With just six weeks to go, the L.A. Phil has yet to announce the cast for Stephen Sondheim’s problematic pointillist masterpiece, inspired by Georges Seurat, originally headed by an on-fire Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. Book anyway. There’s talent to burn in them thar Hollywood hills. For now, we know that the orchestra’s indefatigable music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel, a/k/a The Dude, is conducting, which is neat, because this is a supertricky score. But news flash: no one goes to a musical for the conductor. Much more buzzworthy, for now, is the prospect of the production by Zack Winokur, a dancing, dance-making, and directing triple threat who is ready for his MacArthur. —M.G.