Best Bets / MAY 6-12, 2001

Opera

Mark Adamo’s “Little Women” is the first of three American works to be produced by Opera Pacific, 2001-2003. Conducted by Christopher Larkin, the opera occupies Irvine Barclay Theatre from Saturday through May 20, staged by Peter Webster. Above: Kirstin Chavez, who plays Jo.

Music

Chamber Music in Historic Sites closes its eventful 2000-2001 season this week. The brilliant Arden Trio returns, today at 5 p.m., playing Mendelssohn and Grieg at Descanso Gardens in La Canada-Flintridge. The Los Angeles Piano Quartet plays at the Doheny Mansion Friday night. And next Sunday at 3 p.m., the Marcus Roberts Trio ends the concert year with jazz at Union Station.

Theater

Alfred Uhry’s bittersweet comedy, “The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” the 1997 Tony Award winner for best play, looks at a family pulled apart and mended again in 1939 Atlanta. Hitler is invading Poland, but Atlanta’s Jewish elite are more concerned with who will be attending the social event of the season. Opens Saturday at the Colony Theatre Company’s Burbank Center Stage.

Jazz

The great pianist Ahmad Jamal, above, checks into the Jazz Bakery for performances Tuesday through next Sunday. The Pittsburgh native and Art Tatum protege first gained acclaim during the 1950s with standout albums such as “Poinciana.”

Dance

Watch for the elephant-on-wheels when the Paris Opera Ballet dances Rudolf Nureyev’s 1992 staging of “La Bayadere” from Tuesday through next Sunday (except Thursday) at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Four sets of principals will alternate in this florid melodrama (originally choreographed in 1877) set in the temples and palaces of ancient India. Below, Manuel Legris.

Art

‘Henri Matisse: Works on Paper From the Grunwald Center Collection,” opening Tuesday at the UCLA Hammer Museum, looks at a lesser-known body of work by an artist best known for his brightly colored paintings. The exhibition will explore the fauvist’s paper cutouts, drawings, woodcuts, etchings, drypoints, lithographs and book illustrations.

Pop Music

Rhett Miller and his band the Old 97’s have labored in obscurity for nearly a decade, but their new album, “Satellite Rides,” has brought them at least into the bright spotlight of critical raves. To win the masses, it might take more of the old-fashioned road work they’ve grown accustomed to. The Old 97’s will showcase their beyond alt-country at the House of Blues on Monday.

Video

Mel Gibson gets in touch with his feminine side in the hit comedy “What Women Want.” Gibson, a Golden Globe nominee for his performance, plays a womanizing advertising executive who, after a freak accident, is able to hear women’s thoughts. Helen Hunt co-stars in the satire directed by Nancy Meyers.