ArtAmerica’s 1960s art scene exploded with the...

Art

America’s 1960s art scene exploded with the arrival of Pop art, epitomized by Andy Warhol’s paintings of Campbell’s soup cans, Claes Oldenburg’s soft, stuffed sculptures of ordinary objects and Tom Wesselmann’s “Still Life” and “Great American Nude” collages. “Pop Culture!,” opening Friday at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, revisits the era in an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and works on paper by artists who delighted in blurring traditional lines between high art and popular culture.

“Pop Culture!,” Norton Simon Museum, 422 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Wednesday to Monday, noon to 6 p.m. Ends Feb. 11. Adults, $6; seniors, $3; students and youths 18 and younger, free. (626) 449-6840.

Movies

Fifteen years after playing a sadistic, singing dentist in “Little Shop of Horrors,” Steve Martin is back beside the dental chair in the quirky thriller “Novocaine.” Martin plays a successful man drawn into a dark underworld by seductive patient Helena Bonham Carter. Laura Dern, Scott Caan and Elias Koteas co-star.

“Novocaine,” rated R for violence, sexuality, language and drug content, opens Friday in selected theaters.

Museum

So much for sober, scholarly approaches. For its latest discovery, National Geographic is pulling out all the marketing tricks. A catchy name. A press conference. A magazine cover story. A national tour. A TV special. And the tagline: “It didn’t walk with the dinosaurs.... It ate them.” What’s all the hoopla about? SuperCroc. Unearthed by paleontologist Paul Sereno in Niger, SuperCroc was a reptile of the Cretaceous period, 110 million years ago. Its jaws measure 6 feet and, head to tail, it was as long as a bus. Replicas of the SuperCroc fossils and other crocodilian exhibits go on display Friday at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

SuperCroc, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. Open Mondays to Fridays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ends Jan. 27. $8; $5.50, students and seniors; $2, ages 5 to 12; free, under 5. (213) 763-DINO.

8pm

Theater

Stage and screen veteran Richard Herd performs his solo show “An Evening With Cecil B. DeMille,” about the life and times of the legendary movie mogul who made his first silent film in 1913. That film, “The Squaw Man,” will be shown as part of the evening.

“An Evening With Cecil B. DeMille,” Curtis Theatre, 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea, 8 p.m. Also Saturday, 8 p.m. $17 to $27. (714) 990-7722.

7pm

Movies

The American Cinematheque presents “10 Filmmakers to Watch,” a five-day series devoted to up-and-coming directors from around the world. The featured helmers are Andrew Dominik (“Chopper”), Gustavo Mosquera (“Moebius”), Dominik Moll (“With a Friend Like Harry”), Christopher Nolan (“Memento”), Mathieu Kassovitz (“The Crimson Rivers”), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Amores Perros”), Marc Forster (“Everything Put Together”), Adam Rifkin (“A Night at the Golden Eagle”), Valerie Breiman (“Love & Sex”) and Jeff Probst (yes, that Jeff Probst) (“Finder’s Fee”). Most of the directors will participate in post-screening discussions of their films.

American Cinematheque presents “10 Filmmakers to Watch,” Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Friday: “Chopper,” 7 p.m.; “Moebius,” 9:30 p.m. Saturday: “With a Friend Like Harry,” 5 p.m.; “Memento,” 7:15 p.m.; “The Crimson Rivers,” 10 p.m. Sunday: “Amores Perros,” 5 p.m. The series continues through Tuesday. $6 to $8. (323) 466-3456.

8pm

Music

New West Symphony, led by Boris Brott, will perform at venues in Oxnard and Thousand Oaks. Brott’s brother, cellist Dennis Brott, will join the orchestra for Hovhaness’ “And God Created Great Whales,” Bloch’s “Schelmo” and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor.

New West Symphony, Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way, Friday, 8p.m.; Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Saturday, 8 p.m. $8 to $54. (805) 497-5800. www.newwestsymphony.org.

8pm

Music

Audra McDonald returns to Royce Hall for another demonstration of her vocal versatility. Backed by her trio and an 11-piece orchestra conducted by Ted Sperling, the American mezzo-soprano will sing songs by the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Ellington, Luciano Gallet, Youmans, Arlen, Terry Shand and a few others.

Audra McDonald and Co., Royce Hall, UCLA, 8 p.m. $35 to $50. (310) 825-2101.