"Theatre Talk," the acclaimed PBS talk show that features interviews with top theatre personalities, returns for its spring season with Broadway producer Cameron Mackintosh as its first guest.

Hosted by New York Post theatre columnist Michael Riedel and producer Susan Haskins, the program will focus on Mackintosh's newest hit, Oklahoma!, which officially opened March 21 to mostly rave reviews. In his New York Times commentary, Ben Brantley had this to say about the Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein classic: "In their freshly reconceived version of . . . Oklahoma!, which opened last night at the Gershwin Theater, the director Trevor Nunn and the choreographer Susan Stroman find rushing erotic currents in the frontier spirit . . . this resurrection of Rodgers and Hammerstein's epochal show is dewy with an adolescent lustiness, both carnal and naïve, exuberant and confused. There's a glistening sense of young people eagerly groping their way through an unfamiliar landscape."

Mackintosh, who is the producer of such international hits as Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, will discuss his new production — which began life at London's Royal National Theatre — as well as his 35-year theatrical career, including his decision to stop producing new works. Mackintosh, who was knighted in the 1996 New Year's Honours for his services to the British theatre, owns seven West End theatres including The Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, Gielgud, Queens, Wyndhams, Albery and the Strand.

"Theatre Talk" airs Friday nights at midnight on WNET/Thirteen.

—By Andrew Gans