8 pm: Music

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, known for his technical excellence as well as a wide embrace of music and composers, leads a six-piece tango ensemble in “Tango Apasionado: Soul of the Tango,” a celebration of the late Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. Appearing with Ma are bandoneon player Nestor Marconi, violinist Antonio Agri and guitarist Horacio Malvicino, all of whom were members of Piazzolla’s band.

* Yo-Yo Ma, “Tango Apasionado: Soul of the Tango,” Wiltern Theatre, Wilshire Boulevard at Western Avenue. $47-55, $16 for UCLA students. (310) 825-2101.

7:30 & 8 pm: Theater

Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory is back with its 18th annual staging of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” The production features Jerry Patch’s adaptation of the classic in a lavish Victorian setting, with Hal Landon Jr. returning as Scrooge.

* “A Christmas Carol,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, Tuesdays-Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, noon and 4 p.m. Also Dec. 23, 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 24, noon and 4 p.m. Ends Dec. 24. $14-$36. (714) 708-5555.

7:30 pm: Multimedia

At a time when music and merchandising have become nearly synonymous, a coalition of socially active performers is convening to buck the tide. Exene Cervenkova, the funk hip-hop group Spearhead and the comedy troupe Culture Clash highlight “Poetic Justice,” an evening of music, spoken word, film, comedy and tagging designed as an artistic critique of the criminal justice system.

* “Poetic Justice” at Veterans Wadsworth Theater, Veterans Administration grounds, Brentwood. $15. (310) 825-2101.

8 pm: Theater

Justin Tanner’s acclaimed, dark holiday comedy, “Happytime Xmas,” about a woman who’s fed up with her dysfunctional family, returns to the Cast Theatre with Ellen Ratner and “Roseanne’s” Laurie Metcalf.

* “Happytime Xmas,” Cast Theatre, 804 N. El Centro Ave., Hollywood, Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. through Dec. 21. $20. (213) 462-0265.

all day: Movies

In “Good Will Hunting,” Gus Van Sant directs rising star Matt Damon as a brilliant but destructively angry Boston youth and Robin Williams as the therapist trying to figure him out. Minnie Driver and Ben Affleck co-star. Damon and Affleck wrote the screenplay.

* “Good Will Hunting” opens exclusively at the GCC Beverly Connection, La Cienega at Beverly boulevards, Los Angeles, (310) 659-5911; and Cineplex Odeon Broadway Cinemas, 1441 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, (310) 458-1506.

2 pm: TV Festival

Soap operas have attracted a larger audience in more countries over a longer period of time than any other genre of television. The Museum of Television & Radio explores the phenomenon in “Worlds Without End: The Art and History of the Soap Opera,” an 11-week series that includes a gallery exhibition of famous soap opera wedding gowns, screenings, seminars and a radio listening series. The series of screenings and seminars begins with a look at a pioneer of the genre in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Irna Phillips, in classic early episodes of “The Guiding Light,” “As the World Turns” and “Another World,” today-Sunday at 2 p.m. The exhibit opens Wednesday, and the first seminar will be on Dec. 11.

* “Worlds Without End: The Art and History of the Soap Opera,” through March 29 at the Museum of Television & Radio, 465 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. Museum Hours: Wednesdays-Sundays, noon-5 p.m. Also Thursday evenings until 9 p.m. Programs included with museum admission: adults, $6; students and seniors, $4; children under 13, $3; members, free. (310) 786-1000.

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FREEBIE: Multiethnic storytelling sessions at Montebello Town Center, 6 and 7 p.m. (213) 722-1776.