THREE-DAY FORECAST

ART

Adams, Sargent on display

Ansel Adams, America’s foremost landscape photographer, was born 100 years ago this year. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art commemorates this anniversary with “Ansel Adams at 100,” an exhibition organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art containing more than 100 photographs spanning his career. LACMA pairs the Adams show with an exhibition of works by John Singer Sargent. “Sargent and Italy” will explore how Italy influenced the artist’s lush landscapes, genre scenes and portraits. Both open Sunday.

“Ansel Adams at 100” and “Sargent and Italy,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 8 p.m.; Fridays, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Both shows end May 11. $10 to $15. (323) 857-6000 or (323) 932-5873.

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MOVIES

Epic effort fell short

In the fall of 2000, director Terry Gilliam embarked on an epic project: an adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ “The Adventures of Don Quixote,” starring Johnny Depp and French actor Jean Rochefort. The film was not to be, however, snake-bitten from the beginning by uncooperative weather, injured and absent actors, completion bond difficulties and NATO flyovers, leaving Gilliam tilting at windmills of his own. Filmmakers Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe were on hand to capture the drama, from the grandiose early plans to the project’s ultimate collapse, resulting in “Lost in La Mancha,” a “making of” documentary for a movie that probably will never be.

“Lost in La Mancha,” rated R for language, opens Friday exclusively at the Landmark Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West L.A. (310) 478-6379, and the Edwards University 6, 4245 Campus Drive, Irvine, (949) 854-8811.

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MUSIC

A program of French mischief

David Robertson, a conductor from Santa Monica and former music director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain who was named conductor of the year by Musical America magazine in 2000, leads the Orchestre National de Lyon in groundbreaking music that came out of Paris in the early part of the century: Debussy’s “Jeux,” Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (with Leon Fleisher as soloist) and Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.”

Orchestre National de Lyon, Royce Hall, UCLA, Hilgard Avenue, Westwood. Sunday, 7 p.m. $25 to $40. (310) 825-2101.

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JAZZ

A visit with one of the greats

While his guitar playing has drawn comparisons to Jimi Hendrix’s, James “Blood” Ulmer’s actual musical style has been described as intense blues- and funk-flavored free jazz. Guitarist-singer Ulmer is a former associate of legendary saxophonist Ornette Coleman and a student of Coleman’s “Harmolodic” musical theory. Ulmer also worked with such jazz greats as saxophonist Joe Henderson and drummer Art Blakey. This weekend, he’ll team with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille.

James “Blood” Ulmer, the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., L.A. Today to Sunday, 8 and 9:30 p.m. $25. (310) 271-9039.

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MOVIES

Working for Hitler

An unusual, stunning story emerged in the last few years when it became known that Traudl Junge, who was Adolf Hitler’s private secretary, was still alive and telling her story to a documentary film crew. Andre Heller and Othmar Schmiderer condensed 10 hours of interviews with Junge, who has since died, to create “Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary,” a 90-minute portrait of a woman and the naive choices she made that allowed her to serve, and even admire, one of the most hated figures of the 20th century.

“Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary,” rated R for thematic material, opens Friday exclusively at the Laemmle Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. (310) 274-6869.

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THEATER

Texas tale from Foote

Horton Foote’s plays often are compared to Anton Chekhov’s, and the Texas writer says that his 2001 work, “The Carpetbagger’s Children,” began as an attempt to write a small-town Texas story resembling “The Three Sisters.” Foote tells his tale via long, alternating monologues by the play’s three characters, daughters of a former Union Army soldier who grabbed land in Texas and became wealthy but whose heirs can never quite shake their suspect status as Yankee interlopers.

“The Carpetbagger’s Children,” South Coast Repertory, Argyros Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Preview tonight; opens Friday. Tuesdays to Fridays, 7:45 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays, 2 and 7:45 p.m. Ends Feb. 16. $19 to $54; pay-what-you-will matinee on Saturday. (714) 708-5555.

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DANCE

‘Othello’ as a bridge

Adapting Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello” so that it plays as a classical Cambodian dance drama is a task locally based dancer-choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro takes on in “Samritechak,” a cross-cultural experiment that enlists dancers from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh. Shapiro has called the project “a bridge between Cambodian and Western culture.” The priorities of Cambodia’s ancient narrative style turn Othello into half-man, half-demon and the villainous Iago into a monkey trickster. A traditional orchestra accompanies this ambitious hybrid.

“Samritechak,” Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts, Cal State Long Beach, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach. Today, 7 p.m. $15 to $25. (562) 985-7000. Also Monday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. 8 p.m. $30 to $40. (800) 300-4345.

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POP

Rockin’ Omaha

The Omaha Chamber of Commerce must be thinking seriously about a new slogan for the city, something like: “Where adolescent angst rocks best.” Hard on the heels of Bright Eyes’ acclaimed 2002 album “Lifted ...,” fellow Omahans Cursive have come up with a similarly ambitious epic, “The Ugly Organ.” Due in March, the unified set of introspective rock ranges from jagged and jittery to lush and serene.

Cursive, Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Saturday, 8 p.m. $10. (310) 276-6168.