ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

ENTERTAINMENT

Spreading the Bard’s Words: Miramax Films, the studio that released “Shakespeare in Love,” is putting that film’s talents to work on “Shakespeare in the Classroom,” an educational video and study guide aimed at prompting an understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare’s works among middle and high school students. Oscar nominee John Madden will direct the video, which will feature fellow Oscar candidates Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench and Geoffrey Rush. The teaching kit, to be formally announced in Washington next week by Paltrow, Madden and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, will focus specifically on the Bard’s love story “Romeo and Juliet,” and is expected to be available by the start of the coming school year.

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Pop Chart: Lauryn Hill’s Grammy bonanza continued well after the show’s end as sales of her celebrated album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” nearly doubled in the wake of her five Grammy wins and her performance on the show. Hill sold 235,000 copies last week of the 15-week-old album to land at No. 3 on the nation’s newest album chart, according to SoundScan. She was topped, however, by two debuts: hip-hop trio TLC’s “Fanmail” (318,000 copies) and rapper Eminem’s “Slim Shady LP” (283,000). Meanwhile, other Grammy performers, from Shania Twain to Sheryl Crow, had significant sales jumps, but perhaps the biggest winner was former Menudo star Ricky Martin, whose “Vuelve” sold 21,000 copies--a more than sixfold increase from his 3,400 in sales the previous week--after his crowd-pleasing rendition of the title track.

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‘Will’ Power: NBC will move “Will & Grace” to Thursdays starting April 8, replacing another first-year comedy, Christina Applegate’s “Jesse,” in the coveted 8:30 p.m. position between “Friends” and “Frasier.” A new sitcom starring “The Larry Sanders Show’s” Jeffrey Tambor, “Everything’s Relative,” will take over “Will & Grace’s” current 9:30 p.m. Tuesday slot while “Jesse” ends its season.

QUICK TAKES

20th Century Fox has set June 30, 2000--the Friday before July 4--as its release date for the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise pairing “Minority Report.” It becomes the first movie opening date set for 2000. . . . Citing irreconcilable differences, Oscar-nominated actress Lynn Redgrave has filed for divorce from director John Clark after nearly 32 years of marriage, amid reports that she recently found out he’d fathered a child with another woman eight years ago.