Film
Two classic American films noir have been re-released this week: Billy Wilder’s masterly 1950 Hollywood expose “Sunset Boulevard” and the Coen Brothers’ hellacious debut thriller “Blood Simple.” Both of them are brilliant dark comedy films and movie milestones: “Blood Simple” because its snazzy camera tricks and lean, mean tale of Texas adultery and murder helped usher in the Golden Age of the American indie, and “Sunset Boulevard” because its great, elegantly sardonic script and performances perfectly captured and revealed the crass Hollywood of the ’50s and the more glamorous silent era of the ’20s. “Sunset’s” lead performances remain gems of acting and movie iconography: Gloria Swanson as grande dame diva Norma Desmond in her decaying mansion, William Holden as her self-loathing kept man/screenwriter Joe Gillis, Erich Von Stroheim as her stoic butler/ex-director Max and Cecil B. DeMille as Himself.
“Sunset Boulevard” is playing at The Music Box Theater, “Blood Simple’ at Century Centre.
— Michael Wilmington
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Jazz
Michael Zerang: A restlessly innovative percussionist, Zerang will appear with Chicago improvisers of comparable spirit; 8 p.m. Thursday at HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo Dr.; 312-362-9707.
Frank Catalano: The prodigious saxophonist-bandleader-composer will lead his new quintet; 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway; 773-878-5552.
Malachi Thompson: One of Chicago’s most intrepid experimenters, Thompson will front his Freebop Band in an evening of music by Wayne Shorter; 10 p.m. Saturday at the Velvet Lounge, 2128 S. Indiana Ave.; 312-791-9050.
— Howard Reich
Theater
“Hamlet: The Musical”: The melancholy Dane is hilarious in this snappy, campy song-and-dance romp through Shakespeare’s tragedy; through Aug. 20 at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, 600 E. Grand Ave. on Navy Pier; 312-595-5600.
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”: A buoyant remounting of Marriott Theatre’s ebullient revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical; through Aug. 20 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 600 E. Grand Ave. on Navy Pier; 312-595-5600.
“The Last Night of Ballyhoo”: Alfred Uhry’s warm-hearted, well-crafted family comedy/drama, set in a Jewish home in Atlanta in 1939, is given an impeccable local production; continuing at the Mercury Theatre, 3745 N. Southport Ave.; 773-325-1700 or 312-902-1500.
“Moon Over Buffalo”: Lots of laughs in the Chicago-area premiere of Ken Ludwig’s backstage farce, with Dale Benson and Hollis Resnik in fine fettle as a battling husband-and-wife acting team; through July 30 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Rd., Munster, Ind.; 219-836-3255.
— Richard Christiansen
Art
“Chicago Contemporary Decorative Arts”: Closes Wednesday at the School of the Art Institute Betty Rymer Gallery, 280 S. Columbus Dr.; 312-443-3703.
“Painting Revolution: Kandinsky, Malevich and the Russian Avant-Garde”: Opens Saturday at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; 312-744-6630.
“Cornelia Parker”: Conceptual installations using found objects; final weeks at Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St.; 312-787-3997.
— Alan G. Artner
Classical music
Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at Grant Park: Eleven singers from the company’s training wing join the Grant Park Orchestra, Victor DeRenzi conducting, in a free concert of highlights from Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” and Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Friday at the Petrillo Music Shell; 312-742-4763.
Alicia de Larrocha: Beloved (and apparently ageless) Spanish pianist presents a recital holding Mozart and Schubert sonatas, as well as Spanish pieces by Granados, Montsalvatge and Turina; 8 p.m. Wednesday at Ravinia’s Martin Theatre; 847-266-5100.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia: Emanuel Ax plays the Beethoven “Emperor” Concerto, with Bernhard Klee conducting, at 8 p.m. Friday. The soloist at 8 p.m. Saturday, also 7 p.m. next Sunday, is violinist Itzhak Perlman, who performs the Beethoven Violin Concerto on Saturday and conducts works by Bach and Vivaldi at the violin (so to speak) on Sunday; 847-266-5100.
Maximiano Valdes conducts the Grant Park Orchestra: Rimsky-Korsakov’s popular “Scheherazade” is the main work on this free concert, along with pieces by Villa-Lobos and Roberto Sierra; 7:30 p.m. Saturday and next Sunday at the Petrillo Music Shell; 312-742-4763.
— John von Rhein
Television
“Nuremberg”: A strong production and compelling acting led by Alec Baldwin fuels TNT’s two-part mini-series based on the 1945 trial of Nazi officials for crimes against humanity. Airing Sunday and Monday at 7 p.m., the piece features an Emmy-caliber performance by Brian Cox as an arrogant Hermann Goering.
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— Allan Johnson