It has begun already: a summer of Michael Jackson memorial mania. Will his records top the charts? Will the O2 secure his sister, Janet, to play a series of concerts as a replacement for the 50 dates going begging at the massive London venue? What big names could replace him? Randy Phillips, president and CEO of AEG Live, says he is considering an all-star/Jackson family tribute show. The rumoured reuniting of boyband Blue, after a recent one-off date, just doesn’t cut it, however much you love All Rise.

The market for Jackson’s music and wares seems insatiable. There is continued speculation about the cause of the star’s death, his funeral, his will, his paternity (or not) of his children, wrangling over custody arrangements, the true identity/ies of the children’s mother/s, and on the cover of the new OK! magazine a proud, illustrative boast of the last-ever photograph of the singer as he was being taken to hospital. As in life so in death, drama will continue to reverberate around Jackson.

The O2 is too big to dwell on the Jackson saga for too long and will bounce back with an epic production of Ben Hur, 15 years in the making and including a live chariot race (from Sept 17). Stewart Copeland, founding member of the Police, will narrate the show, which cost £5 million to stage. The Proms at the Royal Albert Hall hosts the debut of drum ’n’ bass star Goldie as a classical composer, after his success as a contestant on the BBC series Maestro, in which he came second to Sue Perkins.

There are few big policy announcements expected over the summer with the Commons in recess. A report into the state of the library service in the Wirral will be published in July. The local council threatened to close 11 libraries (out of 34 in the area) in order to save costs, but the public outcry prompted this inquiry that will test what a “comprehensive and efficient” library service should look like. This seemingly esoteric investigation could have huge implications for libraries everywhere.

Those worried about the future of musical theatre can rest easier: a fortnight ago Arts Council England announced a grant of £188,860 to Perfect Pitch Musicals, an organisation dedicated to developing contemporary British musicals.

In July the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is expected to announce the first results from the Government’s scheme to offer free theatre tickets to the under-26s. The original plan was to offer 600,000 free seats over the next two years and officials report that early indications are that young people’s appetite for a freebie is holding up well.

Our leading theatres are facing upheaval. The Stage recently reported that Live Nation, the UK’s largest theatre operator, has put its entire stock of British venues up for sale. The paper expected that the move “could see the biggest overhaul in UK theatre ownership in a decade”. Live Nation owns 17 British theatres, including the Apollo Victoria and Lyceum in the West End.

Summer arts festival fever begins in Manchester, whose International Festival (mif.co.uk, until July 19) includes Rufus Wainwright’s opera Prima Donna. In August attention switches to Edinburgh, with its Fringe, international, art and (later) TV festivals. This year critics will be watching how the annual comedy prize (formerly the Perrier and If.Comedy awards, brilliantly satirised in Annie Griffin’s movie Festival) fares without sponsorship. On the Fringe alone there are 2,098 shows from 60 countries and 18,901 performers. Lionel Blair will be there, as will Julian Clary, Alistair McGowan and Denise van Outen, performing a musical show about blonde icons.

Away from Edinburgh, Ricky Gervais takes his show Science on a national tour. The artist Anish Kapoor has a show at the Royal Academy (from Sept 26) while the British Museum mounts an Aztec civilisation-themed blockbuster, Moctezuma (from Sept 24). The playwright Jez Butterworth, famed for Mojo, has a new play at London’s Royal Court (Jerusalem, from July 10) and Rachel Weisz stars as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar, from July 23). August brings the eagerly awaited return of Whitney Houston (her seventh studio album is expected to be released at the end of the month) and U2 on tour.

A varied line-up of movie blockbusters beckons. Sacha Baron Cohen’s controversial Brüno opens next Friday, the latest Harry Potter on July 15. Lars von Trier’s Antichrist (July 24) shocked Cannes, while Quentin Tarantino’s Second World War adventure, Inglourious Basterds, is released here on August 21.

The treat is Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces (August 28), featuring a sultry and wonderful Penélope Cruz in a typically overheated melodramatic stew from the Spanish director. When the next Jackson biopic comes to be made — with all its excesses, pet monkeys, shiny leather and grotesque swings and roundabouts — please let Almodóvar be the one to direct it.