BEST BETS Friday 4/6

ANAHEIM

7:30pm

Pop Music

Smile, once in line for Next Big Thing From Orange County status, is in regroup phase, having severed ties last year with Cargo Records. The band is now working on new material and is shopping for a record contract. Meanwhile, Smile is keeping busy with area shows, including this one at Chain Reaction in Anaheim.

* Smile, Chain Reaction, 1652 W. Lincoln Ave., Anaheim. With Your Enemies Friends, the Angoras, Soundhead. 7:30 p.m. $7. (714) 635-6067.

COSTA MESA

8pm

Theater

David Lindsay-Abaire, a New York playwright in his early 30s, launched his career with “Fuddy Meers,” an off-Broadway success that found humor and poignancy in medical maladies: acute amnesia and a speech-clouding stroke. Now he is back with “Kimberly Akimbo,” in which lead character Kimberly is a teenager afflicted with an illness that makes her body age rapidly; physically she looks and feels as if she’s an old woman. But Kimberly is still a teenager, looking for love and understanding--and none of that comes easily among the down-at-the-heels, incredibly dysfunctional purported adults in her family. Marylouise Burke, who originated the role of the speech-impeded stroke victim in “Fuddy Meers,” plays the title role in the world premiere of “Kimberly Akimbo.”

* “Kimberly Akimbo,” South Coast Repertory Main Stage, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. Previews begin Friday, regular performances start April 13. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; matinees Saturdays and Sundays, 2:30 p.m. $18 to $49. (714) 708-5555 or https://www.scr.org.

ANAHEIM

8pm

Pop Music

Fullerton singer-songwriter-guitarist Jay Buchanan travels the darker side of the road to romance in frequently compelling songs that have caught the ears of some major-label scouts. Until one of them snags him, he’s a regular at Linda’s Doll Hut, where he returns Friday.

* Jay Buchanan, Linda’s Doll Hut, 107 S. Adams St., Anaheim. With Square, Midnight Karaoke. 8 p.m. (714) 533-1286.