It's been a long time since he won a Tony Award for Speed-the Plow, but actor Ron Silver is finally returning to the stage. Silver will star as rock music impresario Bill Graham in Robert Greenfield's Bill Graham Presents at the Canon Theater in Los Angeles. Previews begin April 20 for a six-week run that will open on April 30.

The one-man show is expected to travel to New York after its L.A. run.

Silver's theatre resume has been an odd one since he attained a career peak as a violent and hilarious Hollywood dealer in Mamet's Speed-the Plow. Twice he has almost made it back to Broadway, in David Hirson's La Bete and Arthur Miller's Broken Glass. In both cases, however, he exited the productions out of town, for reasons which remain murky.

In Greenfield's work, he will play the legendary Graham, who, during the '60s and early '70s, presented concerts by The Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Otis Redding, The Doors, Eric Clapton, The Who, Santana and The Allman Brothers at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York.

Greenfield knows his subject matter well. In addition to being a playwright (Temple), he is a former editor at Rolling Stone magazine and has written books on The Rolling Stones and Jerry Garcia, as well as Graham. He was also a co-writer on the NBC mini-series "The Sixties." Ethan Silverman, who directed Temple, will helm Bill Graham Presents.

Silver's many films include "Enemies: A Love Story," "Blue Steel" and "Reversal of Fortune."

Tickets are $30-$50. The Canon Theatre is located as 205 North Canon Drive, Beverly Hills. For more information, call (310) 859-2830.

--By Robert Simonson