BEST BETS Thursday 11/9

COSTA MESA

10:30am

Author

He has written critically acclaimed biographies of legendary editor Maxwell Perkins, movie pioneer Samuel Goldwyn and aviation legend Charles Lindbergh. So who better than A. Scott Berg to discuss biographies? The Beverly Hills author will lecture on writing the American biography this morning and discuss his Pulitzer Prize-winning “Lindbergh” this evening at Orange Coast College.

* A. Scott Berg, Robert B. Moore Theater, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Free. (714) 432-0202.

COSTA MESA

7:30pm

Opera

Opera Pacific opens its season with a production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” designed by Maurice Sendak in 1980 for the Houston Grand Opera. The cast will consist of Pamela Armstrong as Pamina, David Miller as Tamino, Jan Grissom as the Queen of the Night, Frank Hernandez as Papageno and Kevin Langan as Sarastro. Pacific Symphony music director Carl St.Clair will conduct. The opera will be sung in English.

* Opera Pacific, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 7:30 p.m. Also Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. $28 to $107. (714) 556-2787.

IRVINE

7pm

Dance

The UCI dance department presents “abunDance,” a program that includes “Jam Nation” by Tony-nominated choreographer, Donald McKayle, and “Appear to Be,” by guest choreographer Douglas Becker. Both works will be danced to live accompaniment. The program also will include David Allen’s “Etc!” and Paul Vasterling’s “Dracula.”

* UCI Dance, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. 7 p.m. $10 to $50 (includes reception). Also, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. $6 to $16; Sunday, 2 p.m. $6 to $13. (949) 854-4646.

ANAHEIM

8:30pm

Pop Music

In this day of Eminem & Limp Bizkit as well as Britney, Backstreet & ‘N Sync, it seems eons ago that for a time in 1994, Hootie & the Blowfish was the hottest pop act on the planet, having sold some 14 million copies of the “Cracked Rear View” album. The South Carolina-based group has returned to the realm of mortal rockers, touring now not in arenas and stadiums but far smaller facilities such as Anaheim’s 1,200-seat Sun Theatre to promote its new album, “Scattered, Smothered and Covered.”

* Hootie & the Blowfish, Sun Theatre, 2200 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim. 8:30 p.m. $52.50. (714) 712-2700.

FULLERTON

8pm

Theater

Prizefighting can be savage enough; “Blade to the Heat,” a 1994 drama by Los Angeles playwright (and one-time boxer) Oliver Mayer, explores how the tensions in that macho world explode into horrifying violence. Set in the 1950s as Latino fighters contest the middleweight title, it portrays a newly minted young champ who is a closeted homosexual, and the taunting and sexual undercurrents that boil over in a climactic rematch bout with the fighter he deposed. Recommended for mature audiences.

* “Blade to the Heat,” Bronwyn Dodson Theatre, Fullerton College, 321 Chapman Ave. Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m. $9.50-$10.50. (714) 992-7433, Ext. 0.