LINEUP FOR LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL ’08 ANNOUNCED

A production of Euripedes’s “The Bacchae,” featuring Tony Award winner Alan Cumming as Dionysus, will kick off the 2008 Lincoln Center Festival, it was announced today. The festival, which runs from July 2 to July 27, will feature 57 performances, three premieres, and artists from nine countries.

The Festival’s centerpiece performance will be the North American premiere of the opera “Die Soldaten,” by Bernd Alois Zimmermann. Staged by Ruhr Triennale, directed by David Pountney, and conducted by Steven Sloane, it will be produced in collaboration with, and staged at, the Park Avenue Armory.

Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, and Barry McGovern will perform on separate evenings in a series of Samuel Beckett dramas produced by Dublin’s Gate Theatre. Mr. Neeson will appear in “Eh Joe,” Mr. McGovern in “I’ll Go On,” and Mr. Fiennes in “First Love.”

Additional festival highlights include a contemporary dance performance, by the Royal Ballet of Flanders, of “Impressing the Czar,” choreographed by William Forsythe. Various international pop composers will also perform, including Damon Albarn, of Blur and the Gorillaz, and Goran Bregovic, a Balkan rock star and opera and film composer.

Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN GETS A LOUIS VUITTON STORE — AT LEAST TEMPORARILY

The Brooklyn Museum confirmed yesterday that its exhibition of artwork by Takashi Murakami, “© Murakami,” will include a Louis Vuitton pop-up store selling the artist’s designs for the brand, including his version of the company’s signature monogram pattern in 33 psychedelic colors and a new pattern called “Monogramouflage.” As was the case in a similar arrangement at the show’s original venue, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Louis Vuitton will operate and staff the store, which will be housed in a 550-square-foot gallery on the museum’s fifth floor. The exhibition opens Saturday, April 5, and runs through July 13.

Staff Reporter of the Sun

LIBRARY NAMES YOUNG LIONS FICTION AWARD FINALISTS

The New York Public Library announced the five finalists for the 2008 Young Lions Fiction Award, which honors the work of a writer under 35 and carries a prize of $10,000. The finalists are Ron Currie Jr. for the novel “God Is Dead,” Ellen Litman for the story collection “The Last Chicken in America,” Peter Nathaniel Malae for the story collection “Teach the Free Man,” Dinaw Mengestu for the novel “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears,” and Emily Mitchell for the novel “The Last Summer of the World.”

Finalists are selected by a committee comprising members of the Young Lions, an organization of New York Public Library supporters in their 20s and 30s; writers; editors, and librarians. The 2008 winner will be announced at a ceremony on April 28.

Staff Reporter of the Sun

THOMPSON SIGNS WITH WILLIAM MORRIS

Former Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson signed a deal to be represented by the William Morris Agency, the talent group announced yesterday. Presumably, Mr. Thompson will look to resume his acting career.

Mr. Thompson, who was a U.S. senator from Tennessee, began his acting career in the 1987 film “No Way Out,” portraying a CIA director. During the next two decades, he played an array of authority figures in TV shows and films such as “Cape Fear,” “In the Line of Fire,” and “Law & Order.”

Staff Reporter of the Sun

CHRISTIE’S TRUMPS SOTHEBY’S IN PURSUIT OF ASIAN MARKET

Christie’s International chalked up the biggest totals ever for its New York Asian art auctions last week as stocks tottered. Not so Sotheby’s.

Christie’s took in $80.1 million, including commissions, from art it had valued at between $45.7 million and $63.6 million before fees. Sotheby’s estimated its Asian sales at between $51.9 million and $72.9 million, and they totaled $46.4 million.

Sotheby’s and Christie’s, the two largest auction houses, have started to turn in unequal results as financial markets continue to be volatile.

Sales at Christie’s were helped by the dollar’s weakness against the yen, which enabled Japanese buyers to snap up bargains, chief executive officer Edward Dolman said in a phone interview. The auction house also was helped by its continuing commitment to Japanese art sales. Sotheby’s has scaled back its Japanese sales in London and New York.

Bloomberg News