Best Bets / January 14-20, 2001

Movies

With Sean Penn directing, Jack Nicholson (above right, with Robin Wright Penn) plays a homicide detective who enters a gruesome murder investigation on the day of his retirement and promises the victim’s parents he will catch the killer in “The Pledge.” Patricia Clarkson and Benicio Del Toro co-star. Opens in general release Friday.

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Theater

The romantic secrets involving two households--one the height of elegance, the other a shabby mess--are not only exposed, but converge in Alan Ayckbourn’s marital farce “How the Other Half Loves.” The fast and furious comic action, revealing just how closely lives intertwine, takes place simultaneously on two sets. Opens today at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Photography

Private dealers and galleries from around the world will convene at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium beginning Friday for the 10th annual “Photo L.A. 2001.” The West’s largest photographic art exhibition will feature works from the early 19th century to the present by heavyweights Diane Arbus, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Man Ray and Henri Cartier-Bresson as well as the less famous. The fair will also feature collecting seminars and lectures by noted photographers Richard Misrach, Graciela Iturbide, James Fee and Jock Sturges. Below: Danny Lyon’s “Crossing the Ohio River”’ (1966).

Music

Operatic activity returns big-time this week. At the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles Opera revives its “Marriage of Figaro” production, playing Tuesday through Feb. 3. And Tuesday through next Sunday, Orange County’s Opera Pacific essays Verdi’s “Macbeth” for the first time. In Civic Theatre on Saturday, San Diego Opera unveils a new production of Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” playing through Jan. 31.

Dance

While his collaborative “Aeros” project visits other parts of the state before returning to UCLA on Jan. 25, choreographer Moses Pendleton brings his Momix company to the Carpenter Center in Long Beach on Saturday in two editions of “Baseball.” In the afternoon, the company offers a 50-minute family version. In the evening, Momix plays “Baseball” at its full, two-act length.

Jazz & Pop

George Duke, above, began his career as a jazz pianist but had his greatest commercial success as a funk keyboardist and pop producer. He has long expressed his desire to return to jazz, so starting Tuesday at Catalina’s in Hollywood, he will be heading a quintet this week that includes Ray Fuller and Ndugu Chancler.

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Also: Singer-pianist Rachelle Ferrell has slowly and quietly built twin constituencies, first earning attention as a jazz artist and then taking a more pop turn. It has added up to a growing audience for the Philadelphia native. On Saturday, she headlines L.A.’s Wiltern Theatre on the strength of her album “Individuality (Can I Be Me?),” which has topped the contemporary jazz chart for months.

Video

Jerry Bruckheimer produced “Coyote Ugly,” a slick, glossy but addictive drama about an aspiring songwriter (Piper Perabo) who comes to New York seeking fame and fortune, and ends up working in a female-run bar. Maria Bello, Tyra Banks, Adam Garcia and John Goodman also star in this box-office hit. The film arrives Tuesday on VHS and DVD.