Perhaps encouraged by the Broadway success of off-Broadway experiments Rent and Bring in 'Da Noise . . ., Lincoln Center Theatre will host the fall 1996 Broadway debut of Juan Darien, one of the most influential experimental music-theatre pieces of the past decade.

Tickets go on sale Sunday Oct. 13 through Tele-Charge (212) 239-6200. Previews begin Oct. 31 at the newly refurbished Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Lincoln Center for the piece by Julie Taymor and Elliott Goldenthal. Opening night will be Nov. 24.

Based on a short story by Uruguayan Horacio Quiroga, Juan Darien uses puppets, masked actors and unusual instruments. to tell -- in the form of a carnival Mass -- a folk tale about the effects of savagery on civilization. Taymor directs, adapted the text and designed the play's distinctive puppets and masks. Goldenthal composed the music.

Juan Darien debuted off-off-Broadway at Music-Theatre Group in 1988. It won the 1989 Richard Rodgers Award for musicals in development, and opened later that year off-Broadway.

Taymor was acclaimed in spring 1996 for her off-Broadway production of Carlo Goldoni's The Green Bird. She's also currently working with Disney to adapt its animated hit, The Lion King for Broadway. After Nov. 3 Juan Darien will share the theatre with Spalding Gray's new monologue It's a Slippery Slope, which will perform Sunday and Monday evenings.