Best Bets / FEBRUARY 18-24, 2001

Movies

Brendan Fraser, right, is a cartoonist who slips into a coma after a freak accident, and outwits not only Death (Whoopi Goldberg) but his own comic creation, “Monkeybone.” Directed by Henry Selick (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”), the adventure mixes live action and animation. Opens Friday.

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Also: Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner headline “3000 Miles to Graceland,” an action-adventure about a gang of ex-cons scheming to heist millions for a Las Vegas casino by posing as Presley impersonators during an Elvis Week convention. Opens Friday.

Theater

The world premiere of Sherwood Kiraly’s madcap comedy “Who’s Hot, Who’s Not,” commissioned by the Laguna Playhouse for its 80th anniversary season, explores the fleeting nature of fame. In it, a celebrity-gossip magazine publisher kidnaps a homeless woman to take the carpool lane in a rush-hour race from Laguna Beach to L.A. Opens Saturday.

Pop Music

In October, English progressive house DJ John Digweed, above, (half of the Sasha & Digweed duo) delivered a seven-hour set at L.A.’s Mayan Theatre. That performance has been boiled down to a two-CD album that comes out Feb. 27, and to mark the release (the 19th in the Global Underground series), Digweed returns to the downtown theater for a show on Wednesday.

Music

The L.A. Philharmonic kicks off its Stravinsky Festival on Thursday with the first of three all-Igor programs conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. This week: “The King of Stars,” “Symphony of Psalms,” and “Persephone.” Upcoming: “The Rite of Spring,” Concerto for Piano and Winds, “The Firebird” and more. In addition, panel discussions, chamber concerts and other events will honor the composer--and one-time Angeleno--who is the leading contender for most important composer of the 20th century.

Opera

Handel’s “Julius Caesar” returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage this week for seven performances by Los Angeles Opera of the Australian Opera production (1994). Three famous countertenors sing the principal male roles: David Daniels as Cesare, Bejun Mehta as Tolomeo and David Walker as Nireno. Elizabeth Futral is Cleopatra. Henry Bicket conducts.

Jazz

Toots Thielemans has been the top (and often the only) jazz harmonica player of the past 45 years, playing his tiny instrument with the fluidity of a saxophonist. Starting Tuesday this week at Catalina’s in Hollywood, Toots joins with the Kenny Werner trio to create his brand of stirring straight-ahead jazz.

Museums

Three exhibitions opening today at UCLA’s Fowler Museum of Cultural History explore the details of creating and marketing “movie magic.” “Making Faces, Playing God: Identity and the Art of Transformational Makeup,” “Marquee Madness: The Attack of the 50-Foot Poster” and “Death-Stalking, Sleep-Walking, Barbarian Ninja Terminators: Hand-Painted Movie Posters From Ghana” will explore how films are advertised locally and in Ghana, and how makeup can transform actors into aliens, among other things. Above, actor Wayne alexander, before and after being made up as Lorien on “Babylon 5.”