Les Misérables '' and `` A Chorus Line '' -- are about to be revived .

`` Somehow or other , '' said John Breglio , an entertainment lawyer and a producer of the new `` Chorus Line , '' `` Broadway has found a popular form of entertainment that keeps these shows going and going . ''

All of which is good news for those that are already up and running , but potentially terrifying for anyone hoping to mount a new one .

There are only 39 theaters on Broadway .

If 10 are booked indefinitely , that means far fewer available sites for new shows , and the competition has risen accordingly .

Nevertheless musicals or plays that are ready for the stage and have money in the bank generally find a place .

A number of productions that proved themselves off Broadway will be making the transition this season .

`` Spring Awakening , '' the rock musical about adolescence and its discontents that first played at the Atlantic , will open at the Eugene O'Neill on Dec . 10 .

`` Grey Gardens , '' the musical based on the bizarre lives of Big Edie and Little Edie Beale -LRB- aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier -RRB- , will move to the Walter Kerr for a Nov . 2 opening .

And `` The Little Dog Laughed , '' the satire of Hollywood mores that had a successful run at the Second Stage , will open on Nov . 13 at the Cort .

Meanwhile `` High Fidelity , '' which had been moving forward in the development process without knowing exactly where it might land , got a place to go in the Imperial when `` Dirty Rotten Scoundrels '' called it quits .

And if `` The Wedding Singer '' ca n't make it through the less maritally inclined months of fall and winter , the Hirschfeld will be ready for its next tenant , most likely the Kander and Ebb musical `` Curtains . ''

Rocco Landesman , the owner of the five Jujamycn theaters on Broadway , dismisses the idea that there 's any shortage of stages .

`` If you have a show that anybody has a modicum of interest in , '' he said , `` you 're going to have a theater . ``

What you may not have , though , is the theater you want .

In addition to the 918-seat Walter Kerr , other small and mid-size theaters -- the 1,079-seat Gerald Schoenfeld and the 1,078-seat Bernard B . Jacobs -- which have often housed straight plays are being occupied by musicals : `` A Chorus Line '' at the Schoenfeld and `` Martin Short : Fame Becomes Me '' at the Jacobs .

Other shows have to make do in some of Broadway 's least loved theaters , like the three that sit on cross streets -- gasp ! -- east of Broadway .

TO some , the trend toward long-running sure things suggests that Broadway has dumbed down .

But it can also be seen as the result of an effort , over more than 30 years , to make the showpiece of American theater a more customer-friendly business .

`` Broadway as we know it today began in the 70 's , `` said Nancy Coyne , a founder of the Broadway marketing firm Serino Coyne , which has worked for 8 of the 10 longest-running shows .

Back then business was off .

The city was on the verge of bankruptcy , and Times Square was a danger zone .

And the few Broadway and Off Broadway productions that had experimented with credit cards and phone-in reservations had limited success , said Paul Libin , the producing director at Jujamcyn , who at the time was the managing director for the Circle in the Square .

Then in 1972 American Express was accepted , for the first time , at all Broadway box offices .

That allowed people to book tickets by telephone , instead of having to visit the box office or put a check in the mail .

By the early 1980 's the sales were conducted through centralized offices that could be open 24 hours a day .

The advent of computerized ticketing made purchases easier still .

What 's more , said Robert E . Wankel , the executive vice president of the Shubert Organization , `` computerizing tickets let us put tickets on sale for a year , which we were not able to do on a hard ticket .

And now we can actually sell as long as we want to . ``

In the early 1990 's customers got the opportunity -LRB- despite resistance from the Shuberts -RRB- to choose their seats when ordering tickets .

By the late 1990 's people all over the world were able to buy tickets quickly over the Internet .

And now , with e-ticketing , an actual ticket is no longer even necessary .

Over the same period Broadway was learning a new word .

In 1972 `` marketing meant going to the A & P , '' recalled Harvey Sabinson , a longtime press agent who later became the executive director of the League of American Theaters and Producers .

And television commercials , he added , `` were talking heads repeating quotes . ''

But in 1972 Mr. Sabinson and the team behind the musical `` Pippin '' started brainstorming and got the idea to include scenes from the actual show .

A production number from `` Pippin '' was filmed on a soundstage in New Jersey that winter , and a new way of advertising Broadway was born .

`` Pippin '' eventually played 1,944 performances , at the time the 10th-longest run ever .

The success of the commercial introduced a whole new form of advertising .

`` ` Grease ' was one of the very first ones , `` Ms. Coyne recalled .

`` It was in its fifth year , and no one expected it to go much longer than that .

The commercial gave it another three years . ``

`` The Wiz , '' `` Evita '' and `` Cats '' followed suit .

Still , the television commercial that may have been the most significant factor in expanding the Broadway audience was not even for a Broadway show .

On Feb . 14 , 1978 , the New York State Department of Commerce introduced a new `` I Love New York '' commercial that focused on Broadway as a tourist attraction .

The impact was immediate and enormous , said George Wachtel , the founder of Audience Research and Analysis .

Before that , Broadway `` was a little provincial . ''

But afterward , he continued , `` it was what New Yorkers did , it was what high rollers did when they came to New York .

` I Love New York ' made Broadway Everyman 's theater . ``

The TKTS booth , which opened in June 1973 , also brought in the Everyman , offering half-price tickets and helping to fill out the audience for many a struggling show .

So between 1972 and 1978 Broadway had introduced itself to the credit card market , the computerized ticketing system , telephone reservations , modern television advertising and , by way of the `` I Love New York '' commercial , the rest of the country .

The stage was almost set for the perpetual run , long before `` Beauty and the Beast '' was a gleam in Disney 's eye .

What arose next .

Prices .

When `` They 're Playing Our Song `` opened in 1979 , Mr. Wachtel said , the top ticket cost $ 27 .

Three years later the top ticket to `` Cats '' cost $ 45 , a jump of 66 percent .

Prices continued to rise over the next decade , albeit a bit more slowly .

But they did not end up scaring people away .

`` Shows used to say , ' O.K. , we get to the winter , we die , ' '' said Emanuel Azenberg , a longtime producer and manager on Broadway who also cited the importance of new , more sophisticated accounting methods .

`` But now you could sustain the bad winter as long as spring was coming again because of the prices . ''

Meanwhile New York was once more becoming a tourist attraction .

Between 1991 and 2005 , according to the city 's convention and visitors bureau , the number of visitors to New York nearly doubled , to 42.7 million per year .

And since 1985 , the league reports , attendance on Broadway has grown by almost five million , with nearly twice the proportion of out-of-towners , and a great increase in children and teenagers .

No one took advantage of the growing -- and changing -- audience quite like the British impresario Cameron Mackintosh , who , through a combination of spectacular productions and business savvy , produced the three longest running Broadway shows in history .

But other producers have still managed to come up with a few tricks .

The year 2001 saw the introduction of premium-price ticketing , selling the best seats at `` The Producers '' for $ 480 .

The Internet , and e-mail blasts , provided an advertising medium much cheaper than television .

More complex business models evolve all the time .

`` We have so much more sophisticated discounting , coupled with premium pricing , and we can anticipate seasonal fluctuations , '' said Kevin McCollum , a producer of the 10-year-old `` Rent , '' which created a lottery system for cheaper tickets .

`` There 's a lot more shifting of schedules and trying to capture the audiences . ``

And if a show does make it to the tenure track , it can take a page from the playbook of Fran and Barry Weissler , who with their 1994 revival of `` Grease '' and the 1996 revival of `` Chicago , '' perfected the star-replacement technique , giving shows that are years old a calculated injection of buzz every few months .

-LRB- Is there a single person watching Usher 's performance as Billy Flynn who bought tickets just to see how `` Chicago '' is holding up .

-RRB- With this ever-growing inventory of gimmicks , the question at the beginning of each season has become : Which new entry is going to join the marathoners ' club .

This season will it be `` High Fidelity , '' the musical based on Nick Hornby 's best-selling novel .

Or `` Mary Poppins , '' presented jointly by two heavyweights of the long run , Mr. Mackintosh and Disney Theatricals .

Or will it be a dark horse contender , like `` Spring Awakening '' .

After all , this time last year few could have predicted that `` Jersey Boys '' would be likely to tie up the August Wilson Theater for years .

That 's a heartening example for producers .

Except for the ones who want to put their shows in the Wilson .

THE NEW SEASON : THEATER .

Summary: Article on factors that have resulted in many more Broadway productions than in past running for years .

Summary: New plays find it difficult to locate appropriate theaters .

Summary: Reasons for long runs include new marketing techniques , television commercials and increasing percentage of audience made up of tourists .

Summary: Photos .


VISUAL artists who create performance works are nothing new , but Claude Wampler , a tiny woman with austere artistic intent , is a wonder .

Ms. Wampler , who has a history of manipulating the line between audience and performer , presents her newest production , `` PERFORMANCE -LRB- career ender -RRB- '' at the Kitchen Nov . 16 to 18 .

As usual it is full of secrets .

The culmination of several years of experiments , the production , as she recently explained , will `` merge a kind of visual-arts experience into a performance context , or vice versa . ''

Much of Ms. Wampler 's performance work is about the perception of power and how swiftly it can change hands .

For `` Bucket , '' presented at Performance Space 122 in 1999 , she hired attractive people to walk out in a huff during the show to test the real audience 's commitment .

For `` Stable -LRB- Stupidity Project Part 10 -RRB- , '' seen at P.S. 122 in 2003 , Ms. Wampler seated the audience before a ring of Rottweilers wearing western outfits as a topless cowgirl gyrated next to the sound booth .

As the minutes ticked by , the dogs -- huge , gentle and ridiculous -- stared at us .

We stared back .

-LRB- Who was more stupid .

-RRB- As the audience reached the breaking point of fatigue and frustration , a screen was revealed onstage : Ms. Wampler had been secretly videotaping the crowd , turning the audience into performers .

`` I 'm trying to remind the audience of their part in a performance , so that there 's a moment of instability , and then maybe some spontaneity can happen , `` she said in a recent telephone interview .

`` But I 'm not taking advantage of the audience or using it as my material .

It 's morally for them .

When I 'm watching dance or theater pieces , I 'm praying that someone will do that for me . ``

It seemed odd that Ms. Wampler -- a brave , independent and transgressive force in both the performance and the art worlds -- was excluded from last year 's Performa , a biennial of visual art performance in New York .

But for her , the very word `` performance , '' purposely crossed out in her work 's title , is both used up and a little vague .

`` This could be my last work , and I do n't even mean in the theater , but forever , `` she said .

`` That 's the way I have to think about it .

I 'm suspending my own disbelief and saying , ` If I had to make a final piece , what would it be .

` That 's the career-ender . ``

THE NEW SEASON : DANCE .

Summary: Gia Kourlas article describes newest production of Claude Wampler , PERFORMANCE -LRB- career ender -RRB- , which will merge visual arts experience into performance arts context or vice versa .

Summary: Wampler 's previous works and philosophy of dance discussed .

Summary: Photo .


FEW directorial debuts in recent years have raised such high expectations as `` In the Bedroom , '' Todd Field 's adaptation of the Andre Dubus short story `` Killings . ''

That drama won five Oscar nominations , including best picture , actor and actress -LRB- for Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek -RRB- .

And Mr. Field received an award from the New York Film Critics Circle for best first film .

Now , five years later , comes `` Little Children , '' his screen adaptation of Tom Perrotta 's satirically edged 2004 novel of contemporary suburban life and its discontents .

In light of its forerunner the choice makes perfect sense .

As he demonstrated with `` In the Bedroom , '' Mr. Field , an actor turned director , scans the depths of his characters ' souls and sees them whole .

This psychological radar is a gift he shares with Mr. Perrotta , with whom he wrote the screenplay for `` Little Children . ''

The double-edged title refers not only to the suburban kids who more or less run their parents ' lives , but also to the 30 - and 40-something adults whose needy inner children cry out for release .

One of its wistful themes is that , like it or not , having children brings your own youth to a crashing halt .

You 're no longer at the center of things .

The story 's emotional lightning rod is Ronald James McGorvey , a damaged middle-aged man who has recently returned to live with his mother after serving time for exposing himself to children .

He is a pariah in their suburban Boston community and a focus of its collective fears , embodied by Larry Hedges , a disgraced former cop with a violent streak who wants to hound him out of town .

In one of the novel 's most disturbing scenes , Ronald 's presence at a public swimming pool on a brutally hot day precipitates mass panic among the assembled mothers watching over their children .

In the film Ronald is played by the former child star Jackie Earle Haley .

His powerfully creepy portrayal is a pointed departure from the standard screen image of the child molester or flasher as an ordinary guy with an unfortunate kink .

Two mismatched couples fill out the rest of the film , which will be shown Sept . 30 at the New York Film Festival and is set to open on Oct . 6 .

Kate Winslet and Gregg Edelman play Sarah and Richard Pierce , and Jennifer Connelly and Patrick Wilson are Kathy and Brad Adamson .

Noah Emmerich plays the former cop .

The abundance of subplots in `` Little Children '' -- more than are in `` In the Bedroom '' -- is one reason that the film incorporates a sporadic voice-over -LRB- by an authoritative male narrator -RRB- to push the story along .

A major subplot in the novel , and its most satirical thread -- Richard 's deepening addiction to Internet pornography -- is alluded to , then dropped .

The movie concentrates on the affair between Sarah and Brad -LRB- called Todd in the novel -RRB- , who is so handsome the women refer to him as `` the Prom King '' when he shows up at the playground with his son .

Brad , who plays quarterback on the local football team and is entranced by teenage skateboarding culture , is a classic case of a man in the throes of Peter Pan syndrome .

But in the movie 's kind and patient view , we all carry varying shades and degrees of arrested development into adult life .

THE NEW SEASON : FILM .

Summary: Stephen Holden article discusses Todd Fields 's new film Little Children , his screen adaptation of Tom Perrotta 's satirically edged 2004 novel of contemporary suburban life and its discontents .

Summary: Photo .


THE Myth of Crazy Mel began seeping out of Hollywood long before he was arrested for drunken driving six weeks ago and burst out with the ugly , anti-Semitic comments that have put him in extreme damage-control mode .

A 2004 episode of `` South Park '' about `` The Passion of the Christ '' depicts him as a looney-tunes guy bouncing off the walls in his underwear and whooping .

Mel Gibson is `` crazy , dude , '' one South Park kid tells another .

`` Mel 's crazy , but I like him , `` a name-dropping billionaire says in Bruce Wagner 's latest Hollywood novel , `` Memorial '' -LRB- released this month but written pre-meltdown -RRB- .

And Mr. Gibson 's new film , `` Apocalypto , '' was already one of the most talked-about of the season , largely because of the Crazy Mel factor .

Even for him , the oddball quotient is high .

An action movie set in the dying days of the Maya civilization , the 15th century , `` Apocalypto '' was made in the Yucatec dialect without a single recognizable actor , and shot in the jungles of Mexico , where heavy rains slowed production and postponed its planned release from this summer .

Photos from the set showed that Mr. Gibson had grown a full beard and let its central white streak grow longer than the rest , as if defiantly choosing to look like an aging eccentric .

As a director , he has been some kind of mad genius so far , anticipating what audiences want with startling clarity : making a sword-and-sandals epic when it was no longer fashionable , yet winning Oscars -LRB- including best director -RRB- for `` Braveheart '' -LRB- 1995 -RRB- .

Turning what seemed a gigantic folly -- a gruesome , subtitled , self-financed passion play -- into a $ 600 million worldwide blockbuster with `` The Passion '' -LRB- 2004 -RRB- .

But those photos from Mexico and the subject of `` Apocalypto '' -- the hero , called Jaguar Paw , is chosen as a human sacrifice and makes a fast-paced escape through the rain forest -- were enough to make anyone wonder whether Mr. Gibson had finally gone around the bend and turned into some cinematic Kurtz , lost in the dark jungle .

The film is still being edited , so there 's no way to know whether `` Apocalypto '' might be crazy-brilliant or just crazed .

But we know from his recent mug shot that Mr. Gibson has lost the beard .

-LRB- As those things go , it 's a glamour shot , showing that some actors can play to the camera no matter how high their blood alcohol level . -RRB-

And we know that his drunken Malibu tirade casts an inescapable shadow over the film 's opening , raising many questions , including : Will `` Apocalypto '' really arrive on Dec . 8 .

As recently as last week Touchstone , the Disney division releasing it , insisted it would .

That 's about all the studio will say about a movie that must have become an albatross , because the crucial question is : How can this film be marketed .

Mr. Gibson 's name and ability to chat up `` Apocalypto '' was its only real selling point .

Now he trails apologies and questions about bigotry wherever he goes , which will make it pretty hard to stay on message about old Jaguar Paw .

Whatever happens with `` Apocalypto , '' it would be unfair if his personal debacle were to overshadow Mr. Gibson 's immense gifts and accomplishments as a director .

Apart from commercial success , his films have been rich with action , emotion and visual interest .

`` The Man Without a Face '' -LRB- 1993 -RRB- was n't the safest or easiest choice for a first-time director .

He cast himself as a former teacher whose face is horribly disfigured on one side , and whose innocent relationship as mentor to a teenage boy is questioned .

The film may not be as gripping as it should be , but the camera moves fluidly in this pretty-looking period piece , set in Maine in 1968 , and the delicate subject is not overplayed until Mr. Gibson gives himself one scenery-chewing monologue near the end .

You can almost feel him finding has way as a director while yearning to burst the limits of the movie 's small scale .

By the time he got to `` Braveheart , '' just two years later , even the logo for his production company , Icon , looked better .

By far the best of his three pre - `` Apocalypto '' films , this epic sounds as silly as ever when described , and the warrior 's blue face paint that Mr. Gibson wears as William Wallace , the 13th-century Scottish freedom fighter , has become the laziest of Mel jokes .

Yet `` Braveheart '' still works as a big , enormously satisfying popcorn movie .

Mr. Gibson brings all his star power to the screen , convincingly taking Wallace from romance to brutal vengeance when his wife is killed .

The scope and relentless pace of the battle sequences remain thrilling .

And in hindsight we can spot two elements that have become his trademark : torture scenes on screen and controversy off .

When Wallace is tortured and martyred before a crowd in a prolonged scene at the end , the visceral depiction of suffering leads straight to `` The Passion of the Christ . ''

`` The Passion '' remains difficult to sit through because of its extremely graphic scenes of Jesus ' torture : we see his flesh ripped off as he is scourged .

Early in the film one eye is swollen shut , and by the end his face glows red with blood .

But this is exactly the film Mr. Gibson set out to make -- unsubtle , grisly and disturbing -- and it 's easy to respect him for his uncompromising vision .

You ca n't miss how deeply felt and eccentric a project it was , with a spark of zealotry that goes beyond simple faith .

Yet `` The Passion of the Christ '' also gives new meaning to preaching to the converted .

The film never proselytizes .

It simply speaks forcefully to an audience of believers .

The charges of anti-Semitism leveled at `` The Passion , '' primarily because of a scene in which the Jewish crowd calls for Jesus ' death , have come back to haunt Mr. Gibson now .

There were equally wrongheaded attacks calling `` Braveheart '' homophobic because of a scene in which the English king , Longshanks , pushes his gay son 's lover out a tower window .

In both cases Mr. Gibson 's critics confused the characters with the director .

Any homophobia in `` Braveheart '' comes from Longshanks , who also resented the political influence the lover was gaining .

And both Caiphas , the Jewish high priest , and Pilate , the weak-willed Roman governor , bear responsibility for Jesus ' death in `` The Passion . ''

The fault line is not between Jews and Romans but between believers and nonbelievers .

Of course , during his highway arrest , it was Mel Gibson himself , not some character , who spouted anti-Semitic remarks .

And in the way that news reports about Mr. Gibson 's ultraconservative Catholicism and comments by his father , Hutton Gibson , denying the extent of the Holocaust bled into the reception for `` The Passion , '' so his current off-screen problems are likely to deflect attention from `` Apocalypto . ''

The film 's Web site , put up months ago , still heralds it as `` a heart-stopping mythic action-adventure , '' and the trailer -LRB- a notoriously unreliable guide , but all we have -RRB- suggests it is squarely aimed at fans of `` Braveheart . ''

As Jaguar Paw races through the jungle pursued by torch-bearing warriors , the movie seems fraught with the kind of action that makes Yucatec or any other language superfluous .

There will be subtitles , but Mr. Gibson , who wrote the screenplay with his former assistant , Farhad Safinia , has said there is n't much dialogue anyway .

Some actors have extravagantly painted faces , while others are caked with white powder from a lime quarry .

There is romance , or at least there has been sex : we see Jaguar Paw look tenderly at a pregnant woman .

And a huge crowd scene at a Mayan temple is presided over by a man with clawlike nails straight from a horror film .

More mysteriously , in May Mr. Gibson told Time magazine , `` The fearmongering we depict in this film reminds me a little of President Bush and his guys . ''

That adds an intriguing , media-ready frisson , but now even attacks on the Bush administration ca n't displace the Mel Meltdown in any discussion of `` Apocalypto . ''

Mr. Gibson 's drunken comments and his two public statements of apology have landed in a changed world of celebrity gossip and Internet speculation , which wo n't let this story fade .

Internet chatter and celebrity magazines probably wo n't lead many people to decide whether to see `` Apocalypto '' or not , though .

Loyal Gibson fans will view this as a sad story of alcoholism , forgive him and buy their tickets .

Others will reject the apologies as mere spin and think his anti-Semitic outburst proves what `` The Passion '' led them to suspect .

But then , any viewer incensed by `` The Passion '' was n't likely to go to `` Apocalypto '' in the first place .

Disney 's marketing problem is more complicated : how to reach the vast middle ground of people who are simply looking for entertainment .

`` Apocalypto '' is not as big a financial nightmare for Disney as it could have been .

Mr. Gibson 's production company financed the film -LRB- the budget is reportedly under $ 50 million -RRB- , and Disney has only domestic distribution rights .

But that arrangement is costly enough .

Legally bound to release the film , the studio has no choice but to tough it out .

And in the end , just as Mr. Gibson 's actions have made him his own worst enemy , he may have no choice but to become his own greatest asset .

If the arrest report could travel with lightning speed , arriving on the Web site TMZ.com two days later , so a Mel Gibson apology tour could move as fast .

-LRB- Alan Nierob , Mr. Gibson 's publicist , said plans for promoting the film have not been addressed yet , partly because the movie is n't ready to be seen . -RRB-

In his second apology Mr. Gibson said there was `` no excuse '' for his remarks .

And the issue of whether he is truly anti-Semitic is ultimately between him and his conscience .

But that statement , asking for forgiveness and help from Jews in his recovery , was the shrewdest public relations gambit he could have made in a dire situation .

It puts anyone who doubts his sincerity or refuses his apology in the camp of the unforgiving .

Who wants to be there .

And while the moviegoing audience might be tickled by celebrity gossip , it does n't really want to believe the worst of its stars .

The Meltdown might even become a blip in his career .

After all , atonement and forgiveness are as crucial to the Judeo-Christian tradition as money is to Hollywood 's .

THE NEW SEASON : FILM .

Summary: Caryn James article profiles director Mel Gibson .

Summary: His new film Apocalypto , set in 15th century Mayan civilization and made in Yucatec dialect without single recognizable actor , is set to open in December .

Summary: Interest in film is high not only because of its subject but because of controversies surrounding Gibson .

Summary: Photos .