WEEK IN PREVIEW

MOVIES

Director Robert Benton reteams with “Nobody’s Fool” author Richard Russo and star Paul Newman in “Twilight.” Newman plays a retired L.A. private eye who does a favor for a friend and winds up in a complex murder-mystery. Susan Sarandon and Gene Hackman co-star. Opens Friday in general release.

MOVIES

“I Love You, Don’t Touch Me!,” a romantic comedy for the ‘90s, stars Marla Schaffel, who discovers that Mr. Perfect isn’t always Mr. Right. With Mitchell Whitfield and Michael Harris. Written and directed by Julie Davis in her feature debut. Opens Friday in general release.

THEATER

Not all is as it appears when two middle-aged couples get together for dinner after a Broadway show, in the return of Anne Meara’s hit comedy “After-Play,” opening Tuesday at the Can~on Theatre. Beatrice Arthur, Paul Dooley, Robert Mandan and Marian Mercer head the cast.

MUSIC

Argentine-born Mauricio Kagel has ridden the crest of the avant- garde as a filmmaker, playwright and composer. Tuesday, he conducts two of his iconoclastic works in their West Coast premieres, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group at the Japan America Theatre.

DANCE

With a set utilizing two tons of rice, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan returns to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts from Wednesday through Saturday in Lin Hwai-Min’s daring, full-length epic of spiritual renewal, “Songs of the Wanderers,” never before presented in the United States.

ART

“Women in Hopi Culture: Photographs From the Collection of the Southwest Museum,” opening Saturday, will showcase the artistic and cultural traditions of the Hopi people. It joins “Designs for Sharing: A Century of Hopi Wicker Basketry” on exhibit at the venerable Mt. Washington museum.

POP MUSIC

A virtual who’s who of ‘70s pop stars will pay tribute to the late Nicolette Larson in benefit concerts Friday and Saturday at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium: Bonnie Raitt; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Jackson Browne; Emmylou Harris; Carole King; Linda Ronstadt and Jimmy Buffett (Saturday only).

JAZZ

Veteran trumpeter Buddy Childers (he played many stints with Stan Kenton’s band decades ago) brings his hard-swinging orchestra to Moonlight in Sherman Oaks Tuesday. Also on the bandstand: singer Joanie Somers (she had a Top 10 hit with “Johnny Get Angry” in 1962).

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Early Warning: The Burt Bacharach / Hal David musical “What the World Needs Now . . .” has its world premiere April 2 at the Old Globe in San Diego.