In praise of theater for kids: L.A. arts and culture this week

I have an admission to make: I recently cried during a matinee of “Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical” at Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Best bets: On our radar this week Diego Velázquez’s “Queen Mariana of Austria ” is on special loan from the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. ‘Mariana: Velázquez’s Portrait of a Queen from the Museo Nacional del Prado’ Diego Velázquez’s nearly life-size portrait “Queen Mariana of Austria ” is on special loan from the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, marking the first time the extraordinary painting is being exhibited on the West Coast. nortonsimon.org Sweet Honey in the Rock Described as “one of the best-kept secrets in the music world … with a startlingly pure and vibrant sound” by Times contributor Connie Johnson, the Grammy-nominated African American vocal ensemble is bringing a 50th anniversary tour to Southern California via Northridge — one of their few concert stops where the group will perform the signature celebration of the “HolyDays,” a rare fusion of traditional holiday spiritual songs and hymns from numerous faith backgrounds. 10 p.m. Groundlings Theatre, 7307 Melrose Ave., L.A. groundlings.com Culture news and the SoCal scene “Untitled,” a new pigment on canvas from Lita Albuquerque’s “Earth Skin” at the Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles.