BEST BETS Friday 12/15

IRVINE

7:30pm

DANCE

Ballet Pacifica opens a two-week run of its annual “Nutcracker” production, choreographed by artistic director Molly Lynch. The cast includes more than 150 children, in addition to the company’s adult dancers. Ballet Pacifica began dancing “Nutcracker” 32 years ago. Lynch’s production was first seen in 1993.

* Ballet Pacifica, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. 7:30 p.m. Also Friday through Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2:30 p.m. $17 to $21. (949) 854-4646.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

8pm

Pop Music

With a little help from his friends, O.C. rock-blues musician Brian Barrett puts on a tribute to John Lennon in recognition of the 20th anniversary this month of Lennon’s death. The concert will feature three hours of music from Lennon’s solo career as well as lots of his Beatles material. A portion of the proceeds are being donated to the Million Mom March/Orange County Chapter, a group working to prevent gun violence and to support victims of gun trauma.

* John Lennon Tribute With Brian Barrett & Big Top, Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. 8 p.m. $17.50. (949) 496-8930.

FULLERTON/COSTA MESA

8pm

Pop Music

Veteran followers of the folk scene have a wonderfully painful choice to make among holiday-themed concerts Saturday: crystalline-voiced Judy Collins brings her wide-ranging program of yuletide music to Orange Coast College, while across the county, former Limeliters singer Glenn Yarbrough--now with his snowy hair and beard practically the living image of Santa--returns with his now-annual performance of his one-man show “The Forgotten Carols.”

* “A Judy Collins Christmas,” featuring the Mater Dei High School Choir. Robert B. Moore Theatre, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. $27 to $33. (714) 432-5880.

* Glenn Yarbrough performs “The Forgotten Carols,” Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. 8 p.m. $13 to $18. (714) 278-3371.

BREA

8:30pm

Pop Music

It’s hard to imagine a better way to rock around the Christmas tree than at the roots-rock fest on Saturday in Brea. Local Western swing-rockabilly heroes Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys hook up with roots-rock guitarist extraordinaire Deke Dickerson and his band, the Ecco-Fonics, to top a multiact bill that’s also helping collect toys for kids.

* Big Sandy & his Fly-Rite Boys, Deke Dickerson & the Ecco-Fonics, the Last Roundup and the Spurs, La Vida Roadhouse, 6105 Carbon Canyon Road, Brea. 8:30 p.m. $15, or $10 with an unwrapped toy worth $5 for children ages 2 to 8. (714) 996-0720.