Three-day forecast

ART

Balance, humanity

Photographer and curator Catherine Opie presents “Robert Mapplethorpe: Pictures Pictures,” a retrospective of the renowned photographer’s work. Mapplethorpe’s work maintained an unequivocal balance between light and dark, lines and solids, open and closed spaces. That quest alone would have qualified the artist, who died in 1989, to become one of the most respected photographers of his time. But Mapplethorpe added notoriety to the mix, when in the late 1970s his work documented New York’s gay community, displaying in those images the same quality of humanity that he had afforded his pre-’70s subjects.

“Robert Mapplethorpe: Pictures Pictures,” Marc Selwyn Fine Art, 6222 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 101, L.A. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Ends, March 13. (323) 933-9911.

POP MUSIC

Veterans and newbies

The 23rd annual Ragga Muffins Festival/Bob Marley Day Celebration will feature a different theme each of its two days. Saturday’s “Celebration of Culture” embraces a cross-generational lineup that includes Burning Spear, Wayne Wonder and Arrested Development, while Sunday’s “Tribute to Foundation Music” pairs Young Turks Sean Paul and Elephant Man with such veterans as Sly & Robbie and Big Youth.

Ragga Muffins Festival/Bob Marley Day Celebration, Long Beach Arena, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. $36 and $46 in advance, $42 and $50 day of show. (310) 515-3322.

ART

Drawn from Spain

Throw open an Andalusian sash! Let in the Catalonian breeze! Open the “Window Onto Spain: Drawings and Prints From Ribera to Goya,” an exhibition that surveys Spanish draftsmanship -- the finely honed craft of drawing and its development from the Renaissance through to Goya in the 19th century. The works on display at the Getty hail from such places as Valencia, Madrid, Castile and Andalusia. Highlights include pieces created by Murillo, Antonio del Castillo, Jusepe de Ribera and Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes

“Window Onto Spain: Drawings and Prints From Ribera to Goya,” the Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. Opens Tuesday. Tuesdays to Thursdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Mondays. Free; parking, $5. Free parking with shuttle available at Sepulveda Boulevard and Constitution Avenue. (310) 440-7360.

FESTIVAL

Scottish Highlands by the pier

The Queen Mary lays claim to being the most famous ship ever built on River Clyde in Scotland. This weekend, the great old ship will celebrate Scottish culture with a festival highlighted by live music, dancing, Highland games, darts, a pipe band competition and sheepherding demonstrations. More than 60 Scottish clans and associations will be represented. Festival admission will include entrance to the ship and its “Ghosts and Legends of the Queen Mary” show.

Queen Mary Scottish Heritage Festival, Queen Mary, 1126 Queen’s Highway, Pier J, Long Beach. Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Adults, $17; seniors and military, $15; children, $11; 2 and younger, free. (562) 435-3511.

JAZZ

Players are ready to party

Singer Mark Murphy heads a powerful lineup of talent at the Newport Beach Jazz Party this weekend, starting today. More than 30 individual artists plus two big bands promise four nights and three days of straight-ahead jazz. Others slated to perform include the Benny Green/Russell Malone Duo, Bill Cunliffe Sextet, Henry Johnson and the Organ Express, Ken Peplowski Quintet, John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Jeff Clayton, Ralph Moore, Shelly Berg, Dado Moroni and Tom Ranier. For a complete schedule, see www.newportbeachjazzparty.com.

Newport Beach Jazz Party, Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Tennis Club, 900 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. Individual sessions, $15 to $65; package rates, $270 to $295. (949) 759-5003.

THEATER

Turnabout is fair play; or is it?

A wealthy fellow named John Middleton philanders in 1927 London, prompting his wife, Constance, to look into what life might hold if she explored a little infidelity herself. That’s the setup for W. Somerset Maugham’s comedy of manners “The Constant Wife,” which over the years has featured the likes of Ethel Barrymore, Katharine Cornell and Ingrid Bergman in the title role.

“The Constant Wife,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Opens Saturday. Runs Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends March 14. Opening night by invitation only; regular run, $45 and $52. (949) 497-2787.

THEATER

It’s dog eat dog

George C. Wolfe directs “Topdog/Underdog,” Suzan-Lori Parks’ 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about two brothers who are barely surviving in a world they perceive as a con game populated by hustlers and victims. Larry Gilliard Jr. and Harold Perrineau head the cast.

“Topdog/Underdog,” Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.; ends March 28. $33 to $47. (213) 628-2772.

MUSIC

Wherefore art thou?

This Valentine’s Day program by conductor Jorge Mester and the Pasadena Symphony will include a staged version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Actors will speak the Bard’s words; singers and dancers will assay the music of Berlioz, Prokofiev and Leonard Bernstein. John de Lancie directs and Nikki Greenberg choreographs. The concert will also include music by Faure and Ravel.

“Romeo and Juliet,” Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Saturday, 8 p.m. $14 to $66. (626) 584-8833.

MOVIES

Family matters

Russian actor Andrei Zvyagintsev makes his directing debut with “The Return,” a close examination of a family in turmoil. The drama focuses on two boys and their uneasy reunion with their father after his 12-year absence. The subsequent fishing trip on which the three embark leads them into increasingly darker territory as the boys test the father’s authoritarian demeanor. The movie features Ivan Dobronravov, Vladimir Garin and Konstantin Lavronenko.

“The Return,” unrated, opens Friday in selected theaters.

DANCE

Nijinsky: History written in the body

When he was 10 or 11, Milwaukee-born choreographer John Neumeier first learned about the legendary career and tragic personal life of dancer-choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. A few years after he became artistic director of the Hamburg Ballet in 1973, Neumeier began experimenting with a dance drama on the subject. The full-length “Nijinsky” that Neumeier calls “a biography of the soul, a biography of feelings and sensations” dates from 2000 and has its American premiere this week at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Expect surreal imagery drawn from Nijinsky’s most famous roles and the interplay of several Hamburg dancers embodying different components of Nijinsky’s fractured persona.

Hamburg Ballet in “Nijinsky,” Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Today and Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. $20 to $75. (714) 740-7878.