From the New Edition to Old Fave 'Star Wars'

L.A. Times Archives

Jan. 31, 1997 12 AM PT

* POP: The New Edition reunion tour arrives at the Pond of Anaheim on Saturday, a week before its Forum date. Blackstreet and Keith Sweat also are on the bill.

* ART: The Irvine Fine Arts Center will hold a symposium, “The State of Contemporary Landscape Painting,” with artists, curators and others, on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Prepayment ($20 per person, including breakfast snack) is required. . . . Pepperdine University’s “Sam Francis: The Archetypal Image” takes a fresh look at the late artist by focusing on the largely ignored metaphysical aspects of his work. This challenging exhibition explores the abstract master’s interest in Zen and the psychoanalytic theories of Carl Jung through unusual works on paper and prints and surprising self-portraits. At the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu.

* THEATER: The big new theatrical event in Orange County is “Quidam,” the latest Cirque du Soleil production, which just opened at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. . . . Also this weekend, at the UC Irvine Concert Hall there’s a full-dress production of Moliere’s “The Misanthrope.” . . . “Arcadia” is Tom Stoppard’s terrific excursion through time, back and forth between 1809 and the present. A grand play of ideas, romance and literary sleuthing, it continues at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles. . . . “Radio Mambo: Culture Clash Invades Miami,” which won an Ovation Award last year for best ensemble performance, plays Saturday only at Cal State L.A.’s Luckman Theatre. . . . The Grace Players serve up an entertaining exploration of twists of fate in “An Age of Angels,” nine well-acted monologues that link nine characters with a soccer ball, at the Egyptian Arena Theatre in Hollywood. . . . Tom Slovick and Suanne Spoke are superb in “David’s Mother,” Bob Randall’s play about an autistic teenager and his caustically funny, needy mom, at the Angels Theatre in Silver Lake.

* MOVIES: “Star Wars” (countywide) the first installment in George Lucas’ epic space trilogy, comes back to the big screen 20 years after it first wowed audiences. . . . Meanwhile, a new version of an even older--by a few centurie--epic is also playing throughout the county. Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet” (Edwards Newport Cinemas) makes no concessions in length (at four hours, it uses the complete text) but does bring in some familiar Hollywood faces who help raise the accessibility factor. . . . Veteran Czech writer-actor Zdenek Sverak and his director-son Jan have come up with a sure-fire heart-tugger, “Kolya” (at the Sunset 5 in West Hollywood and the Westside Pavilion in West L.A.), a wry comedy that takes its title from a 5-year-old Russian boy (Andrej Chalimon) who unexpectedly ends up in the care of a middle-aged playboy-musician (Zdenek) as the tumultuous Velvet Revolution of 1989 unfolds. It’s the official Czech Republic Oscar entry. . . . John Cleese has reassembled the cast of “A Fish Called Wanda” for the hit-and-miss (but mostly hit) “Fierce Creatures” (general release), a farce about attempts to save a London zoo and its inhabitants from the commercial wiles of its conglomerate parent. With Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. . . . The Pan African Film Festival is in full swing through Feb. 9 at the Magic Johnson Theaters in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, with a rich and widely varied array of worthy and distinctive films, among them “Ava & Gabriel,” a sly, stinging fable from Curacao being shown Sunday at 8:25 p.m. . . . “Trojan Eddie,” an impassioned Irish comedy-drama teaming Stephen Rea and Richard Harris, screens (for a second time) tonight at 9:30 at the Raleigh Studios in Hollywood as part of the American Cinematheque’s “What’s New From Britain’s Channel 4 Television” series. . . . “Out of Russia: The Films of Sergei Bodrov,” three films from the director of Russia’s impressive official Oscar entry “Prisoner of the Mountain,” are being shown at the L.A. County Museum of Art this weekend. “Freedom Is Paradise” (1989), about a 12-year-old reform school runaway, and “Non-Professionals” (1985), about a rock band traveling in the Kazakh outback, are on tonight starting at 7:30. “I Wanted to See Angels” (1992) offers a surreal tour of a lawless frontier Moscow in the ‘90s as a biker rides into town to collect a debt; it screens Saturday night at 7:30, followed by a showing of that biker’s favorite movie, Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider” (1969).

* MUSIC: Dmitry Sitkovetsky will conduct the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra in music by Bach, Strauss and Stravinsky on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The program will include Sitkovetsky’s transcription of Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations for string orchestra. The program is sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. . . . Musica Angelica will present a “Schubertiade” program celebrating Franz Schubert’s 300th birthday on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Newport Harbor Lutheran Church in Newport Beach. The program will include solo sonatas and lieder. . . . Excerpts from Chinese operas performed in the Kun style will be presented on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. “The Enchanting Sounds” program will include folk and classical Chinese music played on traditional instruments. . . . The Harmonia Baroque Players and Friends will present “Musica Latina” on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Christ Church by the Sea United Methodist in Newport Beach. . . . The L.A. Chamber Orchestra, with guest conductor Jaime Laredo, plays three times this weekend: tonight at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater in Brentwood, Saturday night at the Alex Theatre in Glendale and Sunday afternoon at 3 at Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln Park. . . . Saturday night at the Veterans Wadsworth, the touring ensemble Israel Camerata Jerusalem performs with piano soloist Claude Frank. The program includes two concertos by Mozart. . . . Conductor Bundit Ungrangsee leads the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra at the Wilshire-Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon at 4. The soloist will be violinist Candace Chang.

* DANCE: For the eighth consecutive year, Riverside Community College and the Inland AIDS Project will present a “Dancers for Life” concert, Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Landis Auditorium on campus. Choreographers include Benita Bike, Stephanie Gilliland, Scott Heinzerling, Fred Strickler and Tina Gerstler. All have volunteered their work, and all proceeds go to the Project.

* JAZZ: Chip off the ol’ block vocalist Frank Sinatra Jr. comes to Twin Palms in Newport Beach tonight at 9 and 10:30 p.m. with a 19-piece swing band to follow in pop’s sizable footsteps. . . . Brazilian-born Tania Maria, a singer and classically trained pianist who lived in Paris for a while, delivers especially tasteful treatments of her homeland’s rhythmic styles. She continues through Sunday at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood.

* FAMILIES: Dallas Children’s Theatre updates a familiar fairy tale with its touring production “Cinderella, or Everybody Needs a Fairy Godmother,” Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Pepperdine’s Smothers Theatre in Malibu, and Sunday at 1, 4 and 6:30 p.m. at the Norris Theatre in Rolling Hills Estates. . . . The We Tell Stories theater troupe’s newest show for ages 5 to 12 is “The Truth About Medusa,” about mythological creatures and a young hero on a quest, Saturdays at 11 a.m. at the Ivy Substation in Culver City. Admission is free.

--Compiled by Calendar writers

From the New Edition to Old Fave ‘Star Wars’

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