June 2-8, 2002

Movies

A formidable ensemble cast, including Ellen Burstyn, above left, Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, Sandra Bullock and Shirley Knight, enlivens the Southern comedy-drama “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” based on Rebecca Wells’ novels. Friends help a young playwright untangle her family’s past in the feature directing debut of Oscar-winning “Thelma & Louise” screenwriter Callie Khouri. Opens Friday.

Also: Chris Rock is in the good company of Anthony Hopkins in Joel Schumacher’s “Bad Company.” Rock plays a smart-mouthed punk whom CIA agent Sir Tony must tutor in the ways of spy craft so that he can impersonate his murdered identical twin. Opens Friday.

Theater

East West Players presents “The World Goes ‘Round,” a song-and-dance celebration of life’s ups and downs, hopes and dreams, as observed in the music of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb. Conceived by Scott Ellis, Susan Stroman and David Thompson, it includes showstoppers from “Cabaret,” “The Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “The Rink” and the film “New York, New York.” Directed by Tim Dang, it opens Wednesday at the David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts in downtown Los Angeles.

Music

The 14th annual Mainly Mozart Festival comes to San Diego, La Jolla, Escondido and Baja California for 18 concerts, today through June 16. David Atherton conducts the orchestra; among the soloists are violinists Martin Chalifour and Andres Cardenes, pianists John Lill, Joanne Pearce Martin and Anne-Marie McDermott, violist Roland Kato, hornist Jerry Folsom, and bassoonist Steven Dibner.

Architecture

“Out of the Ordinary: The Architecture and Design of Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Associates,” opening today at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, examines the groundbreaking works of the influential husband-and-wife team whose use of historical references has led many to credit them as the founders of postmodernism. The survey, organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will include drawings, models, photographs, videos, furniture and other objects.

Dance

Founded in 1929, the influential Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet, below, makes its local debut Tuesday at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The program of excerpts and one-act works features artistic director Dmitry Bryantsev’s “The Spirit Ball.” The engagement also includes the full-length “Don Quixote” (Thursday and Saturday), and the celebrated Vladimir Bourmeister version of “Swan Lake” (Wednesday, Friday and next Sunday).

Pop Music

From Mexico City to Montebello, from TJ to East L.A., they’re rocking harder and harder en espanol, and the volume will be maxed out at Aztlan Fest 2002. Saturday’s event at Olympic Auditorium in downtown L.A. will unleash thrash-metal, nu-metal, skate punk and more from such bands as Slowrider, Garrobos and Almalafa. In fitting tribute to the Olympic’s history, the event will also feature Mexican wrestling, with El Hijo Del Santo, Misterioso and other masters of the squared circle.