Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 12

A12 Is Sagging ness for the Lyceum Theater a 928-seat building that is often dark The problem according to the owner is that of Broadway" is not a legitimate Broadway production Lee Silver spokesman for the Shu-bert Organization said yesterday that the dispute is strictly about the deal made with city officials when his group obtained the air rights to the theater Under that covenant theater dramas and can inhabit the Lyceum of doesn't qualify he said would be played over and over again 12 performances a Silver said legitimate theater is eight performances a week with a The dispute may not be that simple Although Shubert owns the Lyceum the German media giant Bertelsmann AG with whom the producers made the deal rents the theater and owns an option to buy it Union representatives citing a potential 50 new jobs are opposing Shubert The city will likely become involved since the theater is landmarked a theater that gets very little said William Moriarty head of Local 802 of the American Federation of Music "This looks suspiciously like a real estate problem not a theater The producers of the new show are David Singer Thomas Viertel and Richard Frankel whose resume includes in and Next week the Equity union will vote on whether it backs the proposal The three producers who already have signed a tentative deal with Bertelsmann have raised about half of the $22 million needed to launch the project ASSOCIATED PRESS Supporters of a proposed new production aimed at Times Square tourists say it will add to bright lights Critics say the show is simply The controversy is over of a 60-minute $25-a-tick-et show intended to give out-of-town-ers a taste of the Great White Way at a reduced price Under the plan it would be part of the Broadway Hall of Fame with a backstage tour and memorabilia It also would provide steady busi- Co-Host Takes Bow By Verne Gay STAFF WRITER It quite on the scale of the Media Merger of the Century but CBS News had a little announcement yesterday too: Bryant co-host was officially named Jane Clayson an ABC News reporter who was mentioned early this summer along with more than a dozen potential candidates will help launch the most ambitious morning effort in its history when Early bows on Nov 1 CBS executives had jokingly referred to the long search for a Gumbel co-host as Glass and in a conference call with reporters yesterday Clay-son said thrilled to be picked as Cinderella but I told Steve Friedman the senior executive producer enough of this glass slipper business Tins going to need some running A little rocket booster fuel hurt either CBS is now about to play a game of catch-up with virtually impregnable and Morning set to move to a new Times Square studio Monday But Clayson 32 obviously has a few things going for her She was also coveted Dy ABC News who nearly threatened to torpedo bier candidacy early on But Clayson called her departure from the network for which sne had covered stories as diverse as Kosovo and the 96 Dole campaign very Andrew Heyward CBS News president said yesterday the network had spoken to 100 potential candidates only offered the job to Of Clayson he said hard news background was attractive and I found her genuineness very But most important perhaps: has a terrific relationship with Bryant They just Clayson spent most of her early career working as a reporter for Salt Lake KSL and in 1996 joined ABC AP photo AP photo Sting will Join the Nnttid show at Giants Stadium Sheryl Crow will croon in the part NetAid Nets Sting Puffy Central Park show to feature Crow Clapton EE0EE BEN AFFLECK Denies Gay Rumor Ben Affleck says there is absolutely no truth to tabloid gossip that he and Matt Damon are more than friends like to think that if I were gay I would be out Rupert Everett-style" Affleck said in the October issue of Vanity Fair Everett is an openly gay actor The movie Will which boyhood buddies Affleck and Damon co-wrote and starred in probably helped fuel the rumors he Baud Affleck said he also has a limited capacity for compromise and for now larka the willingness to put his energy into a ship single is because I wouldn't want to be with anybody right now who would be willing to be with Affleck told the magazine PUFFY COMBS Off to Anger Class Sean Combs was ordered yesterday to undergo a day of anger management counseling after he pleaded guilty to harassing a recording executive Combs 29 and an associate were arrested in April on charges of assaulting Steven Stoute who suffered a broken arm a broken jaw and cuts to his head after being hit with a chair and a champagne bottle police stud The rap mogul initially was charged with second-degree assault and faced up to seven years in prison but Stoute balked at pursuing the prosecution and Combs was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of harassment Combs blamed Stoute for letting MTV air a video with a scene that showed Combs nailed to a cross His attorney said Combs wanted the scene cut because he worried it might be offensive RUGRATS Next Stop Paris Susan Sarandon John Lithgow and Debbie Reynolds are lending their voices to the animated feature in Paris The Production is under way for a planned Thanksgiving 2000 theatrical i 1 on the Emmy-winning Nickelodeon television series about life from point of view in will be the follow-up feature to Rugrats which became the first non-Disney animated film to gross at least $100 million in North America Sean (Puffy) Combs Sting Mary Blige and Busta Rhymes are among the performers booked for the NetAid concert to be held Oct 9 at Giants Stadium one of three overlapping concerts to raise money for fighting extreme poverty The other Net-Aid shows will be held the same day in London and Geneva Tickets for the Giants Stadium concert go on sale tomorrow at 9 am at all New York and New Jersey Ticket-master outlets and at wwwticketmas tercom In a press event yesterday President Clinton former South African President Nelson Mandela and Brit- on to the Web site Net-Aid org to cut the Wyclef Jean and Bono of U2 also an- nounced yesterday the release of a new song and video created for Net-Aid on Columbia Records In other concert news Sheryl Crow will be joined by Eric Clapton Chris- sie Hynde Stevie Nicks and Canadian chanteuse Sarah McLachlan at a free concert Tuesday night in Central Park sponsors announced yesterday The 25000 tickets for the show will be distributed today through Monday by crews of American Express workers who will cruise the five boroughs of New York City on motor scooters nand-ingout cards that recipients swipe on a machine offered by the workers to find out if won two free tickets The first hour of the 8 pm show also will be aired live on Fox5 webcast on wwwblueconcertscom and broadcast on WPLJ955 FM Stephen Williams and Letta Tayler 3 ER NBC 85 3 Dateline Tuasday NBC 85 3 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 85 0 Frasier NBC 83 7 Frasier special episode NBC 82 8 Friends NBC 81 0 King of Queens CBS 79 10 48 Hours Monday CBS 77 Each ratings point equals 1008000 TV households BSSHEIESEfERATINS! Monday NFL game for Bay Area bragging rights between the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders was the top-rated show nosing out the Wednesday edition of The top 10 shows along with their ratings according to Nielsen Media Research: 1 Monday Night Football ABC 91 2 2020 Wednesday ABC 90 I I -I ill i A tywipw 1 1 i fsgyF Wjggyj wy jw1.