WHAT'S HAPPENING : ART.

Sidewalk gallery: The late Keith Haring was a vitally engaged public artist. He made art meant to be glimpsed while racing through subways, encountered by chance in civic plazas, spied amid the uproar of New York City's streets. His whimsical, strangely musical human figures decorated AIDS awareness posters, signifying both Haring's involvement in the political issues that surrounded his all-too-brief life and his commitment to integrating them into his art.

So it's fitting that 10 large-scale, exuberantly colored sculptures Haring created during the late 1980s have pride of place along Santa Monica Boulevard from Doheny to La Cienega through Jan. 5.

They're free for the viewing; all you need to supply is the gas or the shoe leather. Described by the artist as looking like ``bright shiny toys that should be played with,'' they're being shown in conjunction with a selection of drawings spanning the last decade of Haring's career, on view through Nov. 21 at Tasende Gallery, 8808 Melrose Ave. Call [phone] for information.

- Reed Johnson 

stage

Cocktail-hour confessions: ``Art isn't easy,'' sings the supple, five-member cast of ``Putting It Together.'' And how. But in the case of this musical revue of Stephen Sondheim songs from four decades, it's well worth the trouble. Thinly plotted around the premise of a chic Manhattan cocktail party, the show stars Carol Burnett as one-half of an aging power couple confronting the cracks in their marriage. While Burnett's voice sounds terrific, and her drop-dead inflections are a hoot, her fellow cast members Susan Egan, John Barrowman (a terrific tenor), Bronson Pinchot and John McCook do virtually everything right, vocally and dramatically. Eric Schaeffer's intelligent direction, Bob Crowley's brilliant trompe l'oeil set and Wendall K. Harrington's crafty rear-screen projections provide all the context that's necessary for these five talented pros. An intoxicating blend of ultra-literate lyrics and upper-middle-class confession, ``Putting It Together'' is memorable, grownup entertainment, a martini spiked with hemlock. At the Mark Taper Forum through Dec. 6. Call [phone].

- Reed Johnson

film

Going up?: ``Living Out Loud'' makes a virtue out of quirkiness. It updates the ``Unmarried Woman'' formula with cleverness and astute psychological insight, then tosses in some mild, ``Ally McBeal''-ish fantasizing that keeps things from ever getting predictable.

Holly Hunter plays a New York visiting nurse who gets dumped by her ultra-successful doctor husband. Alone in their cavernous co-op, she has to stumble her way through romantic, erotic and financial explorations she never thought she'd have to make. Meanwhile, her building's doorman (Danny DeVito, surprisingly subtle) is wrestling with a mass of his own personal problems, and the two lost souls form an unlikely support team with one another.

``Living Out Loud'' is the directing debut of Richard LaGravenese, the sensitive and skillful screenwriter of ``The Fisher King'' and ``The Bridges of Madison County.'' He claims ``Living Out Loud'' was inspired by some Chekhov stories; hard to say which ones, but indeed the film's sophisticated takes on loss, longing and getting on with one's life respectably echo the Russian master's concerns.

- Bob Strauss

music

Cool breeze: One of the smooth-jazz format's most popular artists, keyboardist David Benoit mostly performs light, melodic background music dubbed ``new age with a beat.''

Although he's done a tribute to Bill Evans and collaborated with late bop guitarist Emily Remler, most of Benoit's records have been aimed squarely at the pop charts.

Benoit and San Francisco's bass 'n' sax duo the Braxton Brothers appear Sunday at UCLA's Royce Hall in a show presented by smooth-jazz station KTWV-FM (94.7) - the Wave.

Slightly funky and full of breezy tunes, Benoit's pop-jazz albums like ``Waiting for Spring'' and ``Inner Motion'' have won fans the world over. Most critics say Benoit is best when he strips away his often busy arrangements and focuses on acoustic piano.

The Braxtons hit the top of the new adult contemporary chart last year with the single ``When Love Comes Around'' and the band landed two tracks on the ``Melrose Place Jazz'' collection.

Royce Hall is on the UCLA campus, Westwood. Show time is 7 p.m. and tickets are $30 and $40. Information: [phone].

- Fred Shuster

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

Photo: (1) Artist Keith Haring's whimsical, full-size human forms are on public display along Santa Monica Boulevard through Jan. 5.

(2) Bronson Pinochot appears in the grownup musical production ``Putting It Together'' at the Mark Taper Forum.

(3) Holly Hunter is on the rebound after getting dumped by her husband in the cleverly unpredictable ``Living Out Loud.''

(4) David Benoit performs Sunday night at UCLA.