WHAT'S HAPPENING : STAGE.

Despair to spare: Don't go to the ``Cabaret'' playing at the Wilshire Theatre expecting to see the highly stylized sheen that Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli imprinted on the roles of the emcee and Sally. Their cabaret was place where Marlene Dietrich might stop by. This one is more like a trip to an S&M bar, lash marks and all.

The story of second-rate singer Sally Bowles during the rise of Nazism in Germany, this reinvented ``Cabaret'' is as entertaining as ever thanks to the wonderful Fred Ebb-John Kander score that evokes the age of Brecht and Weill with jazzy production numbers, but it also packs more of a punch. When Sally, played by Teri Hatcher, tells the story of Elsie's death from ``pills and liquor,'' she practically howls in pain. It is a stunning moment. Irony has been replaced with a sense of doom. It isn't often that you can turn a classic on its head.

``Cabaret'' (it contains adult subject matter and language and action not suitable for children) is at the Wilshire Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., one block east of La Cienega Boulevard, through May 1. Performances 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $40 to $72 and are available at the Wilshire Theatre box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com, or by calling [phone].

- Rob Lowman

art

Lasting impressions: Prestige art, like prestige addresses, tends to change over time. For much of the past several hundred years, painting has been regarded as the king of all media, the Beverly Hills of Western artistic expression. But you could make a strong case that another art form equaled or even exceeded painting in dramatic impact, scientific precision and technical inventiveness.

We speak of printmaking, which burst into being in the 15th century when a bunch of German guys figured it was easier to create movable type and printing machines than hand-copy 5,000 manuscripts. Soon, brilliant engravers like Albrecht Durer, Marcantonio Raimondi and Lucas van Leyden were astonishing Europe with their elaborate, exacting woodcuts and prints. A few decades later, Mannerist printers of the High Renaissance found printmaking to be a fine way to popularize their capricious mythical and spiritual subjects. Later still, Rembrandt turned to printmaking to achieve a strikingly solemn intensity in a superb group of late works.

You'll find examples of each in the just-opened exhibition ``Old Master Prints from the Museum's Collection'' at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. On view through May 31, the show of 120 prints probably contains more masterpieces, work for work, than LACMA's current Van Gogh blockbuster.

- Reed Johnson

film

Tune in: Critics are right in calling ``EDtv'' a user-friendly version of ``The Truman Show.'' Like there's something wrong with that?

Sure, ``EDtv'' is superficial, and it aims a little too strenuously to please. It also delivers loads of slick, good laughs and more strong performances than you can find on most networks' prime-time schedules.

Matthew McConaughey plays an unambitious, naturally charming video store clerk who's chosen to be the star of a cable channel's 24-hour, real-life program. He soon becomes a national sensation, then an obsession, and by the time he realizes fame may not be worth the price of constant scrutiny, it may be too late.

Ron Howard directs with his usual glossy aplomb. There's not much insight here, but with this cast of cutups - Woody Harrelson, Jenna Elfman, Martin Landau, Ellen DeGeneres, Rob Reiner and Elizabeth Hurley - in top form, you don't feel like you're missing much.

- Bob Strauss

music

Catchy name: If you like clever, jangly power pop, do yourself a favor and investigate Walter Clevenger & the Dairy Kings.

The Orange County quartet has been earning rave reviews for its latest release, ``Love Songs to Myself,'' the follow-up to Clevenger's 1997 debut.

Clevenger's snappy Byrds- and British Invasion-inspired sound exists somewhere between Buddy Holly and Nick Lowe.

The Dairy Kings play a free acoustic show tonight at Borders in West Hollywood.

``Love Songs,'' issued by Sherman Oaks' Permanent Press label, features 14 new songs and cameos from Kim Shattuck of the Muffs, Jamie Hoover of the Spongetones and others.

Singer-guitarist Clevenger received album alternative radio airplay for his previous release, ``The Man with the X-Ray Eyes.''

Borders is at 330 S. La Cienega Blvd. Show time is 8 p.m., and there is no charge. Information: [phone].

- Fred Shuster

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos

Photo: (1) This 1651 Rembrandt etching, ``Clement de Jonghe,'' is on display in LACMA's newly opened ``Old Master Prints from the Museum's Collection'' exhibit.

(2) ``Adam and Eve'' by engraver Albrecht Durer is part of the collection at LACMA.

(3) Matthew McConaughey (in the arms of Elizabeth Hurley) plays a video store clerk who becomes a celebrity in ``EDtv.''

(4) The new ``Cabaret,'' starring Teri Hatcher as Sally Bowles, is at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills.

(5) Walter Clevenger & the Dairy Kings bring their Byrds- and British Invasion-inspired sound tonight to Borders in West Hollywood.