Jason Alexander, artistic director of Reprise Theatre Company, stars in the musical They’re Playing Our Song, which opens tonight at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse. Directed by Lonny Price, there’s an all-star case behind the show: Book by Neil Simon, music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. Runs through Oct. 10. A handful of seats are available for tonight’s opening performance. Tickets: $66.75. more ›

The Fix Gallery hosts an opening reception tonight for Begin Again, a “mixed media event,” with author Elizabeth Rosner and emerging artists Ryan McCann, Denise Niziri, and Sage Gracie. The evening features an open viewing of the art, an 8:30 pm Q&A with the artists and Peter Mays of the Los Angeles Arts Association, and a special raffle of an original piece of work designed by the three artists collectively. Summerwood Winery of Paso Robles will pour complimentary tastings of their wines. 7-10 pm. more ›

Comedy is Dead has a venue like no other: The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Tonight's lineup includes: Patton Oswalt, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Jeff Ross, Greg Behrendt, Natasha Leggero, Duncan Trussell and Taylor Williamson. Cocktails at 8 pm and show at 9 pm. Tickets $25. more ›

Tonight, Zócalo presents The Next Financial Meltdown with Simon Johnson at NPR West at 7:30 pm. Despite the financial crisis, six “megabanks” still rule the financial markets. Johnson, co-author of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown, explains why "big banks and the ideology of unfettered finance still endangers us today, and what we can do to avoid another meltdown." Free parking is available on-site behind the building. 7:30 pm. more ›

The Young Literati membership group of the LA Public Library hosts a reading, cocktail and a bookswap with Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn at the new Silver Lake Branch Library at 7 pm. The duo gives a hilarious account of marriage in their new book, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up. After their performance, members and guests can grab a cocktail and pick up a few new reads at a bookswap, in partnership with Goodreads, the networking site for book lovers. The event is free for Young Literari members and $20 for nonmembers. more ›

Tonight marks the February installment of Mindshare LA, a monthly evening of “enlightened debauchery,” that celebrates innovations in scholarship, culture, technology and entrepreneurship in LA. This month’s topic celebrates lurrve and Valentine’s Day and includes topics “Return of the Bromance: Victorian Intimacy in the 21st Century” with Ph.D. Candidate Patrick Randolph of U.C. Riverside's English department; “The Reach for Shamanic Media” with multimedia artist David Wexler (VJ Strangeloop); “The Neurophysiology of Attraction” with U.C. Irvine Social Psychology scholar Sena Koleva; “Poledancing for Fitness sponsored by exercise studio Sheila Kelly's S-Factor”; and “How the Brain Processes Emotion” with Ph.D. Candidate Moran Cerf of CalTech's Computation and Neural Systems department. An open bar and jazz accompany the learning, too. Tickets are $25. more ›

LEARNING*: Mindshare at the LA Brewery hosts the following speakers tonight: John Smart, futurist and founder of Acceleration Studies Foundation; Chuck Esterbrook, developer and creator of Cobra Language; Tali Krakowsky, director of experience design of Imaginary Forces; and Scott Pagano, creative director of Equilibrium Entertainment; Sissy St. John, wellness yogini, and Sena Koleva, UC Irvine grad student. Their topics include artificial intelligence, immortality and even the chemistry of love. This mind-sharing evening begins at 8 pm tonight and costs $25 (for the learning and debauchery. more ›

Mr. Brainwash (aka MBW) is an “eccentric French filmmaker” whose first exhibit “Life is Beautiful” is showing at the old CBS studios. The show will feature more than 300 paintings, sculptures and prints alongside an installation made from 100,000 shoes and a life-size re-creation of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. more ›

Los Angeles resident Douglas Campbell embarked last year on The Tuxedo Travels (subtitled: Two Fools. One Adventure. No Idea), along with a crazy British chap named Heath. more ›