BEST BETS / OCT. 24-30, 1999

MOVIES

Meryl Streep stars as Roberta Guasperi, a woman determined to teach East Harlem children how to play classical violin, in “Music of the Heart,� directed by Wes Craven, in a departure from his horror genre and inspired by the Oscar-nominated documentary “Small Wonders.� Opens Friday in general release.

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“Being John Malkovich� stars John Cusack as a gifted street puppeteer whose life is going nowhere who suddenly finds himself with direct access to John Malkovich’s brain. A comedy fantasy directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. With Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keender ... and John Malkovich. Opens Friday in general release.

THEATER

From the silents to the talkies, Al Jolson, “The Jazz Singer,� a mercurial talent, rose to the top of show-biz royalty in the mid-’30s. His story is the basis for the nationally touring musical, “Jolson,� making its only Southern California stop, with Broadway’s Michael Burstyn in the title role. Opens Tuesday at Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

EVENT

Comedy trio Culture Clash hosts Day of the Dead 1999: The Concert, an evening of music and comedy to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. The benefit for Self Help Graphics on Tuesday at the John Anson Ford Theatre features Quetzal (singer Marta Gonzalez, pictured), Blues Experiment, Quinto Sol, Lysa Flores and others.

ART

“Ghost in the Shell: Photography and the Human Soul, 1850-2000� a 150-year survey exploring how artists’ interpretations of human faces can reveal the subjects’ spirits opens today at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition will focus on three types of portraiture: “expressive,� “blank� or “false� and will include more than 175 photographic prints, books, multimedia works and videos by noted photographers such as Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, Irving Penn, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol and Annie Leibovitz.

POP MUSIC

Southern California is one of the biggest U.S. markets for Sting’s new album, so it’s no surprise that his Universal Amphitheatre run has grown to four nights--Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. On Sting’s night off, his opening act Cheb Mami steps out to headline “Rhythms of the Desert� with Aswad, Hamza El Din and Esta.

DANCE

Revered, locally based modern dancer, choreographer and teacher Marion Scott returns to performing after an absence of 14 years in “Spirit Dances� on Friday, Saturday and next Sunday at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica. Other participating dancers include Linda Gold, Sen Hae Ha, Michael Skelton, Robert Whidbee and Roberta Wolin.

MUSIC

Leonard Slatkin and his band, the National Symphony Orchestra, arrive in Orange County with a West Coast premiere of the posthumously reconstructed Elgar Third Symphony, and a role in the Eclectic Orange Festival’s “Poetry of the Earth/�Oedipus Rex� extravaganza, which combines a multimedia version of Leonard Bernstein lecturing on tape about Stravinsky, with the NSO in a live performance.

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Whose scarier, Bela Lugosi or Philip Glass? The two team up in a Halloween showing of the original “Dracula,� which Glass has rescored a la his many film/music experiments. You can see and hear the results at UCLA’s Royce Hall Saturday and Sunday, with the Kronos Quartet and Glass supplying live music for the undead Universal Pictures classic.

JAZZ

Jackie McLean has been one of the most distinctive alto-saxophonists in jazz since the 1950s, playing every note with great intensity, honest feeling and swing. Long considered a giant, McLean will be performing standards in own personal way with pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Tony Dumas and drummer Albert “Tootie� Heath at the Jazz Bakery this week starting Tuesday.