Best Bets

Thursday 4/25

7pm

Poetry

Orange County is rarely thought of as a poet’s paradise, but “Incidental Buildings and Accidental Poetry,” an anthology of local poems from the last decade, shows off the community’s artistic side. The Orange County Poetry Festival continues tonight with a selection of readings from this recently published volume, which includes works by John Gardiner, Lee Mallory, Carole Luther, Marcia Cohee and others.

Orange County Poetry Festival, Barnes & Noble, 7777 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach. 7 p.m. Free. (714) 897-8781.

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7pm

Family

Oops. The new music teacher seems to have lost her instruments during her move to “Sesame Street,” so it’s Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert, Ernie and other assorted Muppet pals to the rescue. They find music in everything from trash-can lids to rubber duckies, and do the “Crumb-a-Rhumba” too in “Everyone Makes Music,” the newest “Sesame Street Live” touring stage spectacular.

“Sesame Street Live: Everyone Makes Music,” Kodak Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 7 p.m. Also Friday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.; Sunday, 1 and 4:30 p.m. (323) 308-6363, (213) 480-3232. $15 to $25. Also at Pasadena Civic Auditorium, May 2 through May 5; Orange County Performing Arts Center, May 9 through May 12; Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, May 23 through 26; Long Beach Terrace Theatre, May 30 through June 2.

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8pm

Theater

About 2,400 years ago, Aristophanes satirized utopian politics in “Women in Congress,” in which women take over the Athenian government, a previously all-male preserve, and begin reforms as they attempt to produce an ideal society. Jules Tasca’s version is the script for this student production at Cal State Fullerton.

“Aristophanes’ Women in Congress,” Grand Central Art Center, 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana. Thursdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. and May 4 at 6 and 9 p.m. Ends May 5. $10. (714) 278-3371.

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8pm

Music

Before he became famous for writing operettas, Victor Herbert composed serious concert music. His Cello Concerto No. 2 persuaded Dvorak to write his own Cello Concerto. Herbert’s work will be played by Allison Eldredge as part of the closing concert of the Pacific Symphony’s Dvorak in America Festival. Carl St.Clair will conduct works by the Czech composer as well as by American George Chadwick.

Pacific Symphony, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. $21 to $56. (714) 556-2787.

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7:30pm

Music

Noted for its energy, high spirits and precision, the Eroica Trio consists of pianist Erika Nickrenz, violinist Adela Pena and cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio, who have been friends since childhood. They return to the Orange County Performing Arts Center to play Beethoven’s Trio in B flat, Opus 11, Martinu’s “Cinq pieces breves” and Schubert’s Trio in E flat, Opus 100.

Eroica Trio, Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, 7:30 p.m. $40. (714) 556-2787.

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8pm

Theater

Some movies make better Broadway musicals than others. “Saturday Night Fever” ... no. “The Full Monty”... yes. The hit musical comedy, with music and lyrics by pop composer David Yazbek and book by Terrence McNally, is based on the 1997 film about six unlikely male strippers. It’s still running on Broadway and in the West End, but the start of this national tour is sort of a Southern California homecoming: It got its start at the Globe Theatres in San Diego.

“The Full Monty,” Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A., 8 p.m. Regular schedule: Tuesdays through Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. (May 26, June 2, 2 p.m. only; May 23, 30, June 6, 2 p.m.) Ends June 8. $25 to $75. (213) 628-2772.

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