Mon. March 12

We're a little partial to Brookline's Coolidge Corner because, well, we live here now. But even from afar - most recently Quincy, before that Newton - we loved its city amenities but town-like ambience. It is a town, after all. The Coolidge Corner merchants like doing things together and some have hooked up for the "Friends, Food, Film" benefit for the Brookline Community Mental Health Center Monday March 12. You can go upscale or downscale. Pay $100 and you may dine at Khao Sarn Cuisine at 5:30 and then take in "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. Or you can go directly to the theater, pay $25 for beer and burriots, and also see the film. (Lineage Restaurant is also involved in this, but they're sold out.) At the film, screenwriter/philanthropist Ruth Sacks Caplin will be honored. It's her first screenplay. She is 85. The film - about a May-December relationship, set in London, has been called "an endearing deceptively simple story" by Variety it stars Dame Joan Plowright, widow of Laurence Olivier.

KS: 250 Harvard St. CC: 290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-277-8107

Sun. March 11

Promoter Aliza Shapiro has had a long run with her TraniWreck productions, but they've been laying low, readying themselves for the new year and making one big change. Which is: The "all gender, all genre" cabaret, as Shapiro calls it, will be incorporating a rotatating live side band into the act, just like Johnny Carson used to! For the kickoff at the Milky Way Lounge & Lanes Sunday March 11, MC Heywood Wakefield - Shapiro as a guy - will have the band What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?, (in photo) fronted by Brian King. Also on the bill: Russian queen Katya, drag king Charlies Marie, drag king Judah Dorrington and more. Two burlesque troupes, Goode Anatomy and Big Moves' THICK. (Generally speaking, TraniWreck will take place at the Milky Way the second Sunday of the month.) The show starts a 9 p.m. and admission is $7.

405 Centre St., Jamaica Plain,617-524-3470 truthserum.org

Sunday March 11 

 The Forsyth Chapel at Forest Hills Cemetery is a lovely spot, whether you go there to contemplate or enjoy a performance. Perhaps both will be combined on Sunday March 11 at 2 p.m. when the Forest Hills Trust's monthly poetry reading series, "Tapestry of Voices," takes place. (Is there a better time for poetry than Sunday afternoon? There's just something about that time of the week. Monday's hustle and bustle has yet to begin; your weekend revelry is likely over ...) Kathleen Aguero, Megan Kearney, Jan Schreiber and Richard Wollman read their poems about family, of longing and belonging. Admission: $5.

95 Forest Hills Ave., Jamaica Plain, 617-424-0128 foresthillstrust.org

Fri. March 9 - Sun. 11

Calling all beauty queens or wannabe beauty queens. It's your season, at least at Neiman Marcus through Sunday March 11. All 29 vendors in the cosmetics realm are participating in "Eye Candy: The Beauty Event." What that means is: If you buy any cosmetic product for $85 or more you get a goodie bag with lots of girlie things from Lancome Paris, Valentino, Kiehl's and others. Also, every counter offers a separate gift with a minimum purchase ranging from $61 to $125. We don't know a lot about accessorizing here at JSink, but we do know many of these cost a pretty penny if there's not some discount program at work. "It's a great time to experiment and stock up," says beauty guru Diane Halle, of Bobbi Brown. 

5 Copley Place, 617-536-3660 x2127

Sun. March 11

 What becomes a legend most? Are Joan Collins and Linda Evans legends? In a way, yes. They certainly wormed their way into America’s heart during the ‘80s reign of “Dynasty,” as the cat-fighting ex-wife and wife of John Forsythe’s character, Blake Carrington. Now they’re back on stage in “Legends!,” playing two actresses of a certain age who are trying to keep their pride, but struggling and in tough shape – financially, medically, professionally. Collins, who we meet first in the play, is Sylvia Glenn, who has mostly played tramps and hookers in her cinematic career. Her rival, Evans, plays Leatrice Monsee, who has mostly played the good girl in film, save one memorable role as a psycho killer. A producer, Martin Klemmer (played by Joe Farrell) is trying to seduce them into appearing together in his off-Broadway production, “Star Wars – The Play,” by promising Paul Newman will be in it as well. He connives to get the two together at the ritzy New York apartment of Glenn’s friend. Before the three meet, Glenn and Monsee get to let it out. “I thought it was Morticia from ‘The Addams Family’,” says Monsee, upon Glenn’s entrance. “Didn’t you used to be Smokey the Bear?” Glenn retorts, referencing Monsee’s fur-trimmed cape. Later, as they’re beginning to bond – yes, you knew this was coming, we’re not spoiling anything – Glenn asks, “Do you miss it? Our time at the top of the mountain?” Monsee says that even if they’re not at that mountaintop, she wouldn’t resort to doing some trashy awful TV series ... “Like ‘Dallas’ or ‘Dynasty’,” finishes Glenn.
    “Legends!,” finishes up a brief run Sunday March 11 at the Citi Shubert Theatre, was originally produced in 1986. It’s set in 1985. Carol Channing and Mary Martin had the original roles. With Collins and Evans aboard – both of whom have penned self-help books - "Legends!” now plays off our knowledge of the stars and how we look back at that era. Was it the dawn of guilty pleasure TV? Doesn’t it almost seem innocent compared to today’s fare, like “Dirt” and “Desperate Housewives?” And isn’t a kick to watch the actors – so in on the joke – take on these roles (and role reversals)? When Monsee accuses Glenn of being “still the same, sordid, scheming, lying tramp” she always was, Glenn asks, “What do you mean, scheming?”
      The two-hour play is not high art, but it is jolly, semi-naughty fun. Both Collins and Evans look terrific – which is to say they seemed no older than we are and we guarantee you they are - and seem to be having fun. Tonye Patano is great as Aretha, the large, wisecracking black maid, and she takes some sexy-funny turns with the pumped-up black Chippendale Boom-Boom Johnson, played by Will Holman, during his strip tease to “R-E-S-P-C-T.” The final performance is at 2 p.m. matinee Sunday. Tickets: $69.50-$39.50.

265 Tremont St., 800-447-7400 citicenter.org