Best Bets: Fri 10/16

11 am: Art

Highlights from three collections to be auctioned next month in New York provide a rare--and free--opportunity to view modern and contemporary classics outside a museum in the Sotheby’s Fall Auction Preview. Experts will be on hand to discuss fine examples of Impressionism, Modernism and postwar art, such as Cezanne’s landscape “L’Estaque Vu a Travers Les Pins” and Van Gogh’s “Toits Chaumes a Auvers,” from the Reader’s Digest Collection; a 1909 Cubist nude by Picasso, from the Morton G. Neumann Family Collection; and Jackson Pollock’s #17 from the Mildred and Herbert Lee Collection.

* “Sotheby’s Fall Auction Preview,” Sotheby’s, 9665 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission free. (310) 274-0340.

8 pm: Theater

Tony Award winner John Glover and Emmy Award winner Laurie Metcalf (“Roseanne”) headline in Justin Tanner’s hit comedy “Party Mix,” opening for a six-performance fund-raising run to benefit the CAST Theatre.

* “Party Mix,” CAST-at-the-Circle, 800 N. El Centro Ave., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. $15. (323) 462-0265.

7 & 9:30 pm: Movies

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will screen two movies featuring the music of composer George Gershwin (who would have celebrated his 100th birthday last month). “Rhapsody in Blue” is a 1945 glossed-up biography of the composer, who died in 1937, and “Shall We Dance” is a delightful Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers trifle from 1937. The music in both films is, well, sublime.

* Academy Standards Series, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Samuel Goldwyn Theater, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. “Rhapsody in Blue,” 7 p.m.; “Shall We Dance,” 9:30 p.m. $3-$5. (310) 247-3600.

All Day: Art

Artworks created for public display will be showcased in “New Windows at One Colorado,” a monthlong exhibition beginning Friday in Old Pasadena. Installed in the windows, lampposts, walls and rooftops of the 17 historic buildings and alleyways of One Colorado, the 16 site-specific works will include a “brain dart” flying over the courtyard, a runaway Rose Bowl float crashing through the wall of Crate & Barrel and a 16-foot neon iguana perched on a courtyard lamppost. In addition, live performances will augment the installations on the weekends of Oct. 23-24, Nov. 6-7 and Nov. 13-14.

* “New Windows at One Colorado,” One Colorado courtyard, Fair Oaks Avenue between Union Street and Colorado Boulevard, Old Pasadena. Ends Nov. 14. Live street performances will be held on the weekend evenings of Oct. 23-24, Nov. 6-7 and Nov. 13-14. Admission is free. (626) 564-1066.

5:30 & 8 pm: Culture

“Shakespeare, Passion and the Body Politic,” a weekend of readings, lectures, panel discussions, photography and music presented by Shakespeare Globe Centre (USA), opens with “Private Bodies/Public Lives: The Portrait Photography of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders” and keynote speaker Camille Paglia. Other events include a staged reading of Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” and a conference with panelists John Rechy, Sandra Tsing Loh, Charles Marowitz and other authors and critics.

* “Shakespeare, Passion and the Body Politic,” Friday, 5:30-7:30 p.m.: gallery reception and photography exhibition, Los Angeles Theatre Center Lobby, 514 S. Spring St., downtown Los Angeles, reservations required. (310) 289-2140. Also Friday, 8-9:30 p.m.: keynote speech, Mark Taper Auditorium, Los Angeles Public Library, 630 W. 5th St., $7. (310) 289-2140. Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.: conference panels; also Saturday, 7:30 p.m.: “Antony and Cleopatra,” Mark Taper Auditorium, $10 for conference and reading. Sunday, 2 p.m.: “Royal Winter Music,” Mark Taper Auditorium. Free.

8 pm: Pop Music

Best known for her stunning rendition of the theme from “Goldfinger,” Welsh-born singer Shirley Bassey has been putting her dynamic voice to pop tunes for more than 40 years. During two nights in Cerritos, her big sound and stage presence will get equally big accompaniment from full orchestra.

* Shirley Bassey, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive. Also Saturday. $42-$57. (562) 916-8500.

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Freebie: Choirs perform at Gospel Sing, Azusa Pacific University’s Upper Turner Campus Center, 7:30 p.m. (800) 825-5278.