Best Bets / FEBRUARY 21-27

Movies

Nicolas Cage, above, stars in “8 MM” as a private eye living a simple life in Pennsylvania until a reel of film propels him into a dangerous cross-country adventure. The thriller, directed by Joel Schumacher, opens in general release Friday.

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“Just the Ticket” stars Andy Garcia in a story of love, redemption and faith centering on a ticket scalper with one last chance to hold on to the woman he loves. Andie MacDowell co-stars in the film, opening Friday in general release.

Theater

Actors’ Gang launches its 1999 main-stage season with David Schweizer’s adaptation of Phillip Dunning and George Abbott’s 1926 gangland musical “Broadway,” set in a Roaring ‘20s cabaret. The production--about a hoofer, his sweet young protegee and the suave gangster who pursues her--opens Friday.

Jazz

Back in the 1960s, Pharoah Sanders had one of the most intense styles of all avant-garde tenor-saxophonists. He has mellowed with age, become a notable ballad interpreter and often pays homage to his main influence, John Coltrane. Sanders will be at Catalina Bar & Grill this week, starting Tuesday.

Pop Music

Salsa matriarch Celia Cruz, above, has been playing clubs such as the House of Blues and the Conga Room on her recent visits, but Friday she heads a large-scale spectacle, sharing the bill at the L.A. Sports Arena with Nuyorican diva India and Grammy-nominated merengue newcomer Elvis Crespo.

Music

Violin soloists dominate the landscape this week. Hilary Hahn plays the Brahms Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and guest conductor Franz Welser-Most for four performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, beginning Thursday. JoAnn Falletta and her Long Beach Symphony will host Robert McDuffie playing the Miklos Rozsa Concerto on Saturday at Long Beach’s Terrace Theater, while on thay same night, 17-year-old Karen Gomyo performs the Glazunov Concerto with the Pasadena Symphony at Pasadena Civic Auditoriium.

Art

“Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1785-1925,” the first major survey to focus on the large-scale court and popular religious paintings from the period, will open Wednesday at the Armand Hammer Museum. The exhibition will also include court portraits and narrative works from 36 collections including “‘Exorcist and Clients,” above.

Video

After winning four Emmys for recent TV work, director John Frankenheimer returned to the big screen with the entertaining thriller “Ronin.” Robert De Niro and Jean Reno head the cast of this fast-paced caper shot in colorful European locales. “Ronin” blasts into video stores on Tuesday.

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A cautionary tale about the perils of fame as only writer-director John Waters can deliver, Pecker stars Edward Furlong as a young photographer living in Baltimore’s wacked-out wonderland of innocence until he nearly throws it all away for a few New York moments of art world fame. It comes to stores Tuesday.