As to the question of closed geodesics all of the same length, there are [Zoll metrics][1], so the length spectrum doens't characterize even the round metric. See e.g. Besse's "Manifolds all of whose geodesics are closed" Springer 1978, or recent work by LeBrun and Mason on twistor methods applied to Zoll metrics.

On the other hand (and extremally opposite case), for a suitably generic metric, there is the Duistermaat-Guillemin trace formula which implies that the length and Laplace spectra determine each other. But there are isospectral non isometric surfaces. I don't know if there are spherical examples (this seems plausible via Sunada construction), and even if Zoll metrics are isospectral (which I doubt).

Hope this helps.


  [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoll_surface