The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 45

LIVING Tuesday, May 5, 1998 D5 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 7, 4 Netspteh Strong nominees crowd Tony ballot Voters for 1997-98 favorites may have to choose between their hearts and their pocketbooks. THE AJC'S DAILY ONLINE GUIDE Lycos partner up to ease Web searches 11 A DAN HULBERT MICHAEL COOPER Special Jj Traditionalists could cast a sympathetic eye on "Ragtime" (above), not on Disney, Fox Theatre manager Ed Neiss says. 1 December, Lycos developed a system of organizing lists of links into content areas. The company has also been slowly expanding its own list of goods and services. Last week, Lycos acquired WiseWire, a software developer that allows users to set up customized services.

In February, the company bought Tripod a site aimed at college and post-college students, that also includes a very successful "build your own home page" section. WorldNet (http:att.net) is the nation's largest ISP, with 1.1 million users, but still lags behind AOL's 12 million-plus army of members. WorldNet also suffers from a clunky home page and prices that seem to change with the seasons. While the latter will level off eventually, attempts at developing content have been for the most part unsuccessful. The Lycos deal will go a long way toward making the WorldNet a more attractive service.

The Tony Awards shape up as a slugfest between two 900-pound gorillas for the title of best musical "Ragtime," with 13 nominations, and "The Lion King," with 11. In this regard, the 1997-98 Broadway season is like many other recent seasons, and that's where the similarity ends. This year every category packs four strong contenders, without the desperation nominees that used to pad the lists like filler ingredients in hot dogs. Joe's Cafe," anyone?) The season that wraps on Tony Awards day, June 7, is projected to score Broadway's highest attendance ever, 11.3 million, and the nominations announced Monday explain why. How strong was the season? So strong that outstanding performances by Alan Alda and Victor Garber in "Art," and Liam Nee-son as Oscar Wilde in "The Judas Kiss," weren't nominated correctly.

Having just returned from seeing most of the nominated shows in New York, I agree with the Tony nominating committee that the most deserving candidates for best actor-play were Richard Briers Anthony LaPaglia View From the John Leguizamo and Alfred Molina The nominees for best musical are of three basic types: acclaimed blockbusters "The Lion the box office flop that only the critics loved and the box office hit that only the critics hated Scarlet I agree with Tony voter Chris Manos, producer of Theater of the Stars, that "The Lion King" is the superior show and should edge out "Ragtime," which is a tad sterile. Another local Tony voter, Fox Theatre manager Ed Neiss, speculates: "Traditionalists may lean toward 'Ragtime and away from Disney." Indeed, balloters often vote of Sam Trammell "Ah, Max Wright, "Ivanov." Featured actress play: Enid Graham, Linda Lavin, "The Diary of Anne Anna Manahan, "The Beauty Queen of July-ana Soelistyo, "Golden Child." Featured actor musical: Gregg Edelman, 1 John McMartin, "High Ron Rifkin, Samuel E. Wright, "The Lion King." Featured actress musical: Anna Kendrick, "High Tsidii Le Loka, "The Lion Audra McDonald, Mary Louise Wlson, "Cabaret." Director play: Garry Hynes, "The Beauty Queen of Michael Mayer, "A View From the Simon McBurney, "The Matthew Warchus, "Art." Director musical: Scott Ellis, Frank Galati, Sam Mendes with Rob Marshall, Julie Taymor, "The Lion King." Scenic design: Bob Crowley, "The Richard Hudson, "The Lion Eugene Lee, Quay Brothers, "The Chairs." Costume design: William Ivey Long, Santo Loquasto, Martin Pakledinaz, "Golden Julie Taymor, "The Lion King." Lighting design: Paul Anderson, "The Peggy Eisenhauer and Mike Baldassari, Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Donald Holder, "The Lion King." with their industry's pocketbook and not their own hearts. They may see "The Lion King" as such an automatic smash that they'll vote for the more problematic "Ragtime" to help it become a durable cash cow, thus helping the collective commercial theater. Those voters could then ease their consciences by correctly giving "Lion" the trophies for best original score (Elton John and Tim Rice) and best director, Julie Taymor.

Women could take an unprecedented two Tonys in direction, because Ireland's Garry Hynes is also a top contender for "The Beauty Queen of Leenane." Both musical blockbusters could be partly upstaged by Sam Mendes' dark re-imagining of "Cabaret." Not only is it a shoo-in for best revival-musical, but it could take top acting trophies for Natasha Richardson and Alan Cumming as the demonic emcee (chief rival: Brian Stokes Mitchell of "Beauty Queen," the sensational suspense drama about a mother-daughter war by 28-year-old Londoner Martin McDonagh, is the favorite for best play. But once again those pesky "traditionalists" may prefer the thinner but lighter "Art," Yasmina Reza's Paris-London-New York hit comedy, with its mockery of faddish-ness in contemporary painting. The one sure winner is Broadway itself, which makes more of its money from summer tourists than ever before and always enjoys a kick in business from the Tony telecast, which will air 8 to 9 p.m. on PBS and 9 to 11 p.m. on CBS.

Rosie O'Donnell will again host. Play: "Art" by Yasmina Reza, "Freak" by John Leguizamo, "Golden Child" by David Henry Hwang, "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" by Martin McDonagh. Musical: "Ragtime," "Side Show," "The Lion King," "The Scarlet Pimpernel." Book of a musical: Terrence McNally, Bill Russell, "Side Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, "The Lion Nan Knighton, "The Scarlet Pimpernel." Original score: Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, Henry Krieger and Bill Russell, "Side Paul Simon and Derek Walcott, "The Elton John, Tim Rice, Lebo Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer, "The Lion King." Revival play: "A View From the Bridge," "Ah, Wilderness!" "The Chairs," "The Diary of Anne Frank." Revival musical: "Cabaret," 1 776," "The Sound of Music." Actor play: Richard Briers, "The Anthony LaPaglia, "A View From the John Leguizamo, Alfred Molina, "Art." Actress play: Jane Alexander, Allison Janney, "A View From the Geraldine McEwan, "The Marie Mullen, "The Beauty Queen of Leenane." Actor musical: Alan Cumming, Peter Friedman, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Douglas Sills, "The Scarlet Pimpernel." Actress musical: Betty Buckley, "Triumph of Marin Mazzie, Natasha Richardson, Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner, "Side Show." Featured actor play: Tom Murphy, "The Beauty Queen of Brian F. O'Byrne, "The Beauty Queen mmmm ft immm.W'mm By Frances Katz STAFF WRITER It's not enough to be in the Web search engine business anymore, nor is it enough to be simply an Internet service provider. Today's sophisticated Net surfers want ISPs to give them much more than a phone number and a Web browser.

They also want to search the Web and locate something more useful than a list of 1,200 sites. Much has been made of the fact that not even the most sophisticated search engine can track down and catalog all the information on the Web. Once Yahoo realized this daunting fact, it began creating its own content pages tied to certain themes, such as business or entertainment. A search of Yahoo's content areas is often a much better way to ferret out information than the old-fashioned Yahoo search. It wasn't long before longdistance carrier MCI saw the wisdom of joining up with Yahoo.

The resulting development, the YahooMCI online service, seemed the perfect solution for both sides. Yahoo would branch out into the world of ISPs, and with its well-known name and content MCI would be saved the headache of trying to develop content and direction for its users. As it turns out, it was an idea good enough to be copied. has partnered with Web search engine Lycos to create a similar service. Monday the companies announced a partnership to develop Web services to compete with AOL and the YahooMCI.

Financial terms of the three-year deal weren't disclosed. The companies plan to offer users multimedia gizmos that make use of Lycos' content and traditional communications services. On the drawing board are such offerings as voice-enabled chat and point-and-click directories. The new service will be called Lycos Online powered by WorldNet Service. The service will have chat, free e-mail, shopping and the personalized information on topics such as news, sports and entertainment.

The service isn't available yet, but you can sign up at the Lycos site to be notified when the service launches. Like Yahoo, the Massachusetts-based Lycos (http:www.lycos.com) has been wrestling with the problem of how to offer a search engine that seeks out good information and doesn't lead users to blank pages or useless links. In Choreography: Graciela Daniele, Tiffany site: Don't know what to get Mom for Mother's Day? Maybe a little silver something from Tiffany's. http:www.tiffany.com. Hoop life: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Web site tells all about the legendary basketball star.

And you can even e-mail him. http:www.kareem.com. Bad fads: Relive the fashion faux pas of the last two decades. http:www.adscape.com badfads. Garth Fagan, "The Lion Forever Tango Dancers, "Forever Rob Marshall, "Cabaret." Orchestrations: William David Brohn, Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler, "The Lion Michael Gibson, Stanley Silverman, "The Capeman." Publishers push to make biographies short, sweet ica to the Paula Jones court case to the importance of books.

The paperbacks will run 90 to 150 pages and cost $7.95 to $9.95. Ballantine rushed 150,000 copies of Bugliosi's book into print, anticipating that the Jones suit would come to trial. Print runs for other titles have ranged from 60,000 up. Library of Contemporary Thought series. The publisher, Linda Grey, said the series provides a venue for authors like Pete Hamill, Carl Hiaasen, Vincent Bugliosi and Anna Quindlen to express their "passions" on everything from, respectively, the state of the media to how Walt Disney Co.

is taking over Amer turning points in a subject's life, said James Atlas, who devised the series and is its co-editor. Think of top-quality writing married to the accessibility of the network's Biography series and you get the idea, Penguin Group Chairman Michael Lynton said. In February, Ballantine began publishing one book a month in its 2 p.m.: Singing Group Boyz II Men. MSBET: http:www.msbet.msn.com 2 p.m.: Women of NASA with Dora Lopez. NASA http:quest.arc.nasa.gov commonevents 7 p.m.: Author Suze Orman 9 Steps to Financial Barnes and Noble: http:www.barnesandnoble.com 9 p.m.: O.J.

Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark. Talk City: http:www.talkcity.com calendareventsevent 1 266 9 p.m.: Singer Vonda Shepard. LiveConcerts: http:www.liveconcerts.com 1 0 p.m.: Former host of Double Dare, Marc Summers. America Online: Keyword: Onlinepsych i You can see the difference our specialists make NEW YORK TIMES Having trouble getting through that 700-page biography on your bedside table? The allure of books that can be read in a couple of hours has not been lost on publishers battling tough competition for consumers' leisure time. Two publishers, Viking Penguin and Ballantine, are investing in two series of books by prominent authors, books that are designed to be short.

In an extremely unusual arrangement, a prominent investment banker is entering into a joint venture with a publishing company. Kenneth Lipper, chairman of Lipper Co. an investment management and banking company, is providing 50 percent of the equity for the Penguin project, and taking an editorial role in the series, which will begin publishing next January with small-format, hardback biographies ranging from 128 to 256 pages. The Penguin Lives, priced around $19.95 with initial print runs of 50,000 copies, will pair literary lions with subjects they feel "passionate" about, Lipper said. Among the books signed thus far six of them to be published next year are Jane Smiley on Dickens, Edmund White on Proust, Larry McMurtry on Crazy Horse and Dr.

Sherwin Nuland on Leonardo da Vinci. I Given their mandate of brevity, each author is focusing on major I res Pr. Dan Huntley, M.D. Phlebologist Sites in the news today Some World Wide Web sites offering more information about subjects in the news: BUSINESS National Cable Television Association: Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission, http:llwww.ncta.com LIVING Tony awards: All the world's a stage, http:www.tonys.org Louise Brooks: Silent film siren, http:llwww.pandorasbox.com NATIONAL AND WORLD Mideast peace talks: After 50 years, can Israelis and Palestinians prosper together? http:www.cnn.comSPECIALSl998lisrael SPORTS Golfs BellSouth Classic: httpjwww.bellsouth.comdassicl I)r, D.

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