Quick Takes: Sondheim in big lights

Stephen Sondheim has received a belated birthday gift: his name on a Broadway theater.

The 1,055-seat venue on West 43rd Street that had been named after actor-producer Henry Miller was formally renamed Wednesday night and had its marquee lit in Sondheim’s honor. He turned 80 in March.

“I’m deeply embarrassed. I’m thrilled, but deeply embarrassed,” said Sondheim, who teared up as the sun fell over dozens of clapping admirers in Times Square. “I’ve always hated my last name. It just doesn’t sing.”

—Associated Press

DeGeneres signs U.K. teen

Ellen DeGeneres has signed another young singer to her new recording label.

The talk show host announced Thursday that 16-year-old Tom Andrews would be her second signing to eleveneleven. The former “American Idol” judge launched the label this year with 12-year-old YouTube sensation Greyson Chance. His album is due out this year.

Andrews is from the United Kingdom. He made his debut on the “Ellen” show on Thursday with a rendition of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.”

—Associated Press

Merle Haggard cancels shows

Merle Haggard has canceled 10 performances through the end of September after coming down with a chest infection, his spokeswoman said Thursday. That includes an appearance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” that the 73-year-old country music singer and songwriter had been slated to do on Tuesday.

The cancellations include dates in the South and on the East Coast. Haggard has returned to California and is consulting with his doctor about treatment. His spokeswoman said he is expected to recover in time to make a newly announced appearance with Kris Kristofferson on Oct. 23 for Neil Young’s annual Bridge School benefit concerts in Mountain View, Calif.

He’s also due at the White House in December to receive a Kennedy Center Honor.

—Randy Lewis

Doc’s focus is

on Weinstein

For two decades, Harvey Weinstein has been one of the movie industry’s most colorful and controversial behind-the-scenes players. Now he’s being thrust front and center.

Canadian documentarian Barry Avrich has made a film titled “Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project,” and on Thursday, IFC Films announced that it has acquired most world rights and will release the movie stateside.

A statement from IFC described the film as a “powerful, uncensored, no-holds-barred account” tracing Weinstein from his early days as a theater operator and concert promoter in upstate New York to the present day as the head of an embattled independent-film company. The period covers his discovery and promotion of numerous new film talents, his high-profile tangles with the Walt Disney Co. and his making no small number of enemies with a famously brass-knuckled approach.

Weinstein apparently did not cooperate with the production.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate picked up North American rights to “Rabbit Hole,” a drama about grieving parents (played by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart) that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. It will likely be released this year.

—Steven Zeitchik

L.A. conductor can’t perform

Conductor Jeffrey Kahane has canceled his season-opening appearances with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra due to illness, according to the organization.

Kahane, the company’s music director, is recovering from mononucleosis and “has been advised by his physicians not to rehearse or perform until he is fully recuperated,” the orchestra said Thursday.

Kahane was scheduled to lead chamber orchestra concerts on Sept. 25 and 26 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale and Royce Hall at UCLA, respectively.

Taking his place on the podium will be Julian Kuerti.

—David Ng

Finally

Casting: Rachel Ticotin will join the cast of NBC’s “Law & Order: Los Angeles” as a police lieutenant, replacing Wanda De Jesus.