Colavito

As its title suggests, Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" is fiery stuff. Emotions sizzle, tempers flare and the language is strewn with enough profanity to spontaneously ignite. In the intimate confines of Fells Point Corner Theatre, this impassioned work, directed by Steve Goldklang, all but singes you."Burn This" is about the heat that's generated when opposites attract, and the chill that engulfs people who hide from the truth, or pretend they're something they're not.The chief conflict concerns a dancer from a privileged background who is attracted -- like a moth to a flame -- to the unstable, crude older brother of her recently deceased dancing partner and roommate.

Wouldn't it be nice if before we die, a guardian angel not only notified us of our impending demise, but encouraged us to tie up any emotional loose ends so we could die in peace?That's the basic premise of Robert Leland Taylor's "Those Strange and Glorious Years," the first play in the 16th annual Baltimore Playwrights Festival.As directed by Bob Bardoff at the Spotlighters, it's well-acted -- particularly by lead actors Tony Colavito, as Dennis, the over-worked businessman who is about to kick off, and Belinda Kalinin as his unfaithful young wife, Vera.

VIDEO'Avalon' comes home "Avalon," the Barry Levinson film covering three generations of a Baltimore clan, is a loving tribute to the city and to the writer-director's own family, on whom the film was based. Elizabeth Perkins and Aidan Quinn are in the cast of the film, which was shot on location in Baltimore and the surrounding area. That's just one reason to see the film, in case you missed it on the big screen -- but there are many, many others as well. Language. Rating: PG-13. ****The Baltimore premiere of David Mamet's acclaimed comedy "Speed-the-Plow" is on stage at the Spotlighters Theatre.

There's a flip side to just about everything. In "Spike Heels," the heroine, Georgie, initially complains that her feet ache from the high heels she wears to the office to please men. A day later she's wearing even higher heels, and now she's happy about it, because the added height allows her to see eye-to-eye with men.Love works pretty much the same way in this romantic comedy, written by Theresa Rebeck and receiving its Baltimore premiere at the Vagabond...

Devil Rays: The team has 74 errors, second-fewest in the majors. No expansion team has ever committed fewer than 125 errors in its initial season.Indians: Manny Ramirez's 116 RBIs while playing right field this season are a club record, surpassing Rocky Colavito's 113 in 1958. Joey Cora is Cleveland's seventh second baseman this season and 15th since Carlos Baerga was traded to the Mets in 1996.Mariners: Ken Griffey tried on a New England Patriots' jersey with "No. 24, Griffey," on the back in the clubhouse before the game and joked, "I'm going out to catch some passes."

AMERICAN LEAGUE He said it "The fans in Detroit were great, but Cleveland is just so special." Rocky Colavito, dealt by Indians to Tigers in controversial 1960 trade, after being honored yesterday as one of the top 100 Indians On deck The Yankees will receive their World Series rings today. NATIONAL LEAGUE He said it "[Barry Bonds] told me what kind of numbers I could put up to get in the Hall of Fame. Five or six hundred home runs - I think I can do that pretty easy." Gary Sheffield, Dodgers outfielder who has hit 301 On deck Andy Benes will throw another simulated game Tuesday before returning to the Cardinals rotation Saturday.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Cal Ripken is on the verge of joining an elite club that includes only seven members.The next home run for the Orioles' All-Star shortstop will give him at least 20 for each of the first 10 years of his career. There are no active players who have accomplished the feat.Five of the seven who hit at least 20 homers in their first 10 years are Hall of Famers and another (Reggie Jackson) is headed for Cooperstown. Eddie Mathews tops the list, having hit 20 or more home runs in his first 14 seasons (1952-65)

'Waltz of the Toreadors' to open Theatre Hopkins seasonTheatre Hopkins opens its season Friday with Jean Anouilh's romantic farce "The Waltz of the Toreadors." Performances are scheduled Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., Sundays at 2:15 p.m., through Dec. 15. Tickets are $7.50 and $10.The rest of the season: Shaw's "The Devil's Disciple" (Feb. 14 to March 15), David Williamson's "The Emerald City" (April 24 to May 24) and, as the annual outdoor production (June 20 to July 5), Clifford Odets' "The Flowering Peach" (June 20 to July 5)

Commissiona will conduct BSO in concert seriesVery few conductors lead the brilliantly colored music of France and Russia as well as Sergiu Comissiona. So the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra laureate conductor's concerts this week at the Meyerhoff Hall should be among the new year's high points. The beloved Romanian will conduct excerpts from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," Rachmaninoff's "Caprice Bohemien" and Ravel's G Major Concerto (with the fine Canadian pianist Louis Lortie). Tickets are $17 to $48 for the 8:15 p.m. concerts Thursday and Friday, and $10-$26 for the performance at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Long-winded is a term that could justifiably be applied to George Bernard Shaw -- but not at Theatre Hopkins. That's because director Suzanne Pratt has put together an anthology of Shaw shorts, or as she's calling them, Shaw: Four Starters. The program consists of prologues and/or first acts of four Shaw plays, from the familiar (Arms and the Man) to the semi-obscure (Too True to Be Good). There's a degree of timeliness to Pratt's selections -- war, leadership and health care (even the efficacy of flu shots)