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 “Rent” changed the demographics of Broadway when it came out of nowhere in 1996. Kids who thought Rodgers & Hammerstein was a law firm were flocking in droves to musical theater to watch a bunch of poor East Village bohemes sing about their travails.

The show was doubly poignant: several of its characters were HIV-positive in an era when AIDS was a death sentence, and Jonathan Larson, its creator, died unexpectedly on the eve of its off-Broadway opening.

“Rent’s” long Broadway run finally ended Sept. 7. The tributes and retrospectives have been pouring in, including this interesting showing an assortment of actors who have tackled the show’s major roles. (I’d forgotten about Norbert Leo Butz, who’s more frequently associated these days with comic characters).

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Los Angeles Opera, always first out of the gate, launches its 2008-2009 season tonight and tomorrow with the latter in its U.S. premiere. Film directors William Friedkin and Woody Allen direct the Puccini; David Cronenberg directs “The Fly.” I’ll post reviews of both here, Sunday and Monday late morning, respectively.

Monday afternoon, I have an interview scheduled with Carl St.Clair, and I’ll have that for you later in the week. The Pacific Symphony’s , who I wrote about earlier this week, will wind up the Verizon summer season with a Tchaikovsky spectacular.

Tuesday night, I’ll drive up to the Hollywood Bowl to hear . Along with Thursday’s repeat performance, these are his last appearances at the Bowl as music director of the L.A. Philharmonic. Christine Brewer, the celebrated Wagnerian, is among his soloists. My Mahler review will be online Wednesday.

That is all. I now return you to your regular programming.

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Kneeling Archer, Qin Dynasty (221-201 B.C.), clay with pigment.

The is giving folks a few more days to check out its landmark exhibition, “Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor.”

The closing date has been extended from Sunday, Oct. 12 to Thursday, Oct. 16. Plus, the museum will extend its hours to 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays starting Sept. 27. (Current hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m.) The museum will remain closed on Mondays.

The largest loan of terra cotta figures ever to travel from China to the U.S. has apparently done well, with about 137,000 tickets sold.

“Mummies” attracted 250,000, but that was on view for more than two years. “Forbidden City” sold about 100,000 tickets over six months.

Prices for “Terra Cotta” are a tad steep: $27 for adults on weekends, $21 for for students and seniors, $25 for adults on weekdays, $19 for students and seniors.

But if you go on Friday evenings, admission is free for the first 100 visitors at 4, 5, 6 and 7 p.m.

For more information, you can go to the .

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New preview dates have been announced for the debut production of Dolly Parton’s . The opening of the eagerly anticipated show was delayed due to unanticipated technical challenges, according to Ahmanson reps.

Here’s the Ahmanson’s announcement, including info on how ticket-holders for the cancelled previews will be accommodated:

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 Season tickets are now on sale for Orange County’s newest theater company, the Tustin Light Opera. The season consists of “Grease” (Oct. 17-26), “A Big Band Christmas” (Dec. 19-21) and “Peter Pan” (July 17-26).

Who would be foolish and/or smart enough to start such a venture? Limon Carr Productions, of course. The O.C. company runs several seasons in different parts of SoCal, but cofounder Joshua Carr said they always wanted to create a musical-theater season in their home town of .

“My partner Ray and I have been looking for a facility here in Tustin for many years,” Limon said. ”There just haven’t been the venues.”

Limon Carr is presenting Broadway seasons in Poway and Lake Havasu, but decided to take on the Tustin project when a space became available.

“This school theater became a possibility about six months ago. It’s practically in our back yard, which is perfect. We’ve lived here in Tustin for almost 25 years.”

There are no Equity (professional) performers in this season’s shows, but that could change, Carr said. “Next year we’re hoping the success of this season will allow us to have one or two Equity artists per production.”

So who’s going to show up in a county that’s already well served by musical theater?

“I think there’s enough of a demand right around here,” Limon said.  He said that Limon Carr’s Broadway in the Park series in Tustin regularly drew between 500 and 1000 people. “We’re finding with our (other shows) that we’re getting a lot of people from the Tustin-Santa Ana-Irvine area. I think they’ll like driving here rather than going all the way up to L.A. or Fullerton or over to Costa Mesa.”

Here’s more information if you’re interested in buying tickets to TLO’s first season:

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 The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization might be selling its vast musical library, which includes not only the songs of the famous musical-theater duo but some of the work of Irving Berlin and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber as well. The collection is estimated to be worth $150-$200 million.

Varietythat potential buyers include music giants Sony, Warner and Vivendi, although the R & H organization has not commented publicly on the possibility of a sale and Variety doesn’t name its sources.

The trust that controls the R & H organization is controlled largely by two of their offspring: Mary Rodgers Guettel and Alice Hammerstein Mathias.

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I told you, and I guess some of you listened. I’m just off the phone with the Chantel at the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and she says that there is one ticket left, in the choral terrace, for on Nov. 23 in Segerstrom Concert Hall. Call 949-553-2422 now!

There is a sliver of hope for the rest of you. The Society has a limited amount of tickets on “hold” that may go on sale closer to the concert date. But I wouldn’t hold your breath.

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The Getty Center in the evening. The institution is going to start closing at 5:30 p.m. most days. 

And now for the bad news: The J. Paul Getty Trust is announcing today that it is reducing the from $8 to $10.

Beginning Tuesday, Sept. 9, the Getty Center will close at 5:30 p.m. on all open days except Saturdays, when it will remain open until 9 p.m. Previously, the Getty Center had remained open until 6 p.m. Sundays and Tuesdays-Thursdays, and until 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The Getty is always closed on Mondays.

The Getty will still present ticketed events and performances on Friday evenings, but the galleries will not be open to the public. The will also close early on Fridays.

The new hours reflect peak attendance times, and represent a savings in cost and energy, without severely impacting visitors. The changes are part of the Getty’s strategic planning process begun earlier this year to streamline the institution’s operations.

Getty Villa hours will remain unchanged.

For details, call 310-440-7300 or go to .

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 Bradley Rapier, the high-energy Canuck who founded the ultra-successful hip-hop dance group The Groovaloos, is giving old-fashioned musicals a try. Rapier is choreographing an innovative, all-black Reprise production of “Once on This Island.” “At the first rehearsal I remember thinking, ‘Uh oh — what have I gotten myself into?’ This stuff is hard!”

It’s further proof that artistic director Jason Alexander wants to , which has puttered along for the last decade as a revival house for mostly obscure musicals.

“Island” opens tomorrow. Check out with Rapier and big-voiced chanteuse Ledisi.

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AP Photo/Lelli & Masotti/Teatro alla Scala

It seems that many of us are working too hard these days, especially the rich. Over at as a business model. Salmon quoth:

“He refuses to be at the beck and call of the record industry or the opera and concert managements who bombard him with offers. Even an admiring Herbert von Karajan himself was unable to tempt Kleiber to take a date with the Berlin Philharmonic, an engagement which any other conductor in the world would have grabbed without a second thought.

The reason, according to Karajan, was that Kleiber does not really enjoy conducting. ‘He tells me, ‘I only conduct when I am hungry.’ And it is true. He has a deep-freeze. He fills it up, and cooks for himself, and when it gets down to a certain level then he thinks, ‘now I might do a concert’. He is like a wolf.’”

Not all of us can live this way, of course. As a music critic it would be my dream. Sit at home and eat stuff out of the freezer and wait for some publication to call begging me to review a concert for a fee of tens of thousands of dollars.

Q: Dudamel at the L.A. Phil?

A: Hmmm, I don’t know. I’ve got plenty of those frozen fries from Trader Joe’s left.

Q: ‘The Fly” at L.A. Opera

A: Not really my thing (didn’t like the movie), and besides, I still have a month’s worth of waffles.

Q: The Pacific Symphony season opener, with organ?

A: You see, I’ve heard them like a gazillion times, not that that’s the deal breaker or anything. But, um, well, I haven’t even cracked the case of yet.

Then I’d go back to watching my stories and smoking Cubans.

Previously: .

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