BEST BETS Friday 2/23

COSTA MESA

8pm

Theater

Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” offers one of the most delightful verbal jousting matches ever conceived: Beatrice and Benedick have at it, masking growing affection with their combative tongues in a bucolic Italian setting while political intrigue festers in the background. South Coast regular Nike Doukas is Beatrice opposite Douglas Sills’ Benedick. And no one should complain if director Mark Rucker, who has devised a stylized, glamorous take on the material, has Sills break into song--he was a Tony nominee for his alternately dashing and fey flouncing leading-man role on Broadway in the musical “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

* “Much Ado About Nothing,” South Coast Repertory’s Mainstage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Previews tonight through March 1. Regular performances begin March 2. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Matinees Saturdays and Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends April 1. $18 to $49, with a pay-what-you-will matinee March 3. (714) 708-5555.

ARTESIA

7pm

Dance

Three Indian dance troupes, representing various styles of dance, will participate in a fund-raising program for earthquake victims in India. Arpana Dance Company (Ramya Harishankar, director) will present the bharata natyam idiom. The Huntington Beach Garba Group will dance Ras Garba. The Odissi Dance Circle (with Nandita Behera) will exemplify that style. Proceeds will be donated to the Chinmaya Mission of Southern California Earthquake Relief Fund.

* Indian dance troupes, Sanatan Dharma Temple, 15311 S. Pioneer Blvd., Artesia. 8 p.m. $10 to $101. (714) 838-8505.

ANAHEIM

8pm

Pop Music

Richard Cheese has discovered a musical treasure trove mostly ignored by other lounge singers: the songs of Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Blink-182 and the rest of today’s alt-rock faves. Cheese is the alter-ego of comedian Mark Jonathan Davis, and he created the Cheese character to delve into what he calls today’s “golden age of songwriting”--such as Beastie Boys “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party).” His shows are always a hoot, even without the added presence of Super Diamond, the Neil Diamond tribute group he’ll be opening for at House of Blues in Anaheim.

* Richard Cheese and Super Diamond, House of Blues, 1530 S. Disneyland Drive, Anaheim. 8 p.m. $20. Also March 7 at 10:45 p.m. (714) 778-2583.

SANTA ANA

6pm

Film Festival

The westerns movie genre has ebbed in recent years, but when the mysterious hero of George Phillips’ “Forgiven” rides onto the screen, you can say the guns are back in town. This 10-minute short--the first of a series soon to receive national distribution at Regal Cinemas--headlines A Captain Blood’s Short Film Expo, to be held this weekend at MainPlace/Santa Ana. Besides “Forgiven,” the festival features the full-length “The Phoenix” and other shorts by striving local filmmakers.

* A Captain Blood and Filmfinder.com’s Short Film Expo, MainPlace/Santa Ana Theaters, 2800 N. Main St. Friday, 6, 8 and 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 4, 6, 8 and 10 p.m. Each program will feature several short films, and the 10 p.m. show Saturday includes “The Phoenix.” $7.50. (800) 420-8255.

ANAHEIM

8pm

Pop Music

Life goes on for O.C. pop-punk-ska band Mr. Mirainga, a.k.a. Mirainga, which is still striving to release an album, “Nuevo,” that’s been on hold for two years because of record company complications. That doesn’t mean the band is out of action, though. It plays Friday at Linda’s Doll Hut.

* Mr. Mirainga, Linda’s Doll Hut, 107 S. Adams St., Anaheim. With All the Madmen and Transmission OK. 8 p.m. $7. (714) 533-1286.