A Weekend of ‘Ritual,’ ‘Ridicule’ and Santa

MOVIES: Since Orange County’s first Imax theater opened at the Edwards 21 Megaplex in Irvine, it has concentrated on the limited number of 3-D offerings--films that are often technically dazzling but less than inspired in other ways. A 2-D film opened this week, one that is satisfying both on the gee-whiz level and as moving documentary. “The Living Sea,” produced by Laguna Beach’s Greg MacGillivray and an Oscar nominee last year, celebrates the beauty of the ocean while reminding us of its fragility. Meryl Streep narrates, Sting provides music. . . . Patrice Leconte’s “Ridicule” (Music Hall, Beverly Hills; Monica 4-Plex; and South Coast Village 3, Costa Mesa) is an exceptionally involving costume drama set in the decadent world of Louis XVI’s Versailles, where “vices are without consequences but ridicule can kill.” It strikes a rare balance between the warmth of a traditional romance and an acid portrayal of a corrupt world. . . . Doug Pray’s “Hype!” (Edwards University, Irvine; AMC Mainplace Six, Santa Ana) is an impressively evenhanded documentary on the Seattle music scene, brilliantly synthesizing social anthropology and entertainment. . . . Keyed to the current stage revival of “Show Boat” at the Ahmanson, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s “Tribute to Jerome Kern” series commences tonight at 7:30 with “Till the Clouds Roll By” (1946), MGM’s glossy, all-star musical bio of Kern starring Robert Walker. (The 1936 James Whale version of “Show Boat” is being shown Saturday at 7:30 p.m.)

* MUSIC: The Pacific Symphony will present a holiday program with baritone Jubilant Sykes (story, F34) on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Soprano Pamela Hinchman and Michael Horton also will be soloists. The choir will be the All-American Boys Chorus. . . . Richard Westerfield leads the Pacific Symphony, Pacific Chorale and a quartet of soloists in Handel’s “Messiah” on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the center. The soloists will be soprano Pamela Hinchman, mezzo-soprano Mary Ann McCormick, tenor David Hamilton and baritone Thomas Scurich. . . . William Hall will lead his Master Chorale in a “Christmas for the Family” program Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the center. The All-American Boys Chorus will also sing. . . . Guest conductor Matthias Bamert leads the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble tonight at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater in Westwood and Saturday night at the Alex Theatre, Glendale, in a program of Haydn, Stephen Scott and Schubert. . . . Familiar nonseasonal music by Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens and Stravinsky makes up the admission-free program of the Santa Monica Symphony, Allen Robert Gross conducting, Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

* ART: Nostalgia rules at “Return to Route 66: Photographs from the Mother Road,” through March 16 at the Fullerton Museum Center. Built around Shellee Graham’s photographs of diners, towns, motels and travelers along the 70-year-old highway, the show also includes memorabilia lent by local collectors. . . . “Ritual and Splendor: Ancient Treasures From the Shumei Family Collection,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through Feb. 9, is a breathtaking example of a holding selected with a Japanese aesthetic. Stopping in Los Angeles before opening at the new Miho Museum outside Kyoto next year, this portion of the collection includes treasures from China, West Asia, Bactria, Greece, Rome and early Iran. In conjunction with the exhibition, Trudy Kawami of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation presents a lecture, “Glorious Creatures: Ancient Near Eastern Animals in the Shumei Family Collection,” Sunday at 1 p.m.

* DANCE: Ballet Pacifica will open a 14-performance run of “The Nutcracker” today at 7:30 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Performances continue Saturday, Sunday, Dec. 15 and Dec. 20-24 at 7:30 p.m, with 2:30 p.m. matinees on Saturday, Sunday and Dec. 20-24. . . . Multiple casts dance the San Francisco Ballet “Nutcracker” tonight, twice Saturday and Sunday afternoon at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. . . . Eight contemporary dancer-choreographers offer “A Festival of Solos and Duets” tonight through Sunday afternoon at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood.

* POP: Christmas is in the air and so are vintage O.C. punk rockers: The Vandals headline a holiday show Sunday at UC Irvine’s Crawford Hall, while CH3 and the Crowd (Friday) and One Hit Wonder and Jigsaw (Saturday) hold forth in Christmas benefit concerts at Linda’s Doll Hut in Anaheim. . . . The Galaxy Concert Theatre offers roots-rock stalwarts the Blasters on Saturday and modern-rock chanteuse Poe on Sunday. . . . Candye Kane, Strangefruit, Tribe 8 and others team up for the second annual Gender Bender Christmas Ball at the Alligator Lounge in Santa Monica, Saturday.

* JAZZ: Vocalist Thelma Jones can move easily between Billie Holiday-inspired ballads and Aretha Franklin swingers. She’ll be at Spaghettini in Seal Beach with her trio Saturday and Dec. 21. . . . Drummer Billy Higgins leads the list of all-stars, including Cedar Walton, Dorothy Donegan, Horace Tapscott and Oscar Brashear, paying tribute to Marla Gibbs on Sunday at the Visions Theatre Complex in Leimert Park. . . . Inner Voices, the a cappella vocal ensemble, makes merry with music of the season this Sunday and next at the Jazz Bakery in West Los Angeles.

* THEATER: It’s a theatrical Orange County institution: Hal Landon Jr. starring as Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol,” the Charles Dickens holiday tale adapted for the stage at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. . . . If you want to slip out of the holiday groove, catch these unusual offerings, both closing this weekend: “The Skin of Our Town” (at Glaxa Studios in Silver Lake), playwright Kate Noonan’s comic, offbeat examination of L.A., as inspired by Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” and “The Skin of Our Teeth”; and at the West Coast Ensemble in Hollywood, David Ives’ “Don Juan in Chicago,” an enjoyable comedy that catches up with the 16th century Lothario 400 years later, when he is exhausted and the devil is demanding his due.

* FAMILY: Children’s music faves Dan Crow, J.P. Nightingale, Uncle Ruthie Buell and Fred Sokolow, joined by rabbi-songwriter Neil Comess-Daniels of Beth Shir Sholom, present “Sharing the Holiday Lights,” a multicultural holiday concert Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Robert Frost Auditorium in Culver City. . . . Santa and his reindeer--a 40-foot banner powered by the 138-foot AltaVista Holiday Airship--will fly over the Long Beach, South Bay and Santa Monica areas Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The flyovers will continue above greater L.A. through Dec. 24 as part of AltaVista Internet Software’s campaign to increase awareness of the “For the Children” charities.

--Compiled by Calendar writers