BEST BETS: Friday 5/12

FULLERTON

8pm

Theater

An award-winning children’s book, “Mirette on the High Wire,” is the source material for “Mirette,” a musical with songs by “The Fantasticks” team of lyricist Tom Jones (not that Tom Jones) and composer Harvey Schmidt. Set in Paris during the 1890s, Emily Arnold McCully’s tale centers on Mirette, a young girl who learns to walk the tightrope under the tutelage of Bellini, a master of the art who has become grounded by fear. First seen at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera House in 1998, “Mirette” is making its West Coast premiere in a production by the Fullerton Civic Light Opera.

* “Mirette,” book by Elizabeth Diggs, songs by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, presented by the Fullerton Civic Light Opera at Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. Opens Friday. Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; also May 20, 2 p.m.; May 21, 7 p.m. Ends May 28. $15 to $36. (714) 879-1732 or (714) 526-3832.

COSTA MESA

8pm

Dance

Los Angeles choreographer Loretta Livingston will premiere her “Two Thousand Steps,” the first major dance ever commissioned by the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Using high-velocity dancing, imaginative sets, props, costumes, lighting and an original score by Murielle Hamilton, the full-length work investigates ways modern dance grew and grew out of the 20th century.

* Loretta Livingston’s “Two Thousands Steps,” Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. $8. (714) 556-2787.

IRVINE

8pm

Dance

First it was a play, then an opera. Now a ballet. Based on Tennessee Williams’ famous play, Molly Lynch’s “A Streetcar . . .” will receive its world premiere this weekend danced by Ballet Pacifica. Lynch, artistic director of the company, will use music by Duke Ellington for the work. The program also will include her “Counterpoint,” William Soleau’s “Dream Dialogues” and David Allan’s “Capriol Suite.”

* Ballet Pacifica, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. 8 p.m. Also Saturday, 2:30 and 8 p.m. $24. (949) 854-4646.