Daily News from New York, New York • 443

I 3 23J AT3MIT 3IVOM ARTX 3 INEW YORK NOW ENTERTAINMENT 12 This Old House, This Lame Play Museum-set 'New York' belongs in attic By THOMAS M. DISCH OLD NEW YORK: FALSE DAWN. By Edith Wharton. Adapted and directed by Donald T. Sanders, with Nathan Smith, Ed Romanoff, John Anson, Darin Wolfe and Elizabeth Benjamin.

Presented by the New York Art Theatre Institute at Old Merchant's House. BUCKED AWAY ON the East corner Fourth from around Tower Books, stands one of the city's least celebrated landmarks, the Old Merchant's House. Built in 1832 and occupied by the family of Seabury Tredwell for almost a hundred years, it became a museum in 1936 without sharing the usual fate of an old house. Everything moths couldn't eat is just the way the Tredwells left it, a miracle of preservation just off the Bowery and an ideal destination for sightseers who've seen eveything else in Manhattan. At intervals since 1987, the museum has been presenting a dramatic adaptation of Edith Wharton's "False Dawn," one of four novellas that make up "Old New York." The plot concerns another 19th-century Manhattan townhouse that evolves into a museum, so you'd think it would be a perfect fit.

And aptation, by the director, Donald. Sanders, weren't so misconceived and if the actors in the leading roles weren't constantly being upstaged by the furniture around them. Sanders makes the mistake of parceling out all the prose in the story that isn't dialogue to the actors onstage, so The furniture constantly upstages the lead actors. it might have been, if the ad- 'DAWN' PATROL: Nathan Smith and Andrea Webber in Wharton drama WEEK IN CL CLASSICAL CAL MUSIC DANCE A PAIR OF FOURS The Kronos Quartet, celebrated for its punk-rock costumes and wet-ink repertoire, makes its Carnegie Hall debut Thursday. The world premiere of Henryk Third Quartet has been scratched from the program, but two other premieres were still scheduled at press time: Sofia Gubaidulina's Fourth Quartet and Lee Hyla's "Howl," the latter narrated by Allen Ginsberg himself.

(Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m.; 212-247-7800.) On Saturday, the Emerson Quartet presents the second in a three-concert series of the late quartets of Beethoven (the A Minor Quartet, Op. 132, and the "Grosse Fuge," Op. 130) and Shostakovich (the Thirteenth Quartet, Op. 138). No costumes, but the Emerson's fervent playing will definitely make you sit up and take notice.

(92nd St. 92d and Lexington, 8 p.m.; 212-996-1100.) WILL SHE OR WON'T SHE? New York City Ballet continues its winter season on Tuesday. Darci Kistler, who canceled her openingnight "Nutcracker" seven weeks ago and hasn't danced a step in public since, is slated to appear in George Balanchine's "Diamonds" tomorrow night. Returning to repertory this week is "Who Cares," Balanchine's Gershwin ballet, featuring Robert SURE THING: LaFosse, Merrill Ashley, Monique Meunier and Stacey Calvert (Wednesday and Saturday nights) and Nikolaj Margaret Tracey, Miranda Weese and Wendy Whelan (Sunday night). (New York State Theater; Tuesday-Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 1 and 7 p.m.; 212- 870-5570.) DUELING SONGSTERS On Wednesday, the Minerva World Premiere Series presents Melinda Wagner's "Tuesday Music," performed by the Aeolian Chamber Players.

In addition, soprano Angelina fresh from her marvelous New York Philharmonic debut, sings the New York who seems to be experiencing the classic actor's nightmare of finding himself in a play he has never rehearsed. His co-debutante, Elizabeth Benjamin, in the role of Treeshy, suffers the additional handicap of having to speak in what is supposed to be an Italian accent, but which comes across as closer to Yiddish. When young Raycie calls her "a fickle child," and she replies "Feekal? Feekal? it's a stoic audience that won't get the giggles. And when they kiss, you blush for them. In fairness to the newcomers, there were seasoned hams on hand who were having as hard a time of it.

John Anson, as Lewis' father, is never the fatuous, fat bully that the text, being read aloud onstage, would have us believe. Only Karin Wolfe (who played Gigi in the Broadway musical of 1951) manages to resemble the character Wharton describes. The Old Merchant's House should consider having the actress simply sit down in a chair and read the story aloud. It would make a livelier show. (Thomas M.

Disch writes about theater for The News.) that they keep slipping out of character to relish Wharton's sly language and then returning to their underdirected roles and sounding more wooden than ever. No one suffers from this contrast more cruelly than Nathan Smith a young actor making his New York debut in the lead role of Lewis Raycie BY TERRY TEACH OUT premiere of Ned Rorem's "Anna La Bonne" and a the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the group of songs by Ricky Ian Gordon, accompanied by Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (ECM New Series 1505, the composers. Not everybody warms to "holy minimal(Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, 68th St. between ism," but if you're one of the thousands of listeners Park and Lexington 8 p.m.; 212-772-4448.) who were swept away by Third Symphony, Also on Wednesday, John Aler, one of the most elegant it's a safe bet that you'll fall for the hushed, luminous and cultivated tenors around, sings an all-French re- simplicities of Part's "'Te Deum." cital (Bizet, Duparc, D'Indy and Jeff Cohen is the accompanist. ON THE AIR Reynaldo Hahn).

(Merkin Hall, 129 W. 67th 8 p.m.; 212-362-8719.) Saturday on WQXR: Fasten your seat belt for this week's Opera live broadcast of MARILYN AND BOBBY Richard Strauss' "Elektra," featuring Hildegarde Michael Palmer and the New Haven Symphony make Behrens, Deborah Voigt and Brigitte Fassbaender. their Carnegie Hall debut Friday with We hear the first-night performance was so hot that the New York premiere of Ezra Lader- the audience went wild during the curtain calls. man's Eighth Symphony. (Laderman is (96.3 FM, 2 p.m.) the perpetrator of "Marilyn," staged Sunday on WNET: Center," a new last fall by the New York City Opera.) PBS series hosted by Watts, is a 30-minute infoAlso on the bill: Richard Stoltzman, mercial for Lincoln Center.

Each episode is designed the best of all possible clarinet play- to plug an upcoming "'Live at Lincoln Center" telecast ers, performs the Mozart Clarinet Con- in this case, next Monday's "Pavarotti Plus!" concerto. cert. All three segments (on stage fright, vocal longev(Carnegie Hall, 8 p.m.; 212-247-7800.) ity and the mystique of the tenor) are bland, personalOn Sunday afternoon, Robert Shaw, ity-oriented pap aimed at persuading a mass audience the man who invented modern Ameri- that opera singers are regular guys and gals just like can choral singing, leads a perfor- the rest of us. (Bulletin: They aren't.) Any resemblance mance of Benjamin Britten's harrow- to art is purely coincidental. ing "War Requiem" featuring (Ch.

13, 7 p.m.) Christine Goerke, the Richard American Clement, IN THE STORES DAILY Benjamin Luxon, BoyRichard Stoltzman (Carnegie Hall, 3 p.m.; 212-247-7800.) vey of classical singing during the 78 the choir, the Orchestra Shaw of St. Festival Luke's. Chorus and The chael first Scott's two volumes well-informed, of "'The Record notoriously of cranky Singing," sur- Mi- NEWS era, are finally available in paperback (Northeastern University FREEBIES Press. $25 each). You can't disagree with it until you've Violinist Robert Mann, leader of the Juilliard Quartet, read it so read it.

New on CD: Dmitri Hvorostovsky plays Third conne, a solo Sonata recital Sonata (accompanied Thursday: for Solo by Bach's Rudolf Violin, the Minor Firkusny) Brahms Cha- and from sings "Karl the Muck Tchaikovsky's original Conducts 78s by "'Yevgeny Richard Barton Onegin" Wimble Wagner," (Philips), (Centaur). transferred and the world premiere of his own "Lament." 7406 to reserve free tickets.) On Jan. 27, Thomas Stacy, Kurt Masur and the New (Juilliard Theater, 65th off Broadway, 8 p.m.; 212-769- AROUND THE CORNER fuenuer York Philharmonic give the world premiere of Ned ALBUM OF THE WEEK Rorem's English Horn Concerto. On Feb. 1, Nikolais 5 New from ECM is "Te Deum," a CD of recent works by and Murray Louis Dance begins a two-week run at the Arvo exquisitely performed by Kaljuste, Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse.

1994 6 bi en acot DE DEf.