The Mirror Has 36 Faces

MOVIES

JOHN CALLEY

President and chief operating officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment; 66

What he’s done: Most recently Calley was part of the management team that revived a dormant United Artists Pictures with such box-office blockbusters as “The Birdcage” and “GoldenEye” and such critical favorites as “Leaving Las Vegas.” Known for his intelligence and affability, Calley is widely regarded as one of the most respected and best liked executives in Hollywood. He produced such films as “Postcards From the Edge” and “The Remains of the Day” with director and best friend Mike Nichols. Before his tenure at UA, Calley was a top Warner Bros. executive from 1969 through the early ‘80s. He abruptly dropped out of the business, giving up a seven-year, $21-million contract. His self-imposed exile from Hollywood lasted more than a decade, during which time he lived on Fishers Island, N.Y., and by his own description he engaged in a lot of “recreational sleeping.” He returned to the executive ranks in 1993 to take over UA as part of an effort to revitalize parent MGM. “I’ve sort of thrown everything out the window occasionally and zero-based myself, starting over again,” he says. “I can’t run the 100-yard dash as fast as I used to, but I’m much more excited about [the Sony appointment] than I was about the Warner Bros. job in 1969, when I was scared.”

Outlook for ‘97: At Sony, Calley has said, he plans to further expand the corporate giant’s global reach. “Sony is astonishingly sophisticated in the international realm,” he says. “The true international sense of the company is what we have to apply to our business.” His first job will be to turn around a lagging movie operation that last year produced a string of box-office duds including “Multiplicity” and “The Fan.”

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CHRIS McGURK

Recently appointed chief operating officer of Universal Pictures, a new position at the studio; 39

What he’s done: McGurk, a former chief financial officer of Pepsi Cola East, headed west at 31 to become senior vice president of finance of the Walt Disney Studios. The personable, ambitious executive, who was promoted to chief financial officer in 1990 and president in 1994, made his name overseeing the business side of the motion picture division, international theatrical distribution, film acquisition, Miramax Films and Hollywood Records. He left the company in October after being bypassed for the post of Walt Disney Studios president.

Outlook for ‘97: At Universal, McGurk will concentrate on strategic planning and international business, bolstering an operation that, given its spotty track record of late, is badly in need of a jump-start. “One of my challenges is strengthening the Universal brand name and identifying potential franchises like ‘Babe’ and ‘The Lost World’ whose value can be maximized throughout the globe,” says McGurk, who reports to Universal Pictures Chairman Casey Silver. “Management has terrific new players rethinking each of its businesses--not unlike Disney eight years ago.”

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ANNE HECHE

Actress; 27

What she’s done: Heche helped support her family by doing dinner theater at the age of 12, when her father was found to have AIDS. After high school, she won an Emmy for her portrayal of twins on the soap opera “Another World.” Since moving to L.A. four years ago, the fearless, offbeat actress has appeared in four or five pictures a year. Getting her start in the made-for-cable arena (“Kingfish: A Story of Huey Long,” “Against the Wall”), she soon moved on to feature films. In 1996, she had the lead role in the independent Sundance favorite “Pie in the Sky,” played Demi Moore’s friend in “The Juror” and starred in the critically acclaimed “Walking and Talking.”

Outlook for ‘97: Heche surfaces in February opposite Johnny Depp and Al Pacino in Mike Newell’s “Donny Brasco” and--in a major coup for a relative unknown--stars opposite Tommy Lee Jones in the big-budget “Volcano.” She also wrote and directed a short called “Stripping for Jesus,” which she hopes to take to film festivals. “I have the utmost respect for actors in action movies,” Heche says in the wake of “Volcano.” “You’ve got 5,000 extras running away from a burning building, a bus toppling over . . . and if you blow a line, you blow the entire scene.”

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LINDSAY DORAN

Newly appointed president of United Artists Pictures; 48

What she’s done: Most recently she produced “Sense and Sensibility.” Doran, the head of Sydney Pollack’s Mirage Enterprises for seven years, says one of her proudest film accomplishments was as production executive on Rob Reiner’s “This Is Spinal Tap,” and she also worked on “Dead Again” and “The Firm.” In addition, she served as a senior vice president of production at Paramount, overseeing the mega-hit “Ghost.”

Outlook for ‘97: Facing the daunting task of picking up where John Calley left off and re-energizing the flagging slate at United Artists, Doran plans to continue in the direction the studio has tried to go--to turn out well-made commercial movies for the lowest cost possible. “This is not the Jane Austen Channel,” Doran says. “You can make classy movies in any genre. You don’t have to always say ‘thou’ or ‘forsooth.’ ” She’ll be involved with the next James Bond film, as well as “Man in the Iron Mask,” which will be directed by “Braveheart” screenwriter Randall Wallace.

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JUDE LAW

Actor; 24

What he’s done: The London-born Law started working with a young people’s theater at 14 and, after landing a role on a TV soap opera, quit high school to act full time. Stage roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Britain’s National Theatre followed, and a part in Jean Cocteau’s “Les Parents Terribles” earned him an Olivier Award nomination for outstanding newcomer. In 1995, when the play went to Broadway under the name “Indiscretions,” Law walked away with a Tony nomination for best supporting actor and a Theater World Award. Until last year, he says, films have proved less satisfying--though in “Shopping” (1994) he met actress Sadie Frost, with whom he has a 3-month-old son.

Outlook for ‘97: Law has lead roles in the sci-fi thriller “Gattaca” and “Wilde,” a biopic about Oscar Wilde in which he plays the writer’s homosexual lover. This month he starts shooting “Music From Another Room,” in which--contrary to his pattern, he observes--he plays a “really normal guy.” “Though I love working, I don’t want to give up my life for my craft,” he says. “A metal worker, after all, doesn’t go home and study all night, cutting up pieces of aluminum.”

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F. GARY GRAY

Director; 27

What he’s done: The South-Central resident, who learned how to work a camera in high school on cable-access programs, became a camera operator for Fox at 19 and later directed music videos. He made the segue to film at 24 with “Friday.” His second film, “Set It Off,” opened in November to strong reviews and box office, becoming New Line’s most successful picture of the year, with grosses of more than $34 million. Since wrapping “Set It Off” in February, Gray has made a music video for Whitney Houston’s single “I Believe in You and Me” from “The Preacher’s Wife.”

Outlook for ‘97: He has several projects in development and is in discussion with Universal Pictures and producer Larry Gordon as well as Imagine Entertainment President Brian Grazer. Gray would like to try his hand at a thriller but prefers projects not easily pigeonholed. “I’m not afraid of a big studio film; I trust my instincts,” he says. “But for me it’s not really about box office. It’s about looking back on your work and not having to apologize for it. I’m trying to keep my blinders on and continue to perfect what I do, because I’m very young and I have a lot to learn. I’d rather do one thing well . . . and I think the movie audience is starving right now for new material and fresh ideas.”

THEATER

JULIE TAYMOR

Theater and opera director known for astonishing imagery, usually achieved by the evocative masks and puppets she designs herself; 44

What she’s done: Aside from living and working in Indonesia and winning a MacArthur “genius” grant, she created the otherworldly musical “Juan Darien,” about a boy who emerges from a baby jaguar, and “The Green Bird,” a lighter, spirited retelling of a commedia dell’arte text. She also directs opera and film, with a highly idiosyncratic touch.

Outlook for ‘97: She will direct and design Disney’s “The Lion King” for the stage. Ironically, the darling of the avant-garde will now prove herself--or not--in one of the world’s most commercial arenas.

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AUDRA McDONALD

Actress and singer; 26

What she’s done: At 23, McDonald graduated from Juilliard in voice; at 24, she won her first Tony Award, as Carrie in Nicholas Hytner’s version of “Carousel”; at 25, she won her second Tony, as Sharon in “Master Class.”

Outlook for ‘97: McDonald is now in Toronto, starring in the new musical “Ragtime.” She plays Sarah, a woman who abandons her baby in desperation and then sings a great song about it. The musical’s creators were so enamored of her graceful stage presence and lovely voice that they wrote a song to bring her back for the second act. She will go on from Toronto to Broadway in December. Unfortunately, as things now stand, she is not in the cast L.A. will see in June.

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RICHARD GREENBERG

Playwright; 37

What he’s done: Although his pungent and funny writing has not been in evidence in Southern California lately, he has premiered several plays at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, including “Night and Her Stars” (1994) and “The Extra Man” (1991).

Outlook for ‘97: His adaptation of Marivaux’s “Triumph of Love” will open at South Coast Rep in February. Also, a new Greenberg play called “Three Days of Rain” opens there in March. It tells the story of a sister and brother who are reunited with a childhood friend, now a soap opera star; together, the three try to figure out their parents’ lives. Also, Greenberg is writing the book of a new musical based on the Edna Ferber-George S. Kaufman play “The Royal Family.” The music and lyrics are by William Finn (“Falsettos”); Fran and Barry Weissler (“Chicago,” “Grease”) plan to produce on Broadway.

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JOSE RIVERA

Playwright; 41

What he’s done: His credits include “The Promise” (1986) at Los Angeles Theatre Center and the Obie Award-winning “Marisol” (1992) and “Cloud Tectonics” (1995) at La Jolla Playhouse. Rivera also co-created and produced the TV series “Eerie, Indiana.”

Outlook for ‘97: Puerto Rican-born Rivera writes about his adopted hometown, Los Angeles, but his L.A. plays haven’t been produced here. That will change this year, as “The Street of the Sun” will be one of three New Theatre for Now plays on the Mark Taper Forum main stage, May 3 to June 29; it’s about a frustrated screenwriter and his encounter with the god Apollo. “Cloud Tectonics,” previously seen at La Jolla, opens at Playwrights Horizons in New York today, and Rivera’s children’s play “Maricela de la Luz Lights the World” (also set in L.A.) was published in the December issue of American Theatre magazine.

Television

JAMIE TARSES

President of ABC Entertainment; 32

What she’s done: As senior vice president of prime-time series at NBC Entertainment, she oversaw the development of “Friends,” “Frasier” and “NewsRadio.”

Outlook for ‘97: Tarses joined ABC in June and thus had little opportunity to put her stamp on the network’s fall prime-time lineup, which has continued a downward ratings slide this season. Tarses is known as a savvy comedy executive, and her new job expands her responsibilities to include oversight of movies and dramatic series, working under ABC Entertainment Chairman Ted Harbert. Tarses’ contributions will truly begin to manifest themselves in May, when the network sets its prime-time schedule for next September. In desperate need of new hits, ABC already has made a number of high-profile deals with such talent as filmmakers Spike Lee, Robert Altman and Edward Burns.

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JODI APPLEGATE

Anchor on the MSNBC cable channel and co-anchor on NBC’s “Weekend Today”; 32

What she’s done: Applegate was hosting “Good Morning, Arizona,” a popular news show in Phoenix, when she was spotted on the air by NBC News President Andrew Lack. He hired her as an anchor for MSNBC, and she introduced the first newscast on the cable-news network when it launched in July. (She says her date book for July 15 read, “Get up. Exercise. Pick up dry cleaning. Launch network.”) Her husband, Rob Nikoleski, is a sports anchor on MSNBC.

Outlook for ‘97: Applegate, who has a wry sense of humor as well as interviewing skills, is being touted by some at NBC as the next Katie Couric. She already has substituted for Couric several times on the “Today” show. Those appearances are expected to continue, and her profile should rise further as MSNBC matures and attracts new viewers.

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KATHY GRIFFIN

Plays Brooke Shields’ feisty, outrageous co-worker Vicki Groener on NBC’s hit comedy “Suddenly Susan”; 31

What she’s done: The Chicago native performed for seven years locally with the Groundlings comedy troupe. In 1994, Griffin decided to pursue a stand-up career. She created and stars in “Hot Cup of Talk,” a series of shows that appears on an occasional basis at the Groundlings and features young comedians. In October, she headlined her own half-hour HBO comedy special. Griffin’s television credits include guest shots on “Seinfeld,” “Mad About You,” “Caroline in the City” and “ER,” and she has been featured in the films “The Cable Guy” and “Pulp Fiction.”

Outlook for ‘97: HBO has asked Griffin to do an hourlong special this year. She will continue to perform her stand-up act Thursdays at the Groundlings and Sundays at the UnCabaret at LunaPark. She is also meeting with film directors and producers.

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SHARON LAWRENCE

Star of the upcoming NBC comedy series “Fired Up”; 35

What she’s done: Lawrence turned what was supposed to be a one-shot appearance on “NYPD Blue” into a regular stint on the popular ABC series, on which she is gradually reducing her involvement as she prepares for the new show. She also has appeared in several TV movies. She began as a singer and dancer, working on Broadway.

Outlook for ‘97: NBC is said to be extremely high on Lawrence’s new sitcom, in which she plays a woman who gets fired and goes into business with her secretary. The show is expected to receive a trial run either Thursday or Tuesday in one of NBC’s key launching pads for comedy series. Lawrence will star in the NBC movie “Five Desperate Hours” and has a role in the feature “The Only Thrill,” opposite Sam Shepard and Diane Lane. The question will be whether she can emulate the success of another “NYPD Blue” alumna, Sherry Stringfield, who left to do another NBC show, a little thing called “ER.”

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TED TURNER

Vice chairman of Time Warner; 59

What he’s done: He pioneered the 24-hour-a-day news format with CNN in 1980 and runs the multibillion-dollar Turner Broadcasting empire, which includes CNN, TBS, the Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies. Among the most outspoken of moguls, he made headlines last year when he compared longtime rival Rupert Murdoch to “the late Fuehrer” and pleaded to his fellow broadcasters to “strive for excellence” and stop programming “sleazy, stupid, violent stuff.”

Outlook for ‘97: With the merger of Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting System, Turner is the biggest shareholder in Time Warner. So far, he has been uncharacteristically quiet, playing his cards close to the vest in terms of how big a role he will play in his new venture. It remains to be seen whether he will try to follow through on his threats toward Murdoch; at one time, he was “looking forward to squishing Rupert like a bug.” He’s already been instrumental in Time Warner’s decision to carry MSNBC rather than the Murdoch-owned News Corp.’s 24-hour news channel on its cable systems. Turner’s brashness in using his authority may well embarrass his new boss, Chairman Gerald Levin.

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TRACEE ROSS

Actress, writer, photographer, model and producer; 24

What she’s done: The Manhattan resident, a graduate of Brown University, was a contributing fashion editor for New York magazine and Mirabella and has appeared as a model in print and television ad campaigns for the Gap, Donna Karen, DKNY and Paul Mitchell. Ross, daughter of singer Diana Ross, is also the host, writer and producer of “At Home With Allan & Suzy,” a New York public-access TV show. She made her film debut in the 1996 feature “Far Harbor.”

Outlook for ‘97: Ross will host Lifetime’s new weekly series “The Dish,” premiering Jan. 24. In the lighthearted pop-culture series, Ross will dissect TV, must-read books, magazines, CDs and home videos.

Music

EMANUEL AX

Polish-born pianist who has become one of the most admired performers of his generation; 47

What he’s done: Long known for his eloquence with Chopin and the Romantics, Ax lately has been showing an aptitude for everything from early music to new music (John Adams is writing a piano concerto for him) and even tangos (which he has recently recorded).

Outlook for ‘97: Ax will serve as artistic director of the Ojai Festival in June, and he also will appear in recital at the Music Center in February and as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in March.

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STEWART WALLACE

Composer of the opera “Harvey Milk”; 36

What he’s done: Wallace is a wildly eclectic composer, and his operas careen through styles (ranging from grand opera to pop) and through subject matter (which can be anything from comic-book farce to mystical, based upon the kabala).

Outlook for ‘97: A new Wallace opera, “Hopper’s Wife,” which imagines what might have happened if painter Edward Hopper married gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, will have its West Coast premiere with the Long Beach Opera in June.

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PIERRE AUDI

Artistic director of Netherlands Opera; 39

What he’s done: Audi has single-handedly made Amsterdam one of the liveliest places for opera anywhere, both through the new works that he presents and through rethinking old operas in strikingly modernist ways.

Outlook for ‘97: Also an extraordinary stage director in his own right, Audi will mount his celebrated production of Monteverdi’s “The Return of Ulysses to the Fatherland” for L.A. Opera in the spring.

DANCE

JACQUES HEIM

Founder and artistic director of Los Angeles’ devilishly daring and witty collaborative ensemble Diavolo Dance Theatre; 32

What he’s done: After gaining experience in his own street-theater company in his native Paris, Heim pursued formal dance studies in Britain, in Vermont and at CalArts. Soon after he left academia, his newly formed Diavolo company began attracting attention with its blend of high-risk gymnastics and sly social satire; acclaimed performances at the 1995 Edinburgh Festival in Scotland are a career highlight. He teaches at UCLA and at the Orange County High School of the Arts.

Outlook for ‘97: At UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall on Feb. 15-16, Heim will offer a heady valentine to local audiences with the premiere of Diavolo’s complete full-evening “Te^te” series. In “Te^te au Carre,” the company dances in, atop and up the sides of a 10-by-10-foot cage; in “Te^te a Claque,” the dancers explore the movement options of 10 free-standing doors; in “Te^te en l’Air,” they run, roll, slide and sled down a staircase--and pop up from trapdoors inside it.

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BELLA LEWITZKY

Founder and artistic director of the locally based modern dance company that bears her name, and also a legendary teacher and a widely influential arts advocate; 80

What she’s done: As a member of the Lester Horton Dance Theatre until 1950, Lewitzky helped pioneer modern dance in Southern California; she later became the first American modern dance choreographer outside New York to achieve a major international career. She also defied the congressional anti-Communist witch hunt of the McCarthy era and more recently refused to accept a government grant, in protest over subject and content restrictions imposed by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Outlook for ‘97: In a climate of diminishing government support for the arts, Lewitzky is disbanding her 30-year-old company to pursue projects yet unannounced. Performances in nine Southern California venues from late January to late April will give audiences their last look before a farewell company gala in the Luckman Theatre at Cal State L.A. on May 17. This grand finale (co-produced by 12 local arts institutions) will include a performance of her last choreography for the company, “Four Women in Time,” a celebration of female power and resilience.

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MATTHEW BOURNE

Artistic director and choreographer of a 10-year-old British company whimsically named Adventures in Motion Pictures

(a.k.a. AMP); 36

What he’s done: Bourne has choreographed musicals in the West End (“Garden of Eden,” “Oliver!”) but is best known for radically re-conceived versions of 19th century ballet classics: “The Nutcracker,” “La Sylphide” and most recently “Swan Lake.” Filled with a sense of danger and the forbidden that infused the original ballet a century ago, his AMP “Swan Lake” features bare-chested men as the swans, with the White Swan a kind of sex god and the Black Swan a hellion in leather. It not only won an Olivier Award for best new dance production last year but is now the longest-running ballet ever to play the West End--and was telecast by the BBC on Christmas Day.

Outlook for ‘97: A tour that would have brought Bourne’s “Swan Lake” to UCLA was scuttled by plans to take it directly to Broadway. However, negotiations are reportedly proceeding to give it a Music Center run--possibly in late spring. Stay tuned. In any case, Bourne’s upcoming “Cinderella”--scheduled to premiere in London in the fall--promises to be the British ballet event of 1997, and Bourne is set to choreograph a revival of “Cabaret” on Broadway early this year.

Art

STEPHANIE BARRON

Senior curator of 20th century art and vice president of education and public programs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; 46

What she’s done: The 20-year LACMA veteran has compiled an impressive track record in cross-disciplinary exhibitions that focus on early 20th century Russian and German art. “The Avant Garde in Russia: 1910-1930” (1980), “German Expressionism, 1915-1925: The Second Generation” (1988) and “Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant Garde in Nazi Germany” (1991) are among the widely admired exhibitions she has organized.

Outlook for ‘97: “Degenerate Art” examined the Nazi purge of Modern painting and sculpture in the 1930s, winning kudos as the best museum exhibition of the year from the American section of the International Assn. of Art Critics. On Feb. 23, a sequel (of sorts) will go on view at LACMA: In “Exiles and Emigres: The Flight of European Artists From Hitler,” Barron will look at what those artists did after they fled Germany.

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CINDY SHERMAN

New York-based artist; 42

What she’s done: Starting in 1977, Sherman began a series of widely admired self-portrait photographs that she called “Untitled Film Stills,” in which she cast herself in archetypal cinematic roles: career gal in the big city, hot-tempered housewife, party girl on the make, lonely matron, desperate runaway. Thus began a 20-year career in which Sherman’s art has not only never flagged but also accomplished a remarkable feat: Photography, long a stepchild to painting, finally assumed parity as an artistic medium.

Outlook for ‘97: Sherman will be the subject of a mid-career survey opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art in November, in which she may confirm the suspicion of many critics that she is among the small handful of the most important American artists to have emerged in the 1980s.

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J. PAUL GETTY

American businessman, philanthropist; deceased

What he did: Getty (1892-1976), an art collector widely considered to have been too fond of a bargain at the often unfortunate expense of quality, founded a small museum in Malibu in 1954. After inheriting his father’s oil business and becoming its director in 1956, he then built a vast business empire and became one of the richest men in the world. Upon his death, he bequeathed $725 million to his museum, making it the wealthiest anywhere. Through savvy management, that endowment is now worth $3.9 billion.

Outlook for ‘97: The oilman’s unexpected legacy has been rising for several years on a Brentwood hilltop adjacent to the San Diego Freeway, in the imposing Getty Center. Its Dec. 6 opening may well be the most anticipated American cultural event of 1997.

ARCHITECTURE

REM KOOLHAAS

Recently hired by Seagram Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. to design the master plan for the company’s new 440-acre Universal City project; 52

What he’s done: A cult figure in architecture since the publication of his book “Delirious New York” in 1978, Koolhaas has gone on to design bigger and bigger works. His failure to win the competition for Paris’ Tres Grande Bibliotheque in 1989 only added to his cult status, but a commission he won the previous year to design the master plan for Euralille, a sprawling new commercial center in Lille, France, was completed in 1994. The exhilarating, hard-edged project includes a 300,000-square-foot egg-shaped convention center at the intersection of crisscrossing freeways.

Outlook for ‘97: Koolhaas will unveil his plan for the still-unbudgeted Universal City project in April. It will be his most high-profile and ambitious project to date. But Koolhaas is also faced with a quandary: how to turn an oft-ridiculed yet highly successful theme park into a design with architectural and cultural value. In Bronfman, he has found the ultimate patron, a man who is driven to maintain his family’s legendary architectural patronage: Edgar Sr. commissioned renowned modernist Mies van der Rohe to design New York’s Seagram Building in 1958.

POP MUSIC

DEANA CARTER

Country music singer-songwriter and daughter of legendary Nashville guitarist Fred Carter Jr.; 31

What she’s done: The title song of “Did I Shave My Legs for This?”--Carter’s 1996 debut album for Capitol Nashville Records--is one of the most disarming disappointment-in-love anthems since Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places.” But it was the hit single “Strawberry Wine” that helped push the album high onto both the country and pop charts. The good news about Carter’s crossover appeal is that she didn’t have to filter out her genuine country spirit to win pop favor.

Outlook for ‘97: After years of country music’s being dominated by men, women are making a strong move in the ‘90s, with Shania Twain and teenager LeAnn Rimes recently joining the superstar ranks of Wynonna and Reba McEntire. Carter seems certain to join that elite group. She plans to spend most of the next year writing and touring. “As a new artist, it is amazing to have so much success,” she says. “It’s a wonderful feeling to become credible so quickly.”

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PRODIGY

Liam Howlett, 24, left; Keith Flint, 26; Leeroy Thornhill, 27; and Maxim Reality, 27--a hard-core techno dance band based in Essex, England

What they’ve done: The group, founded by multi-instrumentalist Howlett in 1991, has produced nine Top 15 hits in England and is at the forefront of the alternative dance craze in its native land. The group’s last album, “Songs for a Jilted Nation” (1994), combining the fury and darkness of Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, sold more than 1 million copies in England.

Outlook for ‘97: Though Americans have pretty much turned a cold shoulder to the intense and wildly popular (in England) techno-dance music of such groups as Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers and Massive Attack, that may soon change. MTV, believing that young fans are growing weary of grunge and rap, is changing its video playlist to include many of Britain’s most popular electronic dance groups. And U2, whose Bono is a big fan of Prodigy, is incorporating dance-techno elements into its upcoming album. If the music catches on in the United States, Prodigy will be poised to benefit. The group--now the subject of a bidding war among major U.S. labels--will release its still-untitled third album in April, with a U.S. tour to follow.

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MAXWELL

Writer, producer, performer of last year’s critically acclaimed R&B; revivalist opus “Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite”; 22

What he’s done: Alongside such contemporaries as Tony Rich, D’Angelo, Tony Toni Tone and Mint Condition, this New York-based artist is a key figure in the creative renaissance of R&B;, in which live instrumentation and meaningful love songs--not synthesized funk cliches--are the driving force. “Urban Hang Suite,” which has sold more than 800,000 copies, captures the spirit of Marvin Gaye’s best ‘70s work but has its own creative edge.

Outlook for ‘97: Maxwell has garnered an expanding crossover audience and seems poised to become a mainstream pop presence. The singer has a European concert tour planned for February and a possible U.S. tour this spring, with Columbia Records planning to keep working the album for another full year.

JAZZ

BRUCE LUNDVALL

President of Blue Note and Metro Blue Records and East Coast general manager of Capitol Records; 61

What he’s done: In his 36 years in the record business, Lundvall has run a number of major labels--Columbia (U.S.), Elektra and EMI-Manhattan--and signed such diverse acts as Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Natalie Cole and Bobby McFerrin. For the last decade, Lundvall’s greatest influence has been on jazz. When he took over Blue Note in 1984, the then-defunct classic jazz label had not had a release in nearly 10 years. Lundvall transformed it into a significant force with a program that balances releases from contemporary performers like Cassandra Wilson, Joe Lovano, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Jacky Terrasson with the careful restoration and issuance of items from the Blue Note catalog.

Outlook for ‘97: Lundvall sees three important areas of development for jazz in 1997: “The continual emergence of gifted young artists who keep the music fresh and vital”; “the emergence of a new breed of jazz-influenced artists who are appealing to a young audience not already indoctrinated into jazz”; and “new opportunities for jazz singers to interpret music reaching beyond the usual standard material.”

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THELONIOUS MONK JR.

Chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz; 45

What he’s done: T.S.--as he’s usually called--is the son of the legendary jazz pianist-composer and a talented drummer and bandleader in his own right. The sextet he has led since the late ‘80s has been a consistently productive musical ensemble. His most significant contribution has been the creation of the Monk Institute, funded by his late father’s royalties and now celebrating its 10th anniversary. As chairman of the first major national organization for the encouragement and promotion of jazz, T.S. Monk is advancing the spread of the music well beyond its traditional niche audience.

Outlook for ‘97: “We’re going to continue to try to bring jazz into the mainstream,” Monk says. That goal, he believes, can best be pursued through such institute activities as the annual competition (which has given widespread attention to such new performers as Joshua Redman and Jacky Terrasson); educational events, seminars and music camps around the country; and the inner-city thrust of the institute’s partnership with professional sports teams in the Jazz Sports outreach programs. In Los Angeles, for example, that thrust has led to a program in which the Monk Institute has joined with the NBA Lakers and Clippers and Nissan Motor Corp. to provide opportunities for high school jazz bands to perform during halftime at games.

RADIO

STEPHEN LAMA

Acting general manager and the vice president of broadcasting at KUSC-FM (91.5); 41

What he’s done: He arrived at KUSC in March 1994 from PBS, where he had been associate director for performance programming. From 1985 to 1989, he was KCET-TV Channel 28’s manager of broadcast/programming. Thrust into the spotlight Sept. 27 with the resignation of Wallace A. Smith, KUSC’s longtime president and general manager, Lama returned KUSC to a virtually all-classical music format on Oct. 7. He also oversaw station restructuring, involving personnel and finances.

Outlook for ‘97: Lama seeks to refine the station’s classical identity through better communication with its listeners. He also intends to create partnerships as well as strengthen existing relationships with such cultural organizations as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Long Beach Symphony, the Pasadena Symphony, chamber orchestras and museums. In that regard, he will showcase licensee USC as a major contributor to the Los Angeles arts community. Two big questions remain: Can he turn the finances of the station around and bring back listenership? Moreover, will he get the job he is now holding? By spring, USC will begin a national search for a new general manager. Lama is a candidate.

TECHNOLOGY

ROBYN MILLER and RAND MILLER

Software wizards; 30 and 37, respectively

What they’ve done: Only created the best-selling entertainment software title of all time, Myst, which combined beautiful graphics and a compelling story in a manner previously unparalleled on CD-ROM. Before they hit fame and fortune with the 1993 release of Myst, the Brothers Miller, as they sometimes bill themselves, created kids’ computer software, including a spinoff of “Alice in Wonderland” called Manhole and a neglected educational program called Spielunx. Rand was a bank programmer and Robyn an aspiring nurse when they began developing computer software at home. They eventually moved to a converted garage and recently built their own state-of-the-art CD-ROM studio in Spokane, Wash.

Outlook for ‘97: Riven, the long-awaited Myst sequel, is due out this summer. The game--named, like Myst, for a mythical island--will probably end up costing nearly $5 million to produce. The Millers say that although the landscape of Riven will be far more vast (it will fill at least three CD-ROMs), the emphasis will again be on plot and not whiz-bang effects.

COMEDY

JAMIE MASADA

Owner of the Laugh Factory in Hollywood; 35

What he’s done: During the last 18 years (yes, he started young), Masada has built a former Sunset Boulevard storefront into one of L.A.’s premier comedy spots and a hub of Hollywood talent spotting.

Outlook for ‘97: Masada (in a joint venture with producers Quincy Jones and David Salzman) plans to open comedy-themed restaurants that hope to do with gags ‘n’ shtick what the Hard Rock Cafes have done with rock ‘n’ roll. Masada has announced plans for a first Laugh Factory Funhouse in Las Vegas and has signed a deal with Universal Studios to open the eateries at both the Los Angeles and Orlando Universal parks. But he will have competition from Caroline Hirsch, owner of the New York comedy club Caroline’s, who is also going the comedy-restaurant route, with her first Comedy Nation set for New York.

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JEFF VALDEZ

Comedian, writer and co-executive producer of the Latino Laugh Festival. As for his age, he’ll only say that he’s “old enough to know better.”

What he’s done: Valdez parlayed a 1993 showcase for Latino comics on KTLA-TV Channel 5 into a comedy festival that was taped for a 13-week series seen on Showtime last summer.

Outlook for ‘97: Valdez and partner Paul Block have the second festival slated for June, again in San Antonio. Valdez, himself a talented stand-up, also has several other projects in the works. He has sold a feature film script about a Cuban baseball team (“Play Ball”) to Disney, he’s producing a pilot with Culture Clash for UPN, and, in response to criticism that he does only Latino projects, he’s developing a country music special with Ken Ehrlich.

Family

DISNEYLAND

Southern California’s mother of all theme parks, which keeps reinventing itself; 41

What it’s done: Hit with a slump in tourism and a lull in new blockbuster attractions in the early 1990s, Disney’s original theme park came back with a vengeance, first with Toontown in 1993 and then the Indiana Jones Adventure in 1995 and a keenly marketed farewell tour for the Main Street Electrical Parade in 1996.

Outlook for ‘97: Always trying to keep its accountants the happiest on Earth, Disneyland will unveil a new parade--dubbed Light Magic, a Spectacular Journey--in late spring, offering a meeting of fiber-optic technology and a cast of about 100. Look for Tinkerbell to take over for the Blue Fairy as the new diva of the nighttime spectacular.