A decade of merger-mania has changed the face of Los Angeles.

BellSouth, for instance, has been singularly restrained in its approach to the merger-mania that has swept the telecommunications industry.

But corporate culture is conquering Broadway as it has the rest of show biz - with even theatrical producers making headlines this month by belatedly engaging in merger-mania.

Although the telecom industry on the one hand is succumbing to merger-mania, on the other hand it's seeing new players spring up regularly, and it's now seeing wannabes such as RCN and Qwest becoming real contenders.

Since acquisitions almost universally occur at a price above the current market price, and since bidding wars (of all kinds) tend to drive prices far above fair value, investors have jumped into the drug stocks, assuming that merger-mania has to be good for them.