Is it haunted?
At Little Theatre on the Bay’s second Haunted Theatre, teenagers in costumes and makeup might not be the only ones doing the haunting.

Halloween events
Haunted houses

Auditions
‘The Nutcracker’

Going Out  (top)

Going Out

Theater etc.

Movies  (top)

 ‘Astro Boy’ never takes flight
The animated “Astro Boy” is a shiny hodgepodge of “Pinocchio,” “WALL-E,” “Oliver Twist,” “Gladiator” and “Superman,” with some obvious visual touches taken from “The Iron Giant.” As its own entity, though, it’s pretty forgettable.

 ‘Cirque du Freak’ creates a monster
It’s getting downright batty trying to keep all these vampires straight.

At the movies
The following movies are playing at South Coast theaters. Times are shown for movies at Pony Village Cinemas. () indicates showings for Friday-Sunday only. For locations outside the Bay Area, call the theaters for showtimes.

Box office
For the weekend of Oct. 16-18, 2009:

Music  (top)

 Q&A: Michael Buble
NEW YORK — Michael Buble recently received a cassette tape of his first performance ever, but it didn’t bring back pleasant memories.

Scene & Heard

Concerts

Staying In  (top)

Off the shelf
South Coast readers often have different preferences in reading material than those elsewhere. Here are the top-five sellers this week at Books By the Bay in North Bend, according to owner Trish Price:

Hit list
The charts