FOOTLIGHTS
NEWS
Tango Shrine  Argentina plans to turn the home of the revered singer Carlos Gardel into the country's first tango museum. A spokesman for the Culture Department of Buenos Aires says that the house, in the center of the city where Gardel lived in his youth, is to be restored to 'reflect the way of life in the quarter in the 1920's.' When his songs became fashionable in Europe, Gardel, who died at 44 in a plane crash in 1935, brought the tango into vogue in Argentina, where the sensual dance had been rejected by the upper classes. The Culture Department spokesman said it was hoped that the museum would open by the end of next year.
Doing Evil  Sometimes it's good to be bad. That surely is the case with Steven Berkoff, whose excursion into Shakespearean evil at the Public Theater last month drew critical accolades and sold out Joe's Pub. So his 'Shakespeare's Villains: A Master Class in Evil' is coming back. Mr. Berkoff's one-man revel among rotters like Iago and Macbeth and Richard III will return on Jan. 10 for a three-week run at the Public's Anspacher Theater. Mr. Berkoff, who has played a villain or two himself ('Beverly Hills Cop'), says, 'The villain lets loose the dark inferno of the imagination by sharing his secrets with us and begs us to understand him by wooing us with his devious charms.'
Back in the U.S.S.R.  As the Soviet Union recedes into history, an exploration of art and power during the Stalin era provides the impetus for the American Symphony Orchestra concert at 8 p.m. tomorrow at Avery Fisher Hall as part of Lincoln Center's Great Performers series. Led by Leon Botstein, the three works that make up 'Forgotten Patriotisms: Music as Political History,' were written when the arts were expected to glorify Stalin. The compositions are Prokofiev's 'Zdravitsa' ('Hail to Stalin'), Shostakovich's Symphony No. 2 and Nikolai Miaskovsky's Symphony No. 6. Richard Wilson will give a preconcert lecture at 6:30 p.m. at the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center.
Paper Trail  In historical order, the lineup includes Leonardo, Raphael, Rubens, Francois Boucher, William Blake, Ingres and Seurat. They are the creative forces among the 80 masterworks on paper, some of them in the United States for the first time, that go on view at the Frick Collection today and remain through Jan. 25. On loan from the National Gallery of Scotland, 'The Draftsman's Art: Master Drawings From the National Gallery of Scotland' includes portraits, nudes, landscapes and historical subjects by European artists from the 15th through the 19th century.
LAWRENCE VAN GELDER