BEST BETS / Friday 10/22

noon

Art

Los Feliz’s fun alternative gallery George’s hosts “Phototron 2000,” a photo free-for-all that is open to anyone with a few bucks and a snapshot. Entering the contest is simple: Just submit an unframed and unmounted snapshot for $10. Half of the entry fee will go into a cash jackpot with the winner announced at a Nov. 13 reception. Last year, more than 200 photographers entered the phototron, resulting in more than 600 photos covering the walls of the gallery from floor to ceiling and $1,200 for winner Gregory Bojorquez.

“George’s Phototron 2000,” George’s, 1766 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. A reception will be held Nov. 13 from 6-9 p.m. Daily, noon-7 p.m. Ends Nov. 28. Free. (323) 666-9447.

all day

Movies

Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “Bringing Out the Dead,” stars Nicolas Cage as a New York paramedic whose years of exposure to death and violence on the night shift begin to push him over the edge. The film also stars Cage’s wife, Patricia Arquette, and actors John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore.

* “Bringing Out the Dead,” which is rated R for gritty violent content, drug use and language, opens Friday in general release.

all day

Movies

Everything about the famed illusionists Siegfried and Roy is big: big hair, big smiles, big tigers, big stage show. So it makes sense that “Siegfried and Roy: The Magic Box,” a new documentary about the duo, will not just play on the big screen, it will play on the super big screen, as the latest Imax film to hit the L.A. area. The film is narrated by Anthony Hopkins.

* “Siegfried and Roy: The Magic Box,” which is unrated by the MPAA, opens Friday at: Imax Theater, California Science Center, Exposition Park, (213) 744-2014; Edwards 21 Megaplex/Imax 3-D Cinemas, Irvine Spectrum, 65 Fortune, Irvine, (714) 832-4629; Edwards Imax Theater, Grand Palace Stadium 12 Cinemas, 24435 Town Center Drive, Valencia, (661) 287-1740; Edwards Imax Theater, Ontario Stadium 22, intersection of Interstates 10 and 15, Ontario, (909) 476-1500. Ticket prices vary.

8pm

Comedy

The original 1958 B horror movie “The Blob,” starring Steve McQueen, gets the comedy treatment as Kent Skov’s L.A. Connection Comedy All-Stars reprise their live, comic “Improvision” version of the film’s soundtrack, “The L.A. Connection vs. ‘The Blob.’ ”

* “The L.A. Connection vs. ‘The Blob,’ ” L.A. Connection Comedy Theatre, 13442 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Fridays, 8 p.m. Ends Nov. 12. $10. (818) 784-1868.

8pm

Dance

Two years ago, acclaimed choreographer Eliot Feld disbanded his company to start Ballet Tech, a professional ensemble chosen entirely from young graduates of his tuition-free New York dancing school. Distinctively urban and contemporary, the Techies now make their West Coast debut as well as launching a five-day residency with students from the St. Joseph Ballet of Santa Ana. The program Friday includes “Play Bach,” “Echo,” “Yo Shakespeare” and “Paper Tiger.” On Saturday, add “Cherokee Rose” and “The Jig Is Up” to “Play Bach” and “Yo Shakespeare.” At the special one-hour Sunday matinee, expect “Kore” and “The Jig Is Up,” along with one last replay of “Play Bach.”

* Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; one-hour family performance, Sunday, 3 p.m. $15 (children) to $32. (949) 854-4646.

8pm

Theater

Ted Lange, Victor Mack, Charlie Robinson, Kim Staunton and Al White perform in “The Piano Lesson,” August Wilson’s drama about a man and his sister trying to cope with the present while struggling with ghosts of the past. Seret Scott is directing.

* “The Piano Lesson,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Nov. 21. $18 to $47. (714) 708-5555.

FREEBIES:

The play “Double Blind Date” is at the Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, 11 p.m. Also Saturday. (818) 761-8838.

Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca play Afro-Cuban music at California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., L.A., noon. (213) 687-2190.