TAKE 5 : WHAT'S HAPPENING FAMILY.

Express-ion: Families are invited to sing along, clap and dance to the award-winning trio Parachute Express Sunday at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

Entertainers Donny Becker, Janice Hubbard and Stephen Michael Schwartz will carry audience members on a musical journey at 4:30 p.m. with such playful songs as ``Polka Dots, Checks and Stripes'' and ``Shakin' It.''

And a choir of children will sing the song ``We the Children,'' a tribute to children around the world, for the finale.

The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre is at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., Hollywood. Tickets are $7 each. Call Theatix at [phone] for ticket information.

SOURCE: Barbara Wood 

film Class act: You may want to take a break from this summer's barrage of cinematic firefights with ``Moll Flanders.'' Though hardly a faithful adaptation of Daniel Defoe's 18th-century novel, it's still an artfully mounted costume drama with a sound sense of period, place and character.

Robin Wright is both strong and vulnerable as the lowborn London lass who triumphs over endless misfortune and rigid class prejudice. Morgan Freeman is as tender as he is imposing as Moll's only friend, who refuses to let his own outcast status crush his fundamental humanity. And Stockard Channing is a hoot as a conniving madam whose efforts to exploit Moll yield unexpected results.

SOURCE: -Bob Strauss

dining Diamonds and deals: On Date Night, which is every Saturday at Sid's Seafood House, 21911 Roscoe Blvd., Canoga Park, a $1,200 diamond is literally up for grabs.

Couples who dine here get a chance to grab the real diamond out of a crystal bowl filled with 500 possibilities, 499 of them being cubic zirconias.

And on Sunday nights between 4 and 9 p.m. diners at Sid's may order one of five complete dinners priced under $10 each. They include soup or salad, a choice of entree, potato and vegetable, dessert and coffee or tea.

And if they're Maine lobster fanciers, two of the Maine 1-pounders are being offered for $22.95 as a single, complete dinner through July.

Sid's, almost as well-known for its banana cream pie as its Ipswich clams, walleye pike and grouper in season, has a full bar.

Reservations and information: [phone].

SOURCE: -Larry Lipson

theater The way we were: Every once in a while, it's instructive to stop and take a look back. For a reminder of how far we've come since World War II, pay a visit to the residents of the small-town Texas boardinghouse in ``HomeFires.''

Deserted by their husband and father, Nettie and her three teen-age children are trying to make ends meet by opening their home to boarders - an assortment of women who've moved to town to take jobs, mostly as replacements for soldiering men at the local factories. As these women awaken to their potential, we witness the birth of the women's movement and the ongoing push for equality. It's all mixed in with a story of family conflict and survival, as well as a lad's journey into manhood.

Jack (``Vanities'') Heifner's play is evocatively staged by co-directors Taylor Gilbert and Ken Sawyer, working with a first-rate collection of actors. It's some of the best work ever by the always-ambitious Road Theatre Company, in the Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. Tickets are $15, available by calling [phone].

SOURCE: -Daryl H. Miller

music Starship sighting: If it's June it must be time for Glendale's first free street concert of the summer featuring Jefferson Starship, Elvin Bishop and Lee Rocker of the Stray Cats.

The event Saturday is the first of three seasonal music shows presented by the City of Glendale in cooperation with Bank of America. Five city blocks will be closed to traffic for the concert, which is expected to draw 30,000 people.

Jefferson Starship was formed in 1974 after the breakup of seminal San Francisco longhair band Jefferson Airplane. The seven-piece Starship, which had top-40 hits with ``Miracles,'' ``Count on Me'' and ``Jane,'' partly consists of Airplane founders Paul Kantner, Marty Balin and Jack Casady.

Bishop, who began his career in 1964 as rhythm guitarist for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, will bring his seven-member blues band to the Glendale concert stage. He had a No. 3 hit in 1976 with ``Fooled Around and Fell in Love.''

Also in concert will be Rocker, the high-energy acoustic bassist from the Stray Cats. A native New Yorker, Rocker now fronts his own rockabilly-blues outfit.

The street festival takes place Saturday on Brand Boulevard between Broadway and Lexington Avenue in downtown Glendale. Show time is 6 p.m. and there is no charge. Information: [phone].

SOURCE: -Fred Shuster

Back in the USSR: In the continuing series of free outdoor concerts at Warner Park, 5800 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills, comes ``From Russia With Love.'' So bring your borscht, blinis and a blanket, and enjoy Limpopo and the Flying Balalaika Brothers, both musical acts from the former Soviet Union, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call the Valley Cultural Center's concert line, [phone].

SOURCE: -Kevin Ainsfeld

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

Photo: (1) The members of Parachute Express - Donny Beck er, from top, Stephen Michael Schwartz and Janice Hubbard - entertain families at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

(2) John Lynch and Robin Wright star in ``Moll Flanders.''

(3) Elvin Bishop's blues band performs Saturday at a free concert in Glendale.

(4) Russian folkies Limpopo perform at a free outdoor concert, ``From Russia With Love,'' Sunday at Warner Park in Woodland Hills.