Best Bets: August 18 -- 24, 2002

Pop Music

“The Rising” finally came out, entering the sales chart at No. 1. The scene-setting interviews and TV appearances are out of the way, and now Bruce Springsteen, right, is back in his element, on the road with the E Street Band. The new album’s sober studies of post-9/11 emotions figure to find a counterbalance in Springsteen’s customary roof-raising rock ‘n’ roll release when they play the Forum in Inglewood on Saturday.

Theater

Accusations--and dishes--fly when three interconnected couples sneak away for a secret rendezvous and unexpectedly collide at the same winter getaway in “Wintertime,” a world-premiere comedy by innovative playwright Charles L. Mee (“Vienna: Lusthaus” and “The Berlin Circle”). Opens today at the La Jolla Playhouse, which is co-producing with Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn.

Movies

In “One Hour Photo,” Robin Williams, below, who has been exploring his evil side in supporting roles in such films as “Insomnia” and “Death to Smoochy,” takes on another role far from what we’re accustomed to seeing him in. Williams plays a photo developer who becomes obsessed with a customer’s family. Connie Neilsen and Michael Vartan also star. Opens Friday.

Music

The Russian National Orchestra, which played the Hollywood Bowl in 1999, returns for two performances this week. Tuesday, Dmitri Liss conducts an all-orchestral program that includes a suite from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” ballet and one from Stravinsky’s “The Firebird.” Two Russian opera stars, soprano Galina Gorchakova and baritone Sergei Leiferkus, appear Thursday on an operatic program conducted by Alexander Vedernikov.

Dance

Music from north India and classical dances from the south of that enormous, culturally diverse nation come together tonight in “Yatra: A Journey to India” at the Watercourt in downtown L.A.’s California Plaza. Award-winning dancer-choreographer Ramaa Bharadvaj brings her Angahara Ensemble and Mala Ganguly’s Ragamala Music Ensemble together for this event in the free “Grand Performances” summer series.

Jazz

The 82-year-old pianist-composer Dave Brubeck stops at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts for a concert Monday evening. The legendary jazz performer is probably best known for his 1959 recording of “Take Five,” the first million-selling jazz record.

Video

Two of England’s best actors--Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent--give powerhouse performances in “Iris,” a subtle, effective drama about the romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband, John Bayley, from their early student days through her battle with Alzheimer’s. Broadbent won an Oscar for best supporting actor. Also nominated for Oscars were Dench and Kate Winslet, as the young Murdoch. The film, directed by Richard Eyre, arrives Tuesday on VHS and DVD.