WEEKEND FORECAST

TODAY

COMEDY

It’s a first, a comedy fest

Stand-up and sketch comedians from Seattle to New York descend upon Hollywood for the first Los Angeles Comedy Festival. Famed improv group Chicago City Limits and stand-up favorite Kyle Cease are likely to be among the biggest draws at the inaugural festival, which runs through May 20. Other notable acts include improv vet Victor Varnado, “House Hunters” host Suzanne Whang and Chicago sketch comedy duo Competitive Awesome.

Los Angeles Comedy Festival, McCadden Place Theater, 1157 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood. 8 and 9:30 p.m. $12. (323) 463-2942. Lineup: www.lacomedyfest.com.

* Shows at 8 and 9:30 nightly (with 11 p.m. shows on weekends) through May 20.

BOOKS

Yiddish spoken here

The release of “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” marks a return to the vast, all-encompassing literary efforts for which Michael Chabon is best known. This latest novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” oscillates between noir detective story, love story and alternate history: Here a Yiddish-speaking Jewish homeland that has been established in Alaska faces an uncertain future at the threshold of “reversion,” or dissolution, of the 60-year-old state.

Michael Chabon, Book Soup, 8818 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 7 p.m. (310) 659-3110.

FRIDAY

DANCE

With soul, spirituality

“For nearly 15 years, Winifred R. Harris has created deeply thrilling contemporary dances for her locally based Between Lines company,” wrote a Times reviewer after a performance last summer. Now Harris and company showcase her soulful, deeply sculpted style in programs at the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood. On Friday and Saturday, the repertory includes a new work, “And Then Again,” along with four other short pieces. The Sunday performance features “Joy Comes in the Morning,” Harris’ new full-length exploration of spirituality through movement.

Winifred R. Harris’ Between Lines, Ivar Theater, 1605 N. Ivar Ave., Hollywood. 8 p.m. $15, students, $25. (323) 461-7300. www.betweenlines.org.

* Also 8 p.m. Saturday. Different program at 3 p.m. Sunday.

THEATER

He had an affair?

In W. Somerset Maugham’s gimlet-eyed 1926 comedy, “The Constant Wife,” a woman confounds her philandering husband by refusing to acknowledge his public affair with her best friend, then turning the situation to her own advantage.

“The Constant Wife,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Opens 8 p.m. $31 to $60. (626) 356-7529. www.pasadenaplayhouse.org.

* Runs 8 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Exceptions: 2 p.m. only May 30, dark Tuesday and May 23; ends June 10.

MUSIC

Debut with ‘Four Sea’

Vancouver Symphony music director Bramwell Tovey electrified audiences leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic and other groups in Berlioz’s rarely heard “Grande Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale” last summer at the Hollywood Bowl. Now the Canadian conductor makes his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut leading the Philharmonic in Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes” from “Peter Grimes”; Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations; and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, composed for Mstislav Rostropovich, who died April 27 in Moscow at the age of 80. Peter Stumpf, the orchestra’s principal cellist, will be the soloist. A Casual Friday concert will present the “Four Sea Interludes” and “Enigma” Variations only.

Los Angeles Philharmonic, Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. (Casual Friday concert). $15 to $135. (323) 850-2000. www.laphil.com* Also 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday (full program).

MOVIES

Hip-hop and hope

Kazi, a onetime homeless kid who found redemption through hip-hop, passes along his message to other New York City teens in “The Hip Hop Project,” Matt Ruskin and Scott K. Rosenberg’s documentary about Kazi’s program and the kids he inspired to make their own way in the world through music. Starring Chris “Kazi” Rolle, with appearances by Russell Simmons, Bruce Willis, Sway and Doug E. Fresh.

“The Hip Hop Project” opens Friday in selected theaters.

SATURDAY

THEATER

Wedding drama

Secrets and vengeance collide in Weiko Lin’s dark drama “The Best Man,” set in a hotel suite on the eve of a wedding, where the fraught, alcohol-fueled gathering includes the bride and groom and the groom’s lowlife brother -- who is also the bride’s ex-husband. Also on hand: the brother’s hard-used girlfriend. With Lin, Cathy Shim, Leonard Wu and Lisa Faiman.

“The Best Man,” David Henry Hwang Theater, 120 N. Judge John Aiso St., L.A. Opens 8 p.m. $25. Opening night, $40 (includes pre-show hosted bar and post-show reception). (213) 625-7000.

* Runs 8 p.m. Wednesdays to Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; ends June 3.

POP MUSIC

Ready to Tango

Irvine will become the white-hot center of mainstream pop when Top 40 powerhouse KIIS-FM (102.7) summons some of the most popular acts on its playlist to perform at its annual Wango Tango concert. “American Idol” graduates (Kelly Clarkson, Elliott Yamin), pop-leaning hip-hop stars (Fergie, Ludacris), Latin crossover successes (Enrique Iglesias), new faces (Gym Class Heroes; Story, Page 9) and more are scheduled to perform, with “Idol” host and KIIS personality Ryan Seacrest presiding.

Wango Tango, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. Saturday, 5:30 p.m. $40 to $199. (949) 855-8096.

ART

Three new chapters

Hirsch Perlman’s “ergo despero” consists of three components: the first, a series of black-and-white photographs of breaking waves -- gigantic, dark forms made mysterious by lengthy exposure times. The second, “Schrodinger Cats,” named after an Austrian physicist’s thought experiment, examines the nature of a cat in a box -- paradoxically both dead and alive under this rubric. Additionally, Perlman offers the official counterinsurgency manual up for sale, independently published and approved for public consumption by the U.S. Army. The artist has arranged for proceeds to benefit National Popular Vote and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

“Hirsch Perlman: ergo despero,” Blum and Poe 2754 S. La Cienega Blvd., L.A. Opens Saturday. (310) 836-2062.

* Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. Ends June 23.

SUNDAY

MUSEUMS

15 views of Los Angeles

The Hammer Museum, with support from, among others, KCRW-FM (89.9), presents Eden’s Edge: Fifteen L.A. Artists, the fourth exhibit in a series focusing on Los Angeles artists. Unlike its predecessors, however, it mingles the work of emerging artists with that of more well-known, established artists. The works exist in a variety of media, but all explore the artists’ perspectives on L.A.’s complexities and contradictions, coalescing in a preoccupation with sensuality, sexuality, transformation, beauty and vulnerability.

“Eden’s Edge: Fifteen L.A. Artists,” Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Opens Sunday. $3 to $5; during the summer, free. (310) 443-7000.

* Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday; except 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays; closed Monday. Ends Sept. 2.