Critics' Choice

CINEMA

A TAXING WOMAN. An immovable object in the shape of a greedy, tax-resisting real estate magnate meets the irresistible force of a zealous lady tax collector. Japan's Juzo Itami (Tampopo) collects our interest and offers sly dividends.

WINGS OF DESIRE. An angel, tantalized by the pleading voices of humanity, falls in love and then to earth. A timeless fantasy in today's West Berlin.

ARIA. Assign ten directors to work daft magic on ten of opera's greatest hits, and the result is this beguiling pastiche of long-haired "videos." Ken Russell wins top prize for his Turandotty dream sequence.

MUSIC

ERIC CLAPTON: CROSSROADS (Polydor). Twenty-five years of mean guitar spread over 73 (count 'em) cuts. There're genius, passion and elegance here, as well as a fair bit of fluff.

GRAHAM PARKER: THE MONA LISA'S SISTER (RCA). New tunes as tough and tender as a dime novel. Parker hasn't released an album since 1985, but this one makes up for a lot of lost time.

GERSHWIN: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, RHAPSODY IN BLUE, CONCERTO IN F (Arabesque). Present at the creation as a player in the Gershwin band, Mitch Miller conducts George the way it oughtta be done -- with love and verve and gusto.

TELEVISION

OMNIBUS (ABC, May 26, 10 p.m. EDT). Beverly Sills is host, and Bernardo Bertolucci and David Hockney are among the subjects of this "cultural excursion" based on the 1950s series.

VREMYA (The Discovery Channel, May 29 to June 2, 9 p.m. EDT). While Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Moscow, the Soviet Union's nightly newscast (its title in English: Time) will be transmitted to U.S. viewers for the first time.

THE TONY AWARDS (CBS, June 5, 9 p.m. EDT). Angela Lansbury is host of Broadway's biggest night. Battle to watch: Into the Woods vs. The Phantom of the Opera for Best Musical.

THEATER

SPEED-THE-PLOW. Playwright turned Filmmaker David Mamet returns to Broadway and skewers Hollywood. Singer Madonna stars as a temp secretary with big plans.

TEN PERCENT REVUE. After stagings around the U.S., this glimpse of gay life in lilting songs and wry, affecting lyrics arrives off-Broadway.

THE COCOANUTS. Is that really Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo? No, but Washington's Arena Stage has fizzily reconstructed their 1925 Broadway hit with George S. Kaufman's script, Irving Berlin's score and some apt impersonations.

BOOKS

QUINN'S BOOK by William Kennedy (Viking; $18.95). The author of the acclaimed Albany trilogy indulges himself in a picaresque romp through 19th century scenes, both real and riotously imagined. And yes, much of the fun occurs in Albany.

THE DEATH OF METHUSELAH AND OTHER STORIES by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $17.95). At 83, the Yiddish yarn spinner shows undiminished power to capture the peculiar din of human commerce.

ELIA KAZAN: A LIFE by Elia Kazan (Knopf; $24.95). A bustling, bruising, unbridled autobiography by a leading film and theatrical director and force of nature.