BEST BETS Thursday 12/27

8pm

Theater

Call it revenge of the band. “Blast!,” the marching musical show, has been a hit across the U.S. and in London. Its largely Midwestern roots come from the precision high-stepping pageantry of drum and bugle corps, but it’s got a Broadway pedigree as winner of the 2001 Tony Award for best special theatrical event. British critic Roger Foss called it “pure razzle-

dazzle Americana-as if Busby Berkeley and Florenz Ziegfeld had risen from the dead.”

“Blast!,” Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Also this Friday, 2 p.m. Ends Jan. 6. $22 to $57. (714) 740-7878, (213) 365-3500, (714) 556-ARTS.

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8:30 & 10:30pm

Jazz

Rising jazz singing star Jane Monheit wowed the L.A. crowd in June with “perfect pitch, articulate vocal control and harmonic insights.” At least that’s how Times jazz reviewer Don Heckman assessed it. She returns to the Catalina Bar & Grill for a six-nighter that runs through New Year’s Eve.

Jane Monheit, Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood, tonight to Saturday, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. $20 to $30. New Year’s Eve package includes dinner, 7:30 p.m. $125 per person. (323) 466-2210.

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1 & 7:30pm

Family

Get ready for a rumble in the jungle. Characters from “Tarzan,” “The Lion King” and “The Jungle Book” strap on skates for “Disney’s Jungle Adventures on Ice,” where they’ll mix it up in an ice skating spectacular loaded with special effects, elaborate sets, swinging rhythms and aerial acrobatics. For starters, there are marching pachyderms, birds 14 feet high and a 40-foot-long snake.

“Disney’s Jungle Adventures on Ice,” Arrowhead Pond, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, today to Friday, 1 and 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, noon, 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday and Tuesday, 1 and 4:30 p.m.; Monday, 1 p.m. $10 to $19; VIP seats, $22 to $50. Also, Long Beach Arena, 300 E. Ocean Ave., Long Beach, next Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 4, 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 5, noon, 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 6, 1:30 and 5 p.m. $10 to $35. Also, Los Angeles Sports Arena, 3939 Figueroa St., L.A., Jan. 10 and 11, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 12 and 13, noon, 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. $10 to $35. (213) 480-3232, (714) 740-2000.

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all day

Movies

Peter Boyle, Billy Bob Thornton and Heath Ledger play three generations of death row prison guards in the Southern drama “Monster’s Ball,” directed by Marc Forster. Embittered Hank (Thornton) begins an unlikely but emotionally charged affair with Halle Berry, the widow of a man he has just executed, while Sonny (Ledger) doesn’t seem cut out for the family business.

“Monster’s Ball,” rated R for strong sexual content, language and violence, opened Wednesday at selected theaters.

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8 & 10pm

Pop Music

Forever famous as the artist who first put Bob Dylan on a record (as a harmonica player on her 1962 debut album), Carolyn Hester went on from the inner circle of the ‘60s Greenwich Village folk scene to a long and varied career. Though a longtime Southland resident, the Texas native performs mainly on the East Coast and in Europe these days. This AlterKnit Lounge date is her first L.A. show in eight years.

Carolyn Hester, AlterKnit Lounge, Knitting Factory Hollywood, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, 8 and 10 p.m. $10. (323) 463-0204.