`RAGTIME' TO MAKE U.S. DEBUT AT SHUBERT.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

`Ragtime,'' the widely praised new musical based on E.L. Doctorow's best-selling 1975 novel, will make its American premiere at the Shubert Theatre in Century City on June 15, it was announced Wednesday. Previews begin May 29.

``Ragtime'' will be produced by Livent Inc., a Toronto-based company responsible for some of the most successful Broadway musicals in recent years, including ``Show Boat'' and ``Kiss of the Spider Woman.''

``This is a sit-down production, not a road show,'' said playwright Terrence McNally, who adapted Doctorow's sprawling historical novel for the stage. ``It will be preceded by a very long rehearsal period of six weeks.''

More than two years in the making, the ambitious musical debuted in Toronto on Dec. 8 to glowing reviews. With 59 performers and a running time of nearly three hours, its proportions rival those of Livent's most celebrated creation, its Tony-winning 1994 revival of ``Show Boat.''

`Purple Noon' to dawn again?: Anthony Minghella, whose ``The English Patient'' is emerging as an Oscar favorite, is zeroing in on future movie projects. At the top of the list: a new version of Patricia Highsmith's ``The Talented Mr. Ripley.'' Minghella, whose films include ``Truly Madly Deeply'' and ``Mr. Wonderful,'' has adapted the mystery novel for Sydney Pollack's Mirage Enterprises. ``That could very well be my next directing project,'' he said. If Minghella does make the film, it won't be the first time Ripley has come to the screen. He was the protagonist of the French thriller ``Plein Soleil'' (Purple Noon) - the first version of ``The Talented Mr. Ripley'' - and Wim Wenders' ``The American Friend.'' While awaiting word on ``Ripley,'' Minghella said, ``I'm talking to (`Patient' distributor) Miramax about continuing this relationship; it's been a dream for me.'' If a new deal with Miramax goes ahead, it will be an original project written and directed by Minghella. ``The blessing of my position - also its curse, incidentally - is that I write and direct films,'' he said. ``At some point I need to get off the bus of promoting `English Patient' and get into my room.''

Cincinnati Kid redux: Oxford don. Friend of Sylvia Plath. Author of a tome about suicide. And now a poker pundit? That's right, British poet and cultural maven A. Alvarez is teaming with producer Max Rosenberg (``The Land That Time Forgot'') to develop a feature about the World Series of Poker. Alvarez has been a regular in the annual tournament at Binion's Horseshoe and wrote a book on the subject, ``The Biggest Game in Town.'' ``I guess my great claim to fame is that I'm the only serious poet to have competed in the World Series of Poker,'' said Alvarez, adding (one presumes with tongue in cheek), that ``in fact, the great irony of my life is that, although I genuinely changed the way people in the English-speaking world read poetry in the second half of this century, thanks to my poker book, the only place I am truly famous is Las Vegas, Nev.''