DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997                TAG: 9704170127

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   86 lines

PREVIEW

WEEKEND

Wonder Gallery

DECADES AGO, a company called Wonder set up a business at 259 Granby St. Nowadays, that warehouse building houses the Wonder Gallery, where local artists keep studios and galleries.

Wonder is a great name for this place: It's a funky, urban loft space with adventurous art in progress wherever you look.

The premiere showing of work by the 13 resident painters, photographers and sculptors ends this weekend. On Sunday afternoon, the artists are throwing a closing party. Get buzzed on coffee and snacks as you view fresh art by mostly former and current art students at Old Dominion University - and one ODU art teacher, sculptor/painter Ron Snapp.

The downtown Norfolk gallery will be open Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. It's free. Just show up: they have no phone.

- Teresa Annas

WEEKEND Babes in Arms

IT'S A SONG 'n' dance fest as Commonwealth Musical Stage presents ``Babes in Arms,'' vintage 1937, featuring music and lyrics by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers. Don't recognize the play's title? You'll surely know the hit songs, including ``My Funny Valentine,'' ``Johnny One Note,'' ``Where or When'' and ``The Lady is a Tramp.'' It's at Virginia Beach's Pavilion Theater at 8 tonight, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $15-$30. Call 340-5446.

- Roberta Vowell

STOMP! Waterfront International Arts Festival

Get ready to STOMP. And sing and march and immerse yourself in the arts as the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival gets underway in Hampton Roads.

The opening ceremony is at 6 p.m. Thursday at Nauticus. But the fun's actually already started, with ``Always. . . Patsy Cline'' at the Virginia Stage Company and ``Oklahoma!'' at the Virginia Opera both continuing their runs. On Tuesday, STOMP, the percussion-mad show in which dancers make merry with dustbins, plastic bags, hubcaps and just about everything that bangs and clangs, opens at Chrysler Hall. And then comes the stately tunes of The Hanover Band on Thursday at Ogden Hall in Hampton. Call 664-6492.

- Roberta Vowell ICE CAPADES

Monday

THE SPLENDOR OF THE SILVER SCREEN slides into Norfolk Scope in the form of the Ice Capades production: ``The Magic of MGM.'' ``Goldfinger,'' ``The Pink Panther'' and ``West Side Story'' are a few of the memorable Metro Goldwyn Mayer and United Artists films showcased - on and off the ice - by skaters, gymnasts, bungee jumpers and pyrotechnics. The glamour and excitement of Hollywood begins at 7 p.m. Monday. Tickets: $10 and $20. 664-6464.

- Roy Bahls MOVIES

OPENING TONIGHT

EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU - The long-awaited and long-delayed booking of Woody Allen's latest comedy comes to the Naro in Norfolk. And it's a musical. People break into song with no encouragement at all. The cast includes Woody, directing himself, along with Julia Roberts, Alan Alda, Drew Barrymore, Edward Norton and Goldie Hawn. Hawn turns out to be the only one who knows how to dance and none of them are singers. Still, any Woody Allen is worth a note - even if it's occasionally offkey. R

MURDER AT 1600 - What's next at the White House? After a couple years of movies about young, energetic presidents (``The American President,'' ``Independence Day'' to name just two) Hollywood seems to have turned. Now they do movies about secrecy and the questionable shenanigans. But murder? At THAT address? Behind the doors at the White House has become a favorite peeping game, but let's not get violent about it. R

KAMA SUTRA - Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair (``Salaam Bombay'') returns home for this erotic tale of love and seduction in pre-Colonial 16th century India. It's all about the friendship and rivalry between a princess and her servant, and their study of ``The Kama Sutra,'' the 4th-century Hindu treatise on love, sexuality and enlightenment. Unrated

McHALE'S NAVY - Another '60s sitcom arrives on the big screen, this one starring Tom Arnold (perhaps he should heed his own advice to ex-wife Roseanne, and take a break from the spotlight). It's set in the contemporary Caribbean instead of the World War II Pacific, for no discernable reason. PG - Mal Vincent ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

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