Best Bets / JANUARY 21-27, 2001

Theater

In the West Coast premiere of “Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine,” the new play from 1999 Tony Award-winning playwright Warren Leight (“Side Man”), twin brothers and former big-band jazz musicians embark on a poignant and playful journey toward reconciliation after 40 years of estrangement. Opens at the Mark Taper Forum on Thursday.

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Also: Britain’s cutting-edge Improbable Theatre, creator of the surrealistic “Shockheaded Peter,” returns in the West Coast premiere of its new signature blend of improv, puppetry, dark comedy and vivid imagery, “Spirit.” It’s about three brothers whose dream to fly takes an ironic turn when they go to war. Wednesday through Saturday at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse. With Guy Dartnell, above left, Phelim McDermott, and Lee Simpson.

Art

Landscapes real and imagined will be the focus of “Drawing the Landscape: 1500-1800,” opening Tuesday at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The exhibition will feature landscapes from the Renaissance to the Romantic era, including Titian’s “Pastoral Scene” and Rembrandt’s “A Sailing Boat on a Wide Expanse of Water,” left.

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“American Impressionists Abroad and at Home: Paintings From the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” a traveling exhibition devoted to American artists such as Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase who embraced French Impressionism while living in Paris, opens Saturday at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Music

Youngsters in recital: Today, Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts, below right, and New Jersey pianist Amanda von Goetz, with a combined age of 36, play on the admission-free Sundays at Two series at the Beverly Hills Library. At the same hour, Itzhak Perlman’s daughter, pianist Navah Perlman, returns to Raitt Recital Hall at Pepperdine University. Saturday, pianist Lang Lang appears at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA.

Dance

Just as his collaborative “Aeros” project plays a return engagement at UCLA, choreographer David Parsons brings his 11-member company to Campbell Hall at UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday and Thursday to dance Parsons’ “Closure,” “Sleep Study,” “Union,” “Caught” and “Mood Swing,” along with company member Robert Battle’s “Strange Humors” and “Rush Hour.”

Pop Music

Young blues prodigies, from Kenny Wayne Shepherd to Jonny Lang to Susan Tedeschi, keep coming along to give the form a jolt, but ironically, the most radical blues innovator these days may be a Mississippi septuagenarian. R.L. Burnside weds authentic blues roots to hip-hop and alt-rock elements, and puts it out on L.A. punk label Epitaph. Check the mix at the House of Blues on Friday.

Video

Bruce Willis plays a high-powered executive who has lost his inner child in the lighthearted family comedy “Disney’s The Kid.” But Willis finds his well-ordered life turned upside down with the mysterious appearance of his 8-year-old self (Spencer Breslin)--an overweight, obnoxious nerd. Lily Tomlin also shines as Willis’ long-suffering assistant. The comedy arrives Tuesday on DVD and video.