7:30 pm: Family

Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre begins its 2001-02 season with company director Joe Lauderdale’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s timeless tale of wit and wackiness, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”* “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, Youth Theatre production of Lewis Carroll’s classic, adapted and directed by Joe Lauderdale. Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 1 and 5 p.m. Ends Oct. 21. For ages 5 and up only. $14 to $17. (949) 497-2787.

8 pm: Theater

UCLA Live presents the West Coast premiere of “James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet,” by the late iconoclastic composer-artist John Cage. Originally a 1982 radio play for Cologne’s West German Radio, the collage of sound, sight, history and fantasy was adapted for the stage by Cage collaborator Laura Kuhn, who directs.* “James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet,” UCLA’s Freud Playhouse, Westwood, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. $35. (310) 825-2101.

8 pm: Theater

French actor-director Georges Bigot, who made a splash at the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival with Arianne Mnouchkine’s company, will direct the Actors’ Gang production of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull.” (It will run in repertory with Mnouchkine’s adaptation of Klaus Mann’s “Mephisto,” opening Oct. 27.)* “The Seagull,” Actors’ Gang Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Also Oct. 20, 28, 31, Nov. 1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 16, 18, 24, 30, Dec. 1, 5, 6, 8 p.m.; Oct. 21, 28, Nov. 4, 11, 17, 25, Dec. 1, 2 p.m. Ends Dec. 8. $15 to $20, except, on Wednesdays, pay-what-you-can. (323) 465-0566.

all day: Movies

Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton play a pair of escaped convicts whose bank-robbing run from Oregon through California captures the public’s imagination in Barry Levinson’s comedy “Bandits.” Cate Blanchett co-stars as a bored housewife who hooks up with wayward duo. Harley Peyton wrote the script.

* “Bandits,” rated PG-13 for some sexual content, language and violence, opens Friday in general release.

8 pm: Dance

Nearly 35 years ago, choreographer George Balanchine decided to make a plotless full-evening ballet titled “Jewels,” inspired by the gems in the collection of Van Cleef & Arpels in New York. Balanchine planned to evoke the qualities of emeralds, rubies, diamonds and sapphires, and though the sapphire section never saw the light, the others have showcased a glittering array of dancers ever since. The latest: Edward Villella’s Miami City Ballet, a company with a meticulous yet vibrant approach to Balanchine style. “Emeralds” is danced to music by Faure, “Rubies” to Stravinsky and “Diamonds” to Tchaikovsky, as varied a group as the gems Balanchine depicts.* Miami City Ballet, Royce Hall, UCLA Campus, Westwood. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. $30 to $45. (310) 825-2101. Also Sunday, 7 p.m., in the Arlington Theatre, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara. $35 to $45. (805) 893-3535.

8 pm: Dance

The collapse of the Manchu dynasty formed the historical setting for the 1987 film “The Last Emperor,” and it again dominates the full-evening dance drama of the same name by former Royal Ballet principal Wayne Eagling. Working with music by Su Cong, one of three composers of the Oscar-winning film score, Eagling focuses on Pu Yi, who ascended the Imperial throne in 1908 at age 2, spent most of his life as a prisoner (of the Japanese, the Russians and the Communist government of China) and ended his days in Beijing documenting his nation’s cultural history. He died on Oct. 12, 1967, exactly 34 years before his story will be danced locally for the first time by the Hong Kong Ballet.

* Hong Kong Ballet, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. $30 to $45. (800) 300-4345.

8:30 pm: Pop Music

Coming back strong from an extended creative lull, the Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z has recaptured his initial impact on his new album, “The Blueprint.” The collection was the nation’s top-selling album for three weeks, but as he hits the road Jay-Z is playing it modest, headlining ballrooms and theaters such as the Shrine Auditorium.* Jay-Z, Shrine Auditorium, 665 W. Jefferson Blvd., L.A., 8:30 p.m. $75. (213) 749-5123. Also Saturday, 8 p.m., House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. $75. (323) 848-5100.

Freebies

* East Coast percussionist Gregg Bendian performs with his Trio Pianissimo at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 5:30 p.m. [323] 857-6000).

*

* A consort of 21 musicians, the Thornton Early Music Ensemble, plays works by Purcell, Rameau, Gelemann, Handel and Vivaldi in Alfred Newman Recital Hall at USC. Director is James Tyler, a soloist on lute, baroque guitar and other early plucked and bowed instruments, 8 p.m. (213) 740-3229.