WEEK IN PREVIEW

MOVIES

“Rounders,” a tale of one man’s journey through New York’s high-stakes underground poker world, stars Matt Damon (with Edward Norton, at right), Gretchen Mol, John Malkovich, John Turturro and Martin Landau. The latest from filmmaker John Dahl opens in general release on Friday.

MOVIES

The comedy-drama “Simon Birch” stars diminutive Ian Smith as a boy who believes God has a special plan for him and his only friend (Joe Mazello), who’s on a quest of his own: to learn the identity of his father. Also featuring Ashley Judd and Oliver Platt, the film opens Friday in general release.

THEATER

Theodore Bikel, Jonelle Allen, Rachel York and Gregory Jbara are among the cast in the Reprise! Broadway’s Best in Concert production of the Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht classic “The Threepenny Opera,” directed by Glenn Casale. It opens at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse on Wednesday.

DANCE

A new butoh collaboration by Sherwood Chen, Jamie Burris and the reliably astonishing Oguri, “thestreamofconsciousness,” plays Friday, Saturday and next Sunday in La Boca space at Sunshine Mission/Casa de Rosas in downtown L.A. prior to performances in England in October.

OPERA

It’s German-Mexican-French night at the opera Wednesday as tenor Ramon Vargas, above, returns to L.A. for the first time since his acclaimed 1996 Music Center debut. This trip, he plays Goethe’s tragic poet Werther in the eponymous opera by Massenet, Part 2 of L.A. Opera’s traditional season-opening double bill.

ART

From Neoclassicism to Cubism, the many styles of Pablo Picasso will be represented in “Picasso: Masterworks From the Museum of Modern Art” opening today at the L.A. County Museum of Art. Spanning more than 60 years, the survey will include paintings, drawings, sculptures, collages and prints.

POP MUSIC

Once dismissed as clowns, the Beastie Boys now sit on top of the pop world. With their new album “Hello Nasty” riding high on the charts, the New York-bred rap ‘n’ rollers invade Southern California for shows Tuesday at Cox Arena in San Diego and Friday and Saturday at the Great Western Forum.

VIDEO

When “Primary Colors” was released in March, Monica Lewinsky was front-page headlines. Now, Mike Nichols’ satire about a randy Southern presidential candidate is coming to video--and the Clinton scandal is as hot as ever. John Travolta and Emma Thompson star in the comedy, due in stores Tuesday.

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Early Warning: Place your bets on Trace Adkins, Travis Tritt, Tanya Tucker and Wynonna when “Hollywood Park Goes Country” on Oct. 11.