BEST BETS / SEPTEMBER 12-18, 1999

Video

“Prince of Egypt” is DreamWorks’ ambitious animated version of the story of Moses. It took a team of 400 animators, using computerized and traditional methods, to bring the Biblical tale to life. Stephen Schwartz and Hans Zimmer composed the score and Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren and Michelle Pfeiffer top the voice talent. The family film hits video stores on Tuesday.

Dance

The original Ballet Folklorico de Mexico plays Pasadena Civic Auditorium for the first time on its 47th U.S. visit, performing regional suites choreographed by Amalia Hernandez from Thursday through next Sunday. The news on this tour includes a brand new 14-member chorus and two U.S. premieres: the ritualistic “Aztecs” and the life-cycle “Tarascos.”

Theater

“Violet,” winner of the 1997 New York Drama Critics Circle and Obie awards, has its California premiere. The musical about a disfigured young woman’s pilgrimage to find an evangelistic healer, written by Brian Crawley, with music by Jeanine Tesori, opens Thursday at the Laguna Playhouse’s Moulton Theatre.

Jazz

Tito Puente, Lalo Schifrin, Eddie Palmieri and Chucho Valdes headline the third annual Con Ritmo y Sabor Latin Jazz Festival Saurday and Sunday at downtown L.A’s Watercourt in California Plaza. Also appearing: Manny Oquendo and his Orchestra Libre and saxophonist David Sanchez.

Music

For their “Party of the Century” closing Hollywood Bowl’s 78th summer season, John Mauceri and his Hollywood Bowl Orchestra host guest stars: the celebrated Alan Cumming (“Cabaret”), the leggy veteran dancer Ann Miller, Welsh vocal prodigy Charlotte Church and comedian Lea Delaria for three nights, Friday through next Sunday, in what we used to call Daisy Dell.

Pop Music

Bonnie Raitt is leading a group featuring Shawn Colvin, Bruce Hornsby, Jackson Browne and David Lindley at the Greek Theatre on Tuesday, but she’s not the only family member hosting a special event. Her dad John Raitt marks 60 years in theater by opening a series of 10 Friday concerts at the John Raitt Theatre in Hollywood.

“Two turntables and a microphone,” Beck rhapsodized recently, breaking down the hip-hop formula to its fundamentals. Run-DMC, Grandmaster Melle Mel and some of the other pioneers who were there at or near the birth of the style get together tonight at the Universal Amphitheatre to celebrate rap music’s 20th anniversary.

Art

“Juanes to Goya: Spanish Drawings 1560-1825,” an exhibition of rare drawings, most of which have never been exhibited, opens Tuesday at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The survey will include 29 drawings from the major artistic centers of Madrid, Seville and Valencia by artists Franciso de Goya, El Greco, Juan de Juanes and Bartolome Esteban Murillo, among others.