Movies - March 25, 2001

Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino play secret-agent parents whose “Spy Kids” come to their rescue when evil-doer Alan Cumming kidnaps them. With Teri Hatcher, Robert Patrick and Cheech Marin. Opens wide Friday.

Also: John Boorman brings John le Carre’s humorous spy thriller “The Tailor of Panama” to the screen with Pierce Brosnan as a British spy banished to Panama who sees a secret weapon in Geoffrey Rush’s Cockney ex-con-turned-tailor to the rich and powerful. Opens wide Friday.

Dance

Orange County’s ever-ambitious Ballet Pacifica presents the premiere of a piece by former Joffrey virtuoso Ann Marie DeAngelo on Friday and Saturday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Also scheduled: Rick McCullough’s new “Nova” (music by Benjamin Britten) and “No Less Than Every” (music by Dmitri Shostakovich), along with William Soleau’s “Between People” (music by John Adams).

Museums

An exhibition celebrating folk art collections and the people who gather them will feature some 400 pieces from around the world in “Private Passions: Collectors and Collections, 2001,” opening Thursday at the Craft and Folk Art Museum. From Tibetan sleeping bags to Mexican masks, the exhibition promises a wide variety of crafts from the nine Los Angeles collections represented, including textiles, ethnic and contemporary jewelry, toys and saddles.

Theater

“The King Stag,” a tale of kings, damsels and sorcery by 18th century Venetian playwright Carlo Gozzi, draws on theater forms from Japanese bunraku and Indonesian shadow puppetry to commedia dell’arte, with design and movement by “The Lion King” Tony winner Julie Taymor. The national touring production comes to UCLA’s Royce Hall Thursday through Saturday.

Pop Music

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds will end a four-year drought with a new album, “No More Shall We Part,” due in stores April 10. In the meantime, Cave, the paterfamilias of all rock noir, is touring without his usual Seeds, playing instead with fellow Australians Jim White and Warren Ellis (both of the Dirty 3), and Susan Stenger. The singer and his new crew hit L.A.’s Wiltern Theatre tonight.

Music

Noting the Verdi centenary, a starry quartet of American opera singers--Camellia Johnson, Kimball Wheeler, Vinson Cole and Kyle Ketelson--joins music director Jorge Mester, the Pasadena Symphony and the 140-voice Pacific Chorale in a Pasadena revival (after a decade) of Verdi’s Requiem at the orchestra’s March event, Saturday night in Civic Auditorium.

Video

Despite a passel of writers and production problems, the kitschy comedy “Charlie’s Angels” won the hearts of audiences and even some critics last fall. The big-budget action spoof is based on the ‘70s TV series about three beautiful, police-trained detectives who work for an unseen boss by the name of Charlie (voice of John Forsythe). The feature stars Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu as the Angels, and the always enjoyable Bill Murray as Charlie’s assistant. The action-comedy arrives Tuesday on VHS and DVD.